Are bike horns different than car horns?

[tconroy]

I never had a horn that worked when i bought my bike so i rigged up a fused wire from the battery to my faring and another to the frame for a ground.I have a small button i push that is on my handlebar.I finally found my wires to the real horn and the origianal button works too,BUT when i hooked a car horn up all i get is a small chirp for a second and dim lights. So is there something special about a bike horn from a car horn? I have two wires with connectors and one bare wire I assume is a ground I hate having that little button and rigged wires so please help if you can.

 

[Tarbash 27]

I gave my horn off my old nissan pickup to my friend and he put it on his 86 honda nighthawk, works perfectly fine.

 

[tconroy]

I was hoping you wouldnt say that.

 

[bonanzadave]

I got a cheap replacement at the autoparts store and put it on an old honda 400. Master Blaster !!\\/

 

[Steve]

Many times, a bike horn will have two connectors: one is connected to the battery (most likely through the ignition key), the other goes to the switch (button) which will ground it, causing it to sound.​

Most of the car horns that I have seen (well, the American cars, anyway) have a single connector. They receive switched power from the button, and ground through their mounting bolt.​

It is easy to convert to a car horn, but first you need to determine whether your bike uses a switched hot or switched ground wire. Disconnect the wires from the stock horns. Turn the key on, use a test light or a meter to see if one wire is hot all the time by connecting one side of your test light to the negative side of the battery, the other to the wire. Check both wires. If nothing happens, change your test light to the positive side of the battery and check again to see if either wire is grounded. You will find that one wire will either be hot or ground all the time, the other wire does the other function WHEN THE HORN BUTTON IS PRESSED.​

Use a relay that is found in the light section of your favorite auto parts store, most likely labeled for fog or driving lights. If it is a square Bosch-type relay, there will be four connectors on the bottom.
One will be labeled 30. Connect that to the battery, through a fuse.
Another will be labeled 87. Connect that to the horn terminal. If the horn as two terminals, connect it to one of them.
Another will be labeled 85. Connect that to the wire coming from your horn button.
The last one is labeled 86. If your horn is switched ground, connect 86 to a wire that is hot only when the key is on. If your horn switches power, connect 86 to a ground.
If your new horns have two terminals, connect the remaining terminal to a good ground.​

It's really much easier to do this than to read it, and you will be simply amazed at the difference in your sound.​

.​

 

[NATEO]

you could try something like this.... I will be upgrading my horn as soon as I get my bonus from work... there were a few times that not having a horn almost cost me....

 

[tkent02]

Better price here..

Better price here..

you could try something like this....

http://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade/productview/2137/?gclid=CPSPxPL1mIoCFQLYYgodyWtUnw

 

[Guest]

I used to run a pair of air horns on a GS650G. Wired in a solenoid just-in-case, with an in-line fuse. A tap on the horn button gave a toot like that from a semi, may have saved me a couple of times. It wasn't very expensive, either.

I did find that I needed to aim the horns down, so that water would drain out of them. And they didn't last more than 2 or 3 years.

 

[rikusa]

horny

horny

There is a small adjustment screw on the back of the horn to allow for differences in voltage. Try that. Rik

 

[tconroy]

Theres got to be a short or something like the button is coroded.I have not taken it apart to see whats wrong.i do have my back up horn and button so i'll just use it till I disassemble the left control switch and take a look.I just put new fork springs in so Im more involved in that right now.Thanks for all the thoughts on this.I appretiate it.

 

[eddiev]

I had the same results when I replaced mine with one from an auto parts store. I thought the horn might be bad so I tested it by connecting it directly to my car battery. It almost blasted my head off. I mean it was one of these real loud obnoxious sounding horns. The conclusion I came to was that the circuit on the bike was no way going to handle the amount of current that this horn wanted to draw. My guess is that the circuit isn't fused because I'm sure it would have blown.
I wound up buying a replacement from the suzuki dealer. Not as good as original but OK. Hppe it helps.
Eddie V

 

[Guest]

http://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade/productview/2137/?gclid=CPSPxPL1mIoCFQLYYgodyWtUnw

I picked up this horn (Stebel Nautilus Compact) on ebay last year, but have still to find a suitable mounting spot and whip up a bracket to use it on the bike ... it is LOUD...I made the mistake of testing it with a battery in the garage#-o ...took a while for the ears to stop ringing . It looks like the 'Bad Boy' horn Nate posted is a knock-off of the Stebel design....almost identical in appearance, except for the stickers and rated performance.

