horns barely audible

I recently got caught riding in a heavy rainstorm. Later that day after the
skies cleared I went riding again. I noticed that when I used the horns they
were barely audible. I figured they got wet and would be OK after they dried
out. That was a week ago and they are still very faint sounding. I've been
riding for several years and had six different bikes and this is the first time
it's happenend to me. Any ideas? These are after market horns that have a
car-like sound to them. I bought the bike (85 vt1100) used and they were already
on it. TIA

 

I recently got caught riding in a heavy rainstorm. Later that day after

Not sure if they have a small screw on them or not (there are on mine)
but I had a similar problem and all I had to do was to turn out the
adjusting screw and they both sound fine now....

Fwed

 

Thanks...I'll check that out.

vt1100

 

Very likely, unless you wired them directly to the battery via a relay.
The stock wiring harness is sized to the stock horns, so if your new
horns draw significantly more current you're not going to get sufficient
current.

--
Later,
John



'indiana' is a 'nolnn' and 'hoosier' is a 'solkk'. Indiana doesn't solkk.

 

Good writeup, Gene! It reminds me of the notes I've sent to several
folk about installing LOUD horns on their motorcycles, although I
never went as far as having an impulse relay on any of my
installations -- hmmmmmm . . . interesting idea . . . .

Two observations:

1) There are better airhorns than Wolo. Here are my favorites to date:

http://tinyurl.com/emty7

(http://www.adventurersworkshop.com/...=8007850002033&Category_Code=Stebel_Air_Horns)

-or-

http://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade/productview/2137/539/

These suckers are LOUD and very compact. I have them on my R1100S,
where conventional air horns are a difficult fit, and on my xB cage. I
really like them, and they're relatively cheap.

B) You say:

I would say that ANY horns can't prevent that, so DON'T DEPEND ON YOUR
HORNS!!!

It's nice to have horns that sound like they'd blow away a
Freightliner, but any cage driven by a typical BDC can take you out
regardless of how loud you are. Always have an escape route in case
your horns DON'T wake the dead . . . .

pooder was here in a horny way

 

Yes, measure the voltage across the horn terminals when they are
operated and compare that to what you measure directly across the battery.
The difference is the voltage drop. Better to use an analogue rather than
digital meter because there will be considerable ripple and spikes due to
the way the horn works.

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Probably not. Motorcycles come with notoriously weak meepers compared
to aftermarket horns; especially Fiamms and their ilk. A relay is
always recommended.

I wouldn't do any of those things; I'd run a separate fused wire
(14-guage or heavier preferred) from the battery and use that current
switched through a relay to power the horns. Then you're getting the
maximum from the horns at the least risk to the horn button and the
rest of the wiring.

There's a pretty dang good writeup at:

<http://home.cfl.rr.com/genecash/air_horns/air_horn_wiring.html>

(You can just bypass the impulse relay if you don't want that feature
and you'll still get all the volume your horns will produce.)

I also have a text-only writeup that I could send you if you want. I'm
pooderatcharterdotnet or something like that . . . .

pooder was here still being horny

 

I'm glad to hear (pun intended) that. I thought that might be the
case, but I wanted to make sure that no one gets complacent because
they have loud horns and winds up as a statistic. Extra time is what I
hope for from horns and anything else is a bonus.....

It's selective hearing/vision at work. We tend to hear and see what we
expect to hear and see, and anything else can get filtered out. That's
one of the scary realities about riding a motorcycle . . . . .

pooder was here sneaking in another observation

 

What a *lovely* expression ))

Meep! Meep! Yes, exactly like a dying bike horn.

 

That's why I think every bike should have (at least) 2 headlights on
front so you "look like" a car approaching... also with only one light
is hard for other folks to tell how far it is and how fast it is
approaching...

Mark