In praise of louder horns!

[2wheels]

Just fitted Magnum MSX horn from NippyNormans. First ride out and pedestrian ambles in front of me from opposite side of the road - she froze at the sound of my horn! Makes you sound like a truck and well worth £13!

Strange how these morons always blame the driver/rider. Straight road, modest speed and in plain view. I guess she was lucky that I was paying attention...

(quite easy to fit and original horn can stay in place, but you may want to fabricate your own bracket).

Brian

2011 R1200R - red

[nylife]

you have any pictures of it installed?

[2wheels]

A couple of photos.

Not a very elegant solution! Just a piece of aluminium 1'' x 3'' x 3/16'' with approx. 40degree bend. Fastened with 6mm nylock nuts + lock washers at machine end to prevent slippage. Mk. 2 will have second bend to point horn forward.

[dokotela]

I have always fitted one of these to which ever bike I have. Its the very first mod I ever do, and have always found them very useful.

It astonishes me that we buy bikes with ABS, ESA, a million BHP etc etc, but the horn sounds like a kitten crying. When are the bike companies going to start fitting horns that can be heard?

After all, they cost £13, as 2wheels quite rightly says.

[Sander Abernathy]

Please indulge me for a moment while I ask a question that reflects my lack of understanding of all things electrical.

I assume the new horn is powered by a positive lead from the battery or an auxiliary fuse panel with heavier gauge wire than used for the OEM horn. I further assume that the positive lead to the new horn is controlled by a relay activated by the positive lead to the OEM horn. I'm guessing then that the reason you (and others who have installed a new horn) left the OEM horn in place is that without the OEM horn, the circuit that actuates the relay that sends power to the new horn wouldn't be complete.

Is that correct?

[dbrick]

Is that correct?

Not necessarily. Some wire a new horn that way, but it isn't always required.

I removed the stock bleater, and added dual Fiamms to my R12R by connecting the new horns (in parallel) to the existing wiring. I did this because the early R12RTs came with two horns, suggesting that the wiring and the body controller module would both tolerate the higher current draw for this less-than-continuous use. They do - the magic smoke has not been released, and the circuit continues to work. Loud horns are good.

[deilenberger]

Saw the following horn set on Flea-Bay, looked interesting because they are slim, meaning easier to fit in the rather limited space we have:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 0740644339

They're also cheap. Dunno if they're any good.. but might be worth someone trying them..

[2wheels]

FYI I connected mine using BMW horn wiring kit from Nippy Normans. You conect this to original wiring for the horn(using the BMW connector on the horn). Then spade connectors onto the new horn. I too worry about (possible) increased power consumption and risk to wiring but consider the new horn is more efficient producing more sound for similar power. Also it is seldom used and then only for a second or two...hopefully.

[Sander Abernathy]

Thank you all for your feedback.

After further reading, I think I found the answer I was looking for.

It appears that I should remove the stock horn and the relay goes in its place. The stock positive wire that feeds the OEM horn connects to the relay and the relay is run to ground using the ground wire that was previously connected to the stock horn. That's the part I was missing. I didn't realize the relay was wired to ground. Because I didn't know the relay was wired to ground, I thought the stock horn had to remain in place to complete the circuit.

There seem to be few downsides to doing it this way as the relay is just a few bucks and now that I understand it, the wiring is very straightforward. Most of the work involved is a result of a choice to run power directly to the new horn using a heavier gauge wire and a fused connection rather than relying on the stock wiring. That requires removing the tank but I will be doing that anyway to install a set of auxilliary lights and I can do this at the same time.

I agree with what others have said about the stock horn wiring probably being sufficiently robust to power an aftermarket horn. The horn is only used occassionally and for only for a few seconds at a time. On the other hand a Stebel draws up to 18 amps and I doubt the stock horn draws half that. I think the worst case scenario if one uses the stock wiring is that the horn receives less current than it was designed for and the output is reduced or the circuit is overloaded and the CANBUS shuts it down. If CANBUS shuts the circuit down it makes sense to go this route. Otherwise, it seems logical to assume everything is fine unless the system says otherwise. As for the reduced output, an aftermarket horn operating with insufficient current will likely outperform the stock horn.

[Dr. Strangelove]

You might want to keep the horn pointed downward as forward facing will collect rainwater. It appears to have worked in the current config.

John