[Matthew Rowland]

I got some knee slapping action by my brother and others that were standing around when I beeeeeped my TW horn as I was leaving my church parking lot Sunday.

Then I started laughing when I realized that my mocked TW was getting 3 times the MPG of any other vehicle that was driven to church.

Has anyone put a louder horn on the TW such as this for safety? http://www.jcwhitney.com/extra-loud-130db-horns/p2009013.jcwx?filterid=d14792y2007j1

 

[TdubOhio]

I'm with ya on this one, Picker... tired of my horn being useless in traffic...

 

[lizrdbrth]

You'll need more specs. Namely the amp draw.



Anything drawing much more than stock will need a relay wired direct to battery power.

 

[joeband]

is there a reason they say it will not fit specifically 2007?

 

[Gerry]

I believe these are a high/low pitch Fiamme's I got from one of the motorcycle 'ride safely' websites. Sounds like a big european sedan. Gerry

 

[TdubOhio]

You'll need more specs. Namely the amp draw.



Anything drawing much more than stock will need a relay wired direct to battery power.

Any idea what the stock draw is?

I'd like a louder horn, but don't want to sweat draining the battery.

The horn linked above only says "For 12-volt negative-ground systems".

 

[lizrdbrth]

You won't drain the battery blipping the horn as you might with continuous operation of an overwattage headlight or heated grips. The relay ensures that you have enough juice to the horn and that you won't fry your switch contacts, wiring harness or blow main fuses.



The laughable-but-legal horn on our bikes allows for simplified wiring, which keeps production costs down. The same can be said for most of the stock electrical components. If you want to upgrade you will in some cases need to bring the bike's wiring up to bigboy status.



Your starter operates the same way. If you used your starter switch and the bike's 18 gauge wiring to operate the starter both the switch and the wiring would be overloaded. Instead they use heavy gauge wires direct from the battery interupted by a relay. A relay is just a switch with heavier contacts to withstand the load. In this arrangement your starter button becomes a "switch which operates a bigger switch" (the starter relay) which can better handle the load.



The stock horn draws 2 amps. Most aftermarket horns draw at least 4. Early bikes have a 10 amp main fuse, so with everything on you could pop a fuse if you hit the horn. The relay eliminates this possibility.



Later bikes have a 20 amp main fuse and higher alternator output at lower rpm's. HOWEVER Yamaha gave them the same sized wiring as the early bikes so that no single wire on a late bike can carry any more load than an older bike.



18 gauge wire is only rated at 2.3 amps. While this isn't nearly as critical with an intermittently operated item such as a horn it isn't nearly enough for things like heated grips even if you have the alternator to support it. The headlight wires are 16 gauge which is only rated at 3.7 amps, so old or new bikes are all equal in this respect. You can't operate an accessory on wires or switch contacts which are undersized for very long without cooking something.



Clear as mud?



In that case you could PROBABLY squeak by with a 3-4 amp horn on a later bike without a relay.

 

[tw200sgp]

I'm not sure if the horn on my TW200 in Sgp is the same - it has a high pitch beeped - probably high A - and it seems adequate for drivers to hear. I don't like low pitched bike horns as the high pitch is a specific bike sound and indicates to the driver that a bike is honking, not a car.

 

[okarmygrunt]

I got some knee slapping action by my brother and others that were standing around when I beeeeeped my TW horn as I was leaving my church parking lot Sunday.

Then I started laughing when I realized that my mocked TW was getting 3 times the MPG of any other vehicle that was driven to church.

Has anyone put a louder horn on the TW such as this for safety? http://www.jcwhitney.com/extra-loud-130db-horns/p2009013.jcwx?filterid=d14792y2007j1

When my fiance and I bought a house the previous owners had an alarm system installed. We dont have the money for any extra bills, so I was tinkering around the house and found the siren in the closet. Wow is it loud. And it has two wires for the "yelp" option or the "steady" option.

 

[qwerty]

Excellent simplification of the electrical relay process, lizrd.



Plenty of diagrams and instructions can be found by googling horn relay diagram or similar. Most anyone can learn the relatively simple DC circuitry involved. It's much simpler than the late TW's turn indicator switching mechanism, which uses parallel circuits of differing resistance to switch the indicator lamp on and off. There's a specific name for this type of circuit, but I'm old and have CRS today.

Keep in mind that the object is to replace the horn in the horn circuit with a relay, then pull the new, heavier wires to power the horn. In the horn power circuit, the relay serves the function of horn switch. Headlight relays are wired exactly the same way.



