Are bike horns different than car horns?

[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:

Hope this helps, Cletus

[tconroy]

Quick diagram:
[ATTACH]1700[/ATTACH]
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?

[themess]

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.

Thanks for the info. I expect that I'll be acquiring one of those. $35 and it includes the relay.

[Mysuzyq]

Thanks for the info. I expect that I'll be acquiring one of those. $35 and it includes the relay.

Just a note....on that site, all the pics show an improperly mounted horn:roll: ....make sure the horn is mounted with the compressor perpendicular to the ground, so the horn bell is facing down as well, as per the manufacturer's instructions....water getting into the horn could cause it to fail quickly otherwise.

Tony.

[tconroy]

I have a relay that was in the fairing but my bike wiring has 3 wires.1 works when I hit the button.1 is always hot and the other I think is the ground. Do i need the inline fuse at terminal 30/51 or should the always hot wire go here? The horn button should go to terminal 86 and the 12v out should go to terminal 87 and the ground is termainal 85. My horn has 2 connectors and a ground wire.that were im confused.

[tconroy]

here is a pic of the back of my horn.Maybe this will help figure out what im taloking about.Should the groun wire on the back of the horn go to one of the horn terminals here?Maybe that's what throwing me off.

[cberkeley]

No, I have no problems with the originals (or simply don't know better :-D ). I run a pressure of about 12-psi in the fork and works well for me.

[tconroy]

OK! Call me STUPID!!!!!! I have on the horn a wire that should go to one of the terminals.It's the one just hanging there.Everything is making sense now. Yes i was making it harder than it seem's.There is a good websight called.www.rattlebars.com that has a simple to read horn diagram for the Valkyries motorcycles that even a dummy like me could understand!!!!But this still leaves one of the oem wiring harness leads unused.I guess thats fused to the oem fuse box that will be changed to an inline fuse for protection so it will not be hooked up,Iam i right on that?

[tconroy]

No, I have no problems with the originals (or simply don't know better :-D ). I run a pressure of about 12-psi in the fork and works well for me.

I just put in new proggressive springs but have not had a chance to try them out yet.It's 19 today for a high and will not be above freezing till next weekend.I still have the option of adding air if need be.From what I hear it make a heck of a difference and it only costs 80 bucks for the springs.

[cberkeley]

I suspect that that ground wire may be internally connected to one of those two terminals. If so, you would need to know which one. an ohmeter would be useful to identify it.

[cberkeley]

If the ground is common to one terminal; then one of the following ohmeter connections should indicate zero and the other a value >zero.

[saddlewarmer]

here is a pic of the back of my horn.Maybe this will help figure out what im taloking about.Should the groun wire on the back of the horn go to one of the horn terminals here?Maybe that's what throwing me off.

wiring is as such as far as i can tell. from battery to ignition switch, ignition switch to one lug on horn, other wire from horn to horn switch, horn switch completes circuit by going to ground when pressed. other scenerio is just opposite, battery to switch to horn lug. other lug to ground. reason for two terminals on horn is so first configuration can work. neither lug terminal should be common to horn body. the lugs feed the coil that makes horn work. simple as i can get it.