Horns

[leggman1]

The original horns that were on my bike when I got it didn't work at all. Too much corrosion and or age. I got a cheap pair of horns on ebay but they sounded like a vespa so I took them off and got a pair of FIAMM horns.
#72102 and#72112.
I put these exact same horns on a BMW last week and they work great.
When I put them on the XS1100 they sound like a 80 year old asthma victim.
If I hook them up individually they work great but one on each side they sound terrible.
I am thinking I might need a heavy wire from the battery to a relay and use the horn hot to trigger the relay.
I will try that next.
The BMW has a horn relay but I am not sure about the yamaha.

[jetmechmarty]

How much current do they draw? I know nothing about the horns, but you're either overloading the wiring/switch, or you're not making good connection someplace, likely ground.

[HalfCentury]

The original horns that were on my bike when I got it didn't work at all. Too much corrosion and or age. I got a cheap pair of horns on ebay but they sounded like a vespa so I took them off and got a pair of FIAMM horns.
#72102 and#72112.
I put these exact same horns on a BMW last week and they work great.
When I put them on the XS1100 they sound like a 80 year old asthma victim.
If I hook them up individually they work great but one on each side they sound terrible.
I am thinking I might need a heavy wire from the battery to a relay and use the horn hot to trigger the relay.
I will try that next.
The BMW has a horn relay but I am not sure about the yamaha.

Connect one of the horns directly across your bike's battery terminals for a brief test. If that is satisfactory, then you need to do the relay thing. That is what I did to my XJ1100. The relay mounted behind one of the side covers. The horns were something like 114 dB.

[MaximPhil]

Definitely need to be on their own Fuse and Relay.

Phil

[leggman1]

These are 133 Db horns and I tried a relay but I guess the bike didn't have enough voltage to trip the relay.
I hooked the original wires back up and started the bike and with it revved up a little they work ok.?
Testing the battery voltage I am getting 12.5
Without it running I was only getting about 10.5 volts from the horn wires.
I will try it with the original wiring and see how it does.
Everything else electrical on the bike works like new.
I will put my charger on it and get it to 100% then try again

[leggman1]

Boy do I feel stupid. I put my smart charger on it at 2 amps and now it is up to 73 percent and the horns work fine.
I HIGHLY recommend these horns to anyone needing a very loud horn. When I am on my bike I like to be seen and I like to be heard.
Many times people have crowded into my lane because they "didn't see me". They WILL hear me now.

[leggman1]

Connect one of the horns directly across your bike's battery terminals for a brief test. If that is satisfactory, then you need to do the relay thing. That is what I did to my XJ1100. The relay mounted behind one of the side covers. The horns were something like 114 dB.

Did you connect straight to the battery for the power to the horns or go to a switched source?
The relay makes a LOT of sense

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Leggman,

How did you wire in the relay?? Remember the Horn circuit is POWER to the brown wires for the horn. The Pink wires are the Negative/ground that is triggered/completed by the handlebar horn switch.

SO..YES, with those size/power of horns you want to use the relay. Power from battery(Separate wire from Aux terminal or (+) battery to relay and then to horn +/ where the Brn wire terminals would go. The Fiamm horns ground thru their case as far as I can remember, but if they do have 2 wire connectors, then make a ground wire connected to the GROUND terminal to the frame where they mount.

Next, run a tap wire from the Harness/Horn brown terminal to the relay. And then plug/run a tap from the PINK(only need 1) terminal/harness connector to the switching terminal of the relay. Then when you push the horn button, it should then throw the relay to send full battery power to the horns and they should sound nice and loud. Sorry I didn't specify the relay terminal #'s, I don't have them memorized.

Okay, let's try this:



87B gets the full battery power connection. The 30 H goes to the + terminal of the horn. Contrary to the digram, the 86S gets connected to the brown + wire from the harness. The Pink wire gets connected to the 85M, so that when you push the horn button it completes the switch circuit to ground, this throws the RELAY and sends the power to horns.

T.C.

[BA80]

These are 133 Db horns and I tried a relay but I guess the bike didn't have enough voltage to trip the relay.
I hooked the original wires back up and started the bike and with it revved up a little they work ok.?
Testing the battery voltage I am getting 12.5
Without it running I was only getting about 10.5 volts from the horn wires.
I will try it with the original wiring and see how it does.
Everything else electrical on the bike works like new.
I will put my charger on it and get it to 100% then try again

I have a set off a Ford F150. Never worked quite right until I ran a heavy guage wire directly from the battery to the relay. This old wiring doesn't carry enough amps to git-er-done. The stock horn wiring/button works fine for grounding the relay to actuate.

[leggman1]

I have the tank and seat off right now so I will try the relay circuit again tomorrow. I thought the brown was the ground?? My ohm meter beeped when I went from brown to a ground?

[HalfCentury]

Did you connect straight to the battery for the power to the horns or go to a switched source?
The relay makes a LOT of sense

Directly from the battery. I installed new fat heavy gauge wire from the battery to the relay and from the relay to the horns.

I also made a new wire with a ring terminal that connects to the frame where the battery is grounded to the frame. This wire is the ground for the horns.

These new heavy gauge wires were run through the frame to the horns. The wiring terminates in female spades that push on the electrical horn tabs.

The only "original" wiring is for the handlebar horn switch to power the coil of relay. The relay coil draws milli amperes so there should be no issue even if the horn switch has accumulated some resistance over the years.

The hardest part is running the new fat wires through the frame and mounting the horns.

[red bandit]

What gauge is that new fat wire?

[leggman1]

I redid the relay wiring I installed yesterday. There is a heavy gauge wire running from the starter solenoid battery side to a inline fuse, then to the relay. The other side of the switched relay goes to the horns. One side of the switch circuit in the relay goes to ground at the frame, The other side goes to one of the brown wires that used to plug into the horns. Both pink wires are horn grounds.
They now are on a relay to handle the load and work just great.
Can you hear me now Ms distracted driver playing with your cell phone???
A few pics and soon a video on youtube

[leggman1]

Youtube link to video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY4EvrQ-wEg

[leggman1]

Pics