Putting horn from car on my wing.

[halcombrick]

Hey guys, I am tired of not being heard when I blow my horn when some cager is backing up or coming over on me. So I thought,, both systems are 12 volt,, I will just take the horn out of my old pt cruiser and hook it up on my bike. Has anyone done this? Is the sound the same? And is it simply just plugging it in and bolting it down?

[Maz]

Go ahead and do the swap. You may have to change the connectors on the wiring (not sure what connectors Chrysler use) but it should work fine. The sound will be the same as it was on the car, only louder cos it's out of the engine compartment!
Maz

[Andy Cote]

Great idea. More horn is a good thing. My Valkyrie has both the Wolo Big Boy and the Wolo Bad Max. I just replaced the dual trumpet air horn on the Goldwing with e electronic air horn from a fire truck.

My concern is the wiring harness is too light for a typical car horn and besides making it sound weak and pathetic, will eventually cause electrical issues.

This issue though is easy and cheap to overcome. Buy a relay, an inline fuse holder and some heavy wire. Connect the existing horn wires to the switch side of the relay. Connect the load side of the relay to the battery (using the fuse) and to the horn. That will take the load off the factory harness and give full power to the horn.

[WingAdmin]

There's a fair chance it won't work. The wiring on the motorcycle is as small as possible, just big enough to carry the current for the OEM horns. If you put a horn on there that draws more current, you'll get just a click, a weak "meeep" or you'll blow a fuse. You could also burn out the contacts in your horn switch.

To do this properly, you have to wire a relay in place - a good 30 or 40 amp automotive relay is best, then have the original horn circuit trigger the relay coil. The relay then switches a NEW, thicker wire coming directly from the battery (fused, of course), and THAT powers the new horn(s).

I had to do this for both my Wings.

Incidentally, on my 1100, I put two low-cost FIAMM Freeway Blasters. I mounted them out of site inside the lower cowls (there are mounting spots on the frame for them there) and wired them as I described above. They were VERY VERY loud, and people never missed me.

I put one of each tone in: a High Tone and a Low Tone - together they are extremely loud, and both together didn't cost more than $25.

[NVSB4]

To do this properly, you have to wire a relay in place - a good 30 or 40 amp automotive relay is best, then have the original horn circuit trigger the relay coil. The relay then switches a NEW, thicker wire coming directly from the battery (fused, of course), and THAT powers the new horn(s).

I looked at the How-To "Horn Upgrade Fiamm Freeway Blasters and see the relay wiring:
30 to the new horn power terminal
86 to the existing light green wire
85 to the existing dark green wire and splice in a wire and run to the ground terminal of the new horn.
87 will run straight to the battery with the inline fuse (15a)

How would this be wired using the EC power plate? Could it be used for the relay and fused power or should I have separate relays for both?

[offcenter]

Let me tell ya about my horns.....
I have a 76 Wing with a Windjammer V fairing.
The later Windjammers have a pair of grilled openings on
either side of the headlight so horns could be mounted inside
the fairing.
I bought a set of the chrome plastic horns from Harbor Freight.
When I got home, I realized that I still had a set of very OLD
beat up Fiamm horns on the shelf.
So......
I mounted the ugly Fiamms inside the fairing facing out through
the openings. I then mounted the new chrome horns on either
side of the fairing, outside, facing forward. I hooked all FOUR up
to a heavy duty horn relay and mounted the relay where the
crummy stock horn had been.
Worked like a charm!
Now when I hit the horn button I get ALL FOUR horns and
boy is it loud! And because the horns are from two
different manufacturers, they each have a different note.
I get two different high notes and two different low notes.
Oh the harmony is wonderful!!
Sounds like a friggin' Cadillac coming!!

[WingAdmin]

To do this properly, you have to wire a relay in place - a good 30 or 40 amp automotive relay is best, then have the original horn circuit trigger the relay coil. The relay then switches a NEW, thicker wire coming directly from the battery (fused, of course), and THAT powers the new horn(s).

I looked at the How-To "Horn Upgrade Fiamm Freeway Blasters and see the relay wiring:
30 to the new horn power terminal
86 to the existing light green wire
85 to the existing dark green wire and splice in a wire and run to the ground terminal of the new horn.
87 will run straight to the battery with the inline fuse (15a)

How would this be wired using the EC power plate? Could it be used for the relay and fused power or should I have separate relays for both?

I have mine wired through my EC power plate, so yes you can do exactly this. Instead of running the wire straight to the battery, you run it to the power plate. You still have to put a horn relay in place, because that relay switches just the horn (it switches on when you press the horn button) - the relay for the EC power plate switches on when you turn the ignition on.

[Happytrails]

There's a fair chance it won't work. The wiring on the motorcycle is as small as possible, just big enough to carry the current for the OEM horns. If you put a horn on there that draws more current, you'll get just a click, a weak "meeep" or you'll blow a fuse. You could also burn out the contacts in your horn switch.

To do this properly, you have to wire a relay in place - a good 30 or 40 amp automotive relay is best, then have the original horn circuit trigger the relay coil. The relay then switches a NEW, thicker wire coming directly from the battery (fused, of course), and THAT powers the new horn(s).

I had to do this for both my Wings.

