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New Horn

3K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  BeoBob 
#1 ·
So the supper wimpy OEM horn on my 2013 Cross Country Tour finally took a crap… time for an upgrade!!!!

Did some research and saw all the crazy places people are putting compact air horns on the Cross bikes. Under the rear fender, in the fairing, behind the rear jug, in a lower, etc…

I wanted a stealth install, hidden and out of the way, facing forward, not blasting me. So I decided to install something next to the battery, looks like there’s a good amount of space, right? Wired up a relay, taped, loomed, and zip-tied the wires so it looks like the relay is supposed to be there.

Well, I found there is not enough room for a compact air horn next to the battery… or a Fiamm Freeway Blaster, or a Wolo Big One, or any snail type horn I could find. Ended up buying a Wolo disk type that is barely better than the OEM.

I get everything back together only to find that every time I hit the horn button the cruise control light flashes and all my blinkers flash. Actually it happens every time I release the horn button.

Damn… Inductive kickback. For those who do not know about this, when a relay coil is disconnected from the battery, the collapsing magnetic field can generate a very short duration voltage spike. Apparently it was large enough to freak the damn computer out. The first relay I used was a cheapo, so I tried a better one, but that didn’t help. So I had to tear everything back apart and install a diode across the relay coil.

Problem solved.

So after 10-12 hours I ended up with a horn that is just barely better than the OEM.
 
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#3 ·
Well… I lied.

Yesterday I happened to be passing a NAPA store and decided to stop and see what they had in the way of horns. NAPA always seems to have stuff that nobody else keeps in stock. When I walked in I was greeted by the man at the counter and I asked him what horns he had. He went in the back and came out with a box with like 10 different horns in it. The Fiamm Freeway Blaster looked the same as the Wolo in pictures, but it is just a little smaller. Picked out the low tone because the mounting bolt was on the correct side.

Got home and installed it in 10 minutes. Much better than the disk meep, meep.
 
#5 ·
#6 ·
I installed a pair of Fiamm car horns on the top of the crash bars, next to the frame. No has noticed them, I have to tell them they are there. Damn loud. I used axillary light bar clams by PIAA to support them. Motorcycle Consumer News just did an aftermarket horn comparo and these were their top choice. Cagers think its another car when I hit the horn button.:ltr:
 

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#7 ·
Damn… Inductive kickback. For those who do not know about this, when a relay coil is disconnected from the battery, the collapsing magnetic field can generate a very short duration voltage spike. Apparently it was large enough to freak the damn computer out. The first relay I used was a cheapo, so I tried a better one, but that didn’t help. So I had to tear everything back apart and install a diode across the relay coil.

Problem solved.
Nice work Holmes and a great piece of advice for DIY'rs. thumb up

In electronics land, you've installed what's known as a freewheeling or flyback diode. It provides a path for the current to "freewheel" through a coil (to dissipate the coil's inductive stored energy) when the voltage across the coil reverses polarity (flies back) due to a break from its current source.
 
#8 ·
My horn doesn't even go "meep meep". It tries too, but it is very raspy sounding. It doesn't sound like any horn I've ever heard. I think it's no good but its been like that I'm pretty sure the whole time I've had it. It MAY have sounded normal the first month. I'm embarrassed to hit the horn. I'd settle for a high pitched "meep meep" :D
 
#9 ·
Ricz... Yep, that looks like the one I used. I also recently read something about a horn test, with this model beating out the popular compact air horns. From my experience the Wolo Big One is a bit louder than the Freeway Blaster (having both on the bench at the same time), and the Stebel on my Kawasaki kicks both their butts put together.

Saddlebag... The diode thing is something I leaned installing car audio and alarms 25 years ago, before I understood the physics behind it.

Rebel... Well here is one option of many for you. Don't know if a relay is even needed to run this horn, but it wouldn't hurt.


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