Fiamm Freeway Blaster Horns

[Anonymous]

A couple weeks ago, Mopolopo posted a link to Harber Freight for some Fiamm Horns. I picked up a set last week and hooked them up on Friday.
If you decide to get a set of these, be warned you need a relay. The stock horn button can't handle the load. Each horn draws 5 amps. I had an extra 30 amp relay left over from an R/C battery discharger project I have.
The stock horn, as I'm sure everyone knows, leave a lot to be desired. These things though... wow! I bought 1 low, and 1 high tone. They sound almost like airhorns when both are going. Big difference from stock.
They come with mounting bracket, which were modified for mounting to the frame with a twist and bends. The frame had threaded holes already, and I had chrome acorns bolts in them, so that's where they mounted. The relay was bolted to an unused hole right in front of the gas tank.The horns also come with terminals, and a pigtail so they can be used in 1 or 2 terminal configurations.
Hook up was a snap. The stock horn wires connect to the coil terminals on the relay. It makes no difference at all which way they are hooked up. I ran a 16g wire directly from the battery to the relay power terminal. This wire is protected by a 15amp fuse inline.
The horns are hooked up to the last terminal of the relay with 16g wire as well. All connections were made with crimp-on connectors.
These horns work well, and are reasonably cheap at $10 each. Each one is rated at 130db, the loudest I've seen.

Here's a few pics. That my oldest daughter Paige in the last one. You can see the horns sticking out just outside of the fork tubes. The only thing I can see fouling is the brake line if the forks are under compression and I turn, but I don't see that happening.

[Anonymous]

Nice job.

I got a pair of these (high low)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=40438

from a local auto chain here. They came packaged with a relay which mounted in the same place. A bit of extra cable and a 20 amp inline fuse at the battery. Removed chrome trumpet covers which look wrong against a dark paint job.

Loud. Great investment.

[Anonymous]

Cool! I just bought the one, high-pitch horn. I didn't even know there was another low-pitch one. I didn't use a relay, mostly because I don't have the materials and I just don't want to bother with it. I am, however, only using one horn, at 5 A. You probably previously had a pair of threes for a total of six, so I think I'm alright.

I did before and after sound clips, but I screwed up the before, so here's the after: http://www.michaelstoops.com/motorcycle/new_horn.wav. Note the loudness of the horn over the bike revving at 4K rpm.

Here is a likely rendering of dual horns: http://www.michaelstoops.com/motorcy..._dual_horn.mp3.

Michael

[Anonymous]

Fiamm have a hi/low tone pair of high output "mini disk" horns list in their cattledog as direct replacements for stock units. Rated at 3A each which should be OK without a relay. Unfortunately no-one seems to carry them.

The mini horns appear to be the same size as stock and would look neater than the snails I guess.

You should see cage drivers looking around for the source when given a firm two-tone blast :twisted:

[Anonymous]

I have mine mounted on either side of my headlight. I have the openings pointing straight down in order to reflect the noise in all directions and they seem to work well. I shooed an elderly blind driver away from me today and EVERYONE in the parking lot stopped to see what was going on. The only problem with mounting to the headlight bucket is a lack of a ground for the horns. PS. You only need to connect 1 of the 2 old horn wires to the relay.

Cheers, Steve

[Anonymous]

PS. You only need to connect 1 of the 2 old horn wires to the relay.

You'll have to explain how that works, as it makes no sense to me.

[MichaelHoward]

What Horns??

All I saw was an adorable little girl

[Anonymous]

Jeckler: one of the wires connected to the horn is +12 Volts controlled by the key. The other wire is the horn button on your handlebars which connects the 2nd terminal to ground while activating the horn. When wiring the new horn you run a fused 12 Volt wire from the fuse centre of your bike to the relay so you no longer use the old one for the horn. Perhaps it is possible to use the old power wire but I just followed the wiring diagram that came with the horn.

I hope this helps, Steve

[Anonymous]

PS. You only need to connect 1 of the 2 old horn wires to the relay.

You'll have to explain how that works, as it makes no sense to me.

There are two pairs of wires - one for each of the old horns. You only need either one of these pairs to feed the relay coil. Power is fed down one wire of the pair via the ignition switch and the other wire completes a circuit to ground when you press the horn button activating the relay.

The other pair isn't required and can be tied up out of the way, making sure the terminals can't short to anything.

Then you need a fused (very important) feed from the battery positive to one side of the normally open relay contacts, and a wire to each of the horn(s) from the other side of the relay switch.

Now the trick is if each horn has only one terminal and earths through it's mounting - you're done. If they have two terminals on each horn you have to ground the spare to complete a circuit.

Check the doco for your relay carefully. Some have normally open and normally closed terminals which can be confusing. Hooking the relay up incorrectly can be destructive or loud.

There's a good general diagram here -> http://www.ado13.com/techs/relay.htm

[jimcor]

All together now...1,2,3 CUTE KID!

[Anonymous]

Steve, I think I get what you're saying. Sounds like you jumpered the new wire to two terminals on the relay (power and switch). It was easier for me to just hook both wires up the the relay, since all it's doing is providing power to the coil. Then the fused wire comes directly from the battery to power the horns themselves, and the last connector goes out to the horns.

Dave, my bike only has one horn stock. I was just wondering how Steve got his relay to work with only one wire (not one pair).

Thanks Jim.

[Anonymous]

Dave, my bike only has one horn stock. I was just wondering how Steve got his relay to work with only one wire (not one pair).

Thanks Jim.

The schematics I've got show two US models which have one horn, or an optional second horn. Either way even a single horn will have two wires. I haven't seen a US model GS in the flesh, so can't say if they would be a figure 8 pair or two single wires from the diagrams.

From the schematics you either have an orange/green and green combination to the horn (assuming this would be a figure 8 pair cable if the schematics follow convention), or a black wire and a green wire (assume these are two individual wires).

Orange/green or black are 12v from the ignition switch
Green (in either case) is ground via the horn switch when it's pressed

Whatever your combination, use both wires from your old horn to power your new relay coil. Install new fused wiring for the supply switched by the relay to your new horn(s).

Happiness is a loud horn.

[Anonymous]

Jeckler:
Yep, I did away with the supplied horn +12V due to the small guage. The relays coil and input power came from a single wire connected to two terminals and the battery. Ground came from the 2nd supplied horn wire as my 400 only has 1 horn.

If you ran yours without a new power wire do you not run the risk of burning a wire? I'm not sure of stock wire diameters so I went ahead and ran my own. I've got to say that your way is better than the Fiamm supplied diagram as you don't need another fuse and you still protect the horn button from excessive currents.

Steve

[Anonymous]

The relay is responsible for relieving the original wiring's load. Using the orignal wiring to power the relay itself makes those wire carry less load. The actual work is being done by the new wire ran from the battery.