Incidentally, on my 1100, I put two low-cost FIAMM Freeway Blasters. I mounted them out of site inside the lower cowls (there are mounting spots on the frame for them there) and wired them as I described above. They were VERY VERY loud, and people never missed me.

I put one of each tone in: a High Tone and a Low Tone - together they are extremely loud, and both together didn't cost more than $25.

Did you install these horns on your 1500 as well? Just wonder about how they fit.

[WingAdmin]

There's a fair chance it won't work. The wiring on the motorcycle is as small as possible, just big enough to carry the current for the OEM horns. If you put a horn on there that draws more current, you'll get just a click, a weak "meeep" or you'll blow a fuse. You could also burn out the contacts in your horn switch.

To do this properly, you have to wire a relay in place - a good 30 or 40 amp automotive relay is best, then have the original horn circuit trigger the relay coil. The relay then switches a NEW, thicker wire coming directly from the battery (fused, of course), and THAT powers the new horn(s).

I had to do this for both my Wings.

Incidentally, on my 1100, I put two low-cost FIAMM Freeway Blasters. I mounted them out of site inside the lower cowls (there are mounting spots on the frame for them there) and wired them as I described above. They were VERY VERY loud, and people never missed me.

I put one of each tone in: a High Tone and a Low Tone - together they are extremely loud, and both together didn't cost more than $25.

Did you install these horns on your 1500 as well? Just wonder about how they fit.

I tried, but was never able to get them to fit. So I have the two OEM horns in their factory position, along with a set of Rivco Air Horns which blast out an amazingly loud sound.

[PoolDude]

I also have both a Wolo bad boy and bad max on my bike and at the time considered putting the original horns on as well. Then it occurred to me that if those weren't enough to get someones attention then no amount of horns would help. Case in point, the other day I needed the toot the horns to stop a car from backing into me. Everyone in the parking lot had turned to see what was going on except the driver of the car.

[MikeB]

...except the driver of the car.

Ain't that always the way it happens? Sheesh.

[NVSB4]

Did you install these horns on your 1500 as well? Just wonder about how they fit.

I tried, but was never able to get them to fit. So I have the two OEM horns in their factory position, along with a set of Rivco Air Horns which blast out an amazingly loud sound.

Well, there goes that idea. I want more horn, but not quite ready to spend $200 doing it.

[MICK MACK]

I got 2 inexpensive horns off of E bay for abt $12 including shipping from HK (~2 weeks delivery time). I TRIED to put them under the side fairings, but that was more work than I cared to do; so I drilled a little hole in the side cover, mounted the snail horns on the outside of the fairing lowers and used the mounting strap that came with the horns as a back up plate behind the plastic so that the horn mounting nut would not come through the fairing lowers from vibration. I used the factory wiring, they work ... ok; anything would have been better than the factory ornaments that were there, one of which did NOT WORK.

yes... ride like INVISIBLE and many people really do NOT CARE abt ppl on MC's; go figure, simple physics 5000# car vs 800# bike and rider=no competition at all. 80,000# BIG TRUCK vs 3000# car... they have NO CLUE as to SIMPLE PHYSICS and will cut off BIG TRUCKS as if they are not even there. better horns will HELP... SOME OF THE TIME, but they will give a drivers license to a blind dog so... ride as if invisible and don't ride faster than your guardian angel can fly? I have a generic freeway blaster from E bay, I just do not want to do all the wiring for the relay, I have too many wires now for the LEDS that I have all over the bike. I am quickly approaching the upper limit of WIRES EVERYWHERE and I don't even know where they go?

[PastoT]

I do realize you're on an earlier model wing, but my 1800's horns are louder than my truck's horns. I must agree though louder horns do get you noticed. In 1982 I had an 82 Yamaha Maxim and its horns were questionable, so I added a set of air horns and from that point forward I got noticed. Repeatedly I had merging traffic cut in on me due to the intersection configuration, with 1.2 million candlepower of lights they still pulled out into my right of way. For those cagers that pulled out after my upgrade a blast on the air horns put a brief fear of God (or "MAC") into them; one such idiot actually exited the road into the gravel to fill their britches. There are compact air horns with compressors the size of your fist that you might opt to install. The horns on my set were about 8-10 inches long and I was actually able to mount them rather nicely and they weren't obvious (somewhat hidden). Like others have said use a fuse and relay in the power circuit to keep the current load off your stock switch and wiring.

[Happytrails]

Last time I honked my OEM horns at a couple pulling out in front of me they never even heard it above there converstation and they probably had the stereo on. The only thing that possibly saved me was my HID headlights. That and I saw it coming so I was already slowing down.

Seen some people mount the air horns in clever spots. Like the way the Rivco horns look.

[NVSB4]

A friend of mine found a great replacement for the stock horns on the 1500.
The Balkamp 730-1058 (low) & 730-1059 (high) from NAPA Auto Parts for $15.49 each
They are 130 dB and the same size as OEM, so no need to modify anything including the plastics.
I plan on getting some installed this weekend.

Below is his comparison on YouTube.



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[Terry D]

I've put an air horn on previous bikes by using the original horn connectors to trigger the relay and the run heavier wires to the relay then to the newer horn. If you take a horn off a broken down chunk vehicle, just observe the difference in its wires to the bikes wires. In many cases they are the same.