I've retrofit headlight relays in all my cages for 40 years. Even with stock bulbs the result is significantly brighter headlights. Virtually every mainstream automotive product skimps on wire sizes to lower production costs, and using a relay and heavier wire reduces voltage lost from resistance from undersize OEN wires. Such shoddiness is not just a Yamaha thing. Imagine being the engineer that has to develop a functioning product on one hand, with a bevy of bean-counters on the other hand pushing for lower costs. Poor ol' engineers catch it from both sides.

 

[BROIS]

I am using the horn i took out of my PRIUS it is 4 times as loud and does not need a relay so Far.

I replace my Prius horn with a set of PIAA Sports Horn500Hz/600Hz

It is about 3/4" of a inch larger in diameter and looks stock.

Still a bit squeeky but MUCH LOUDER

 

[darnold87]

I went with an aftermarket horn from Napa Auto parts...

It was like $20 and is pretty loud.

And I just bolted it on and plugged it in...



http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=BK_7301058_0354049836

 

[danwray]

banshee horn

this seems interesting. It's an additional horn that activates when you hold the horn button for a quarter or half second. it also automatically pulses the hi beam. for 99 bucks this seems like a deal.

 

[Matthew Rowland]

I went with an aftermarket horn from Napa Auto parts...

It was like $20 and is pretty loud.

And I just bolted it on and plugged it in...



http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=BK_7301058_0354049836

I may have to try that one.

 

[Jimbo C.]

Wolo makes a horn called "The Bad Boy" it's about the same size as your California smog charcoal canister. It would definatly need a relay, however it is a self contained Air Horn with the compressor built right in.

I havent heard one YET! over $40 on sale from time to time but might be worth it. You could disguise it as a carbon canister by gluing plastic hose barbs onto it and painting it black. Of coarse you would need to deal with the vent hose from the carb and tank. "Just Dreaming!!"

here is a link for info with a sound byte, but remember what The Lizzard said about a relay : http://www.wolo-mfg.com/motorcycle.htm



Ride Well!

 

[RingSteel]

Wolo makes a horn called "The Bad Boy" it's about the same size as your California smog charcoal canister. It would definatly need a relay, however it is a self contained Air Horn with the compressor built right in.

I havent heard one YET! over $40 on sale from time to time but might be worth it. You could disguise it as a carbon canister by gluing plastic hose barbs onto it and painting it black. Of coarse you would need to deal with the vent hose from the carb and tank. "Just Dreaming!!"

here is a link for info with a sound byte, but remember what The Lizzard said about a relay : http://www.wolo-mfg.com/motorcycle.htm



Ride Well!

That's really interesting! I found that horn for $39 with free shipping on Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wolo-Bad-Bo...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item4844f24318



I may try it, when funds allow (after fixing my front forks!).

 

[Camelrider]

First thing I do on any new bike is a new twin horn with relay, like this one for around $20:

http://www.amazon.com/FIAMM-74100-El-Grande-Horns/dp/B000DLBIGG/ref=pd_sim_auto_1

 

[RockyTFS]

Has anyone put a louder horn on the TW such as this for safety?

I use a Stebel Magnum. Bolt on replacement, cheap, no relay. Approximately twice as loud as the OEM, but lower frequency. There are two versions, high and low....I got the low. I didn't want to deal with two horns, relays, etc. It will definitely get the attention of pedestrians, cows, the occaisional cager with ears,etc. but for a cager talking on the cellphone or listening to Led Zeppelin at 105 Db, FUGGETABOUTIT!

Even a Nautilus may not get through to them .....better get a locomotive airhorn.

 

[joeband]

my '94 tw has had a dead horn since i bought it, so i can't say how loud the stock horn was, but i found a nikko horn that is loud, and seems to work well.



so my question, obviously from an electrical noob, the original horn is 12V and 1.5A, the new one is 6V and 3A. am i looking for problems frying the horn with double the volts, or my wiring with double the amps?? or as long as i don't just lay on it, am i ok?



thanks,

joe



btw: the part # is 21-0669. it is bigger than the stock horn, but bolts up fine, once i swapped the mounting bracket to pull it closer so the wires fit.

 

[slinky]

I've always been frustrated with the stock horns on bikes I've had. People never hear them when you need them to and they are funny sounding if you have a beast of a bike with a weak as piss horn. I'll be getting an after market (loud) horn when I get my TW on the road. Thanks for those external links.