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Horn mystery

  • Thread starter Thread starter spindle
  • Start date Start date
S

spindle

Guest
OK in my state the horn has to work to pass inspection. When I hit the button the horn makes one feeble beep. I've cleaned every connection and filled the horn up with contact cleaner. Also pulled the switch apart and cleaned those connections (the turn signal and high beam switch work better than ever). The green orange wire is shared with both the front and rear break switches and they work. I'm getting 9.6 v across the horn connections. When I swiped my son's horn it worked for about 1.5 seconds, then just went beep like the Suzuki horn. Put the son's horn back on his bike and it worked perfect.

Any thoughts are comments would be appreciated.
Thanks
 
9.6v, was the horn attached when you checked the voltage or did you disconnect and check the terminals. If you disconnected they should probably be a little closer to 12v (mine read about 11.3v). If your horn was connected when you measured, you might have bad wiring or a bad ground.

When you dismantled the horn switch, did you take a fine sand paper to the top and bottom of the conducting spring? And the metal cap? I wouldn't recommend taking sand paper to the PCB contacts unless it was REALLY fine, like an 800 grit to get all the oxidization off.

I had a weak horn until I cleaned, than it worked fine.

If this doesn't do it, than start checking and cleaning ground connections and make sure the wiring is in good shape (measure for resistance, should be near 0 ohms), replace if necessary.

Doesn't sound like your horn is the problemif your son's horn didn't work well on your bike either, but difficult to tell since I don't know much about your son's horn.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the reply. The 9.6 was without the horn. It was even less with the horn in line. I haven't sanded anything, but used a really good contact cleaner. I cleaned and checked every connection I could get to. My son's horn is from a 1978 Honda CB750. Looks just like the Suzuki horn.

Thanks
 
I tend to agree with kurifu. Over time, the contacts inside the switch itself will either corrode or even burn. You have to dismantle it (mind you don't lose the tiny spring). Then take a small piece of sand paper and sand two places. The button itself will have a little metal stalk sticking out. Sand the end carefully. Then there will be a small piece of circuit board that has a wire soldered to it. Sand the piece of solder that the button contacts. Reassemble and it should blow, errr, I mean the horn should work fine.
 
Well I took mine apart and it's not exactly like you fellows have. There's several springs and all of the workings for the turn signals and the high beam switch. Playing hell to get it back together. Got 2 springs I'm just not sure were they go and think I'm missing another one.
 
Got it put back together with only one spring left over. Everything works, except the horn which started this whole thing. What I lost was the way the turn signal switch had a "soft touch" or spring back at the end of it's travel. If any knows where to put that last spring (be nice) and fix the turn signals it would be great.
Back to the horn. Tomorrow I'll chase down the ground or maybe even run a separate one for testing. Then I think I'll find something else to take a part and almost put back the way it was \\:D/.
 
After all that work I hate to "spring" (pardon the pun) this on you, but a LOT of horns don't work properly after so many years, and one of the culprits is often corroded wiring, which increases resistance and lowers available voltage and amperage.

An easy fix is to use a new supply wire directly from the battery to the horn incorporating a heavy duty relay. You wire the horn button to the relay in order to trigger the horn, and don't forget to put an inline fuse between the battery and the relay in case there is ever a short circuit down the line. You wouldn't want to experience a blaring horn (and hot wiring) that can't easily be turned off!

Incidentally, this is the way many of us install aftermarket, louder horns on our bikes, because the original wiring and switch generally won't provide enough amperage to run heftier horns.

Good luck with it!
 
I'll bet that if you put the horn right to the battery it'll sound just fine. There's excess resistance somewhere along the line. I'd try running jumper wires to replace sections of the wiring harness until you find the part that has the bad patch.

Too bad about messing up the turn signal switch. The exploded schematics at:

http://houseofmotorcycles.bikebandit.com/

may give you a hint as to what went where.

MarkF
 
Ok, based on what you are telling me, that the voltage drops when the horn is attached, you have high resistance somewhere in the wiring, your horn is probably working fine.

Check all connectors, start with the ground, you may even have to replace wires to get it working again, the good news is that the circuit is pretty simply, so aslong as you follow from both posts on the horn back to the battery, you will eventually find the source of the problem.
 
spindle said:
Got it put back together with only one spring left over. Everything works, except the horn which started this whole thing. What I lost was the way the turn signal switch had a "soft touch" or spring back at the end of it's travel. If any knows where to put that last spring (be nice) and fix the turn signals it would be great.
Back to the horn. Tomorrow I'll chase down the ground or maybe even run a separate one for testing. Then I think I'll find something else to take a part and almost put back the way it was \\:D/.
Click to expand...
my spring was missing for the turn signal spring back, po had it apart. there is a slot behind the button the spring fits in to. catches both sides of button. if you don't want to put it in, send it to me!!! i can't find a spring of the right type for mine. took the wifes bike apart, thats how i know mine is missing.
 
9.6 v will not work your horn. start checking wiring and grounds. you can check your switch and one side and see if you have 12 v. if so go back from there. if memory is right, the switch provides the ground for the horn. other side of switch should be 0 ohms to ground.
 
I wonder if i'm the only one who read this thread and said "how the F*(#) did these guys get the switch apart with out breaking the lil nobby thing that holds the circuit board to the housing..?" If anyone has some tips i'd LOVE to hear them, the springs aren't that big of a deal (if I remember correctly, there are 4?, 1 for the horn, 1 for the up/down at the top of the switch, 1 for the left/right in the middle (between the 2 inside pieces) and 1 that holds the ball bearing in place) But the again it was a while ago, and there was a lot of electronic's cleaner fumes in the air...

Anyways, any suggestions on how to remove that button (the big 1) without breaking it?
 
get a push button switch and by-pass the horn switch, tape it to the bars, then go pass inspection, when all is said and done remove said mickey mouse button and go on using your finger.
 
Shoot, how many times has anyone here used their horn? Except to razz someone?
I'm too busy getting the f*ck out of the way to blow my horn which no one hears anyway.
Oh yeah. State inspection:?
 
Horn

Horn

If you want to pass inspection the easy way, you can go to the toy store and get a 3 dollar plastic bulb horn and install it on the handle bars. They're really loud and will easily pass the test (unless Missouri happens to ban those types; I bet they don't.)

Horns seem to be problematic on these bikes. Here's what I did and my horn works perfectly:
I grounded the horn, itself, at the installation location. Then, I ran a wire from the other connector directly to the battery with a fuse in between. It's as simple as that. In a sense, you're creating a permanent relay and it will work perfectly any time you push the button.

(By the way, I agree with the chef.....when I get in trouble, I concentrate on getting the hell out of the way.)8-[
 
I had a similar problem with my 1977 CB550. If the bike was off, it didn't send enough voltage to operate the horn, probably a result of 30 year old wiring. Once the bike was running, had a fully charged battery with a properly working charging system, the horn and signals would work. Horn nor signals worked properly if the motor was off ~

JM
 
Thanks for all of the replies.
I had been thinking about using a squeeze bulb horn. Just kind of took it as point pride (stupidity?) to not be beat by a horn.
I counted 6 springs. One under each copper connector 3, one to keep tension on the ball baring, one for the headlight switch, and one for the turn signals, my extra.
Taking it apart the first time was the easy part:shock:. It just kind of handgrenaded in my hand. The button stays in place and everything gets installed on top of it. I've taken it apart several times now.
 
The point is not so much that the horn needs to work, it's that the electrical connections need to be solid. Getting the horn going is an excuse to review the wiring loom before something important melts.

MarkF
 
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