Tony.

 

[tconroy]

I had the same results when I replaced mine with one from an auto parts store. I thought the horn might be bad so I tested it by connecting it directly to my car battery. It almost blasted my head off. I mean it was one of these real loud obnoxious sounding horns. The conclusion I came to was that the circuit on the bike was no way going to handle the amount of current that this horn wanted to draw. My guess is that the circuit isn't fused because I'm sure it would have blown.
I wound up buying a replacement from the suzuki dealer. Not as good as original but OK. Hppe it helps.
Eddie V

Thanks Eddiev.Thats what I was looking for.I am going to borrow a bike horn off of a gs 750 and see if that's what the problem is.

 

[Boondocks]

I bought this 12V SUPER-LOUD AIR HORN set at Harbor Freight on sale for about $10 just because they were cheap. I have no real need for them, and installation will depend on whether I can figure out a practical mounting setup. They may look goofy if not installed right, but should be pretty loud.

 

[cberkeley]

Needed to get the attention of those folk who insisted on driving SUVs while on their cell-phones, so I bought a pair of high / low (500Hz & 400Hz) horns about a year ago from the auto-accessories store. I wired these up via a relay to replace the bike's original pip-squeak horn ....now I command some attention as it sounds like a good old Cadillac or T-Bird coming through and man, it's loud.

 

[tconroy]

cBerkeley,what would happen if you hooked them up without a relay?iIhink the car horn i tried to hook up has too much draw on the oem horn button and that is why it just make a clunck noise and the lights dim.I have a faring with a relay in it that i didnt find till yesterday.The 2 horn fairing horns were never hooked. up.I just wired a button and live wire with inline fuse to one of them and that what Im using.Does your oem horn have 2 plug connectors and a ground wire.I dont know enough about electrical to do me any good.thanks for your info.

 

[cberkeley]

I used the relay because the current draw of the two horns is just too much for the feeble contacts of the OEM horn switch to handle.
Relay is easy to wire:
1. Disconnect the OEM horn and connect the 12-volt relay coil in it's place. Therefore when the horn button is pressed the coil energises and closes the relay contacts.
2. Wire the negative side of the horn(s) to the frame of the bike.
3. Connect the positive side of the horns to one of the relay's contacts.
4. Run a wire from the other relay contact, via a fuse to the battery positive terminal.

 

[tconroy]

Thanks cberkeley!I have 2 horns in my faring and a relay but did not know what it was till now.The po just never hooked it up I guess.I will follow your directions and see what happens!I think the curent draw on this horn Im testing is too much by itself for the horn button. It has a 3 on the back and the bike horns in the faring have a 2 on them.I just dont know what that means,All i know is that it's different.

 

[cberkeley]

Thanks cberkeley!I have 2 horns in my faring and a relay but did not know what it was till now.The po just never hooked it up I guess.I will follow your directions and see what happens!I think the curent draw on this horn Im testing is too much by itself for the horn button. It has a 3 on the back and the bike horns in the faring have a 2 on them.I just dont know what that means,All i know is that it's different.

Quick diagram:
View attachment 1700
Hope this helps, Cletus

 

[tconroy]

Quick diagram:
View attachment 1700
Hope this helps, Cletus

Yes that helps but Im just hookiing up 1 horn where the original one was.I also found a horn relay diaram on google that explains the terminals and what they do.thanks to you and that sight Im learning more about electrical functions.Knowledge and understanding sure beats frustration and confusion any day!Another question for you,Have you put new springs in the front yet?