Amperage for horn circuit? And which horn? Need high duty-cycle unit.

The Mountain

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I am looking at mounting an aftermarket horn. One unit I'm considering is the Denali electric, but it draws 5 amps. Will the S10 horn circuit push that much juice? There are several comments on the product page about the horn not sounding, from people with several different makes, so at least some bikes won't push 5A across the horn circuit (Triumph, Ducati), though a guy with a Suzuki says it works fine for him. Alternatively, Hella, Fiamm, and PIAA all also make electromagnetic horns that purport to be louder.

I expect to be riding in fairly severe conditions, so the horn needs to be able to survive that (extreme cold and heat, heavy rain, mud), and also to handle extensive use. In the past I've read accounts by other riders who took their bikes to foreign lands, only to have the stock horn crap out from heavy use. In my intended destination of India, horns are used heavily, so whatever I get is going to have to handle almost constant use.

Should add that I'm looking at electromagnetics exclusively. Air horns add more wiring and extra complexity, and the last thing I want to deal with halfway up the Himalayas is fighting electrical gremlins or hardware failure in the horn.
 
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jrusell

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I believe it will handle that with no issue.
That said, 1st gen horns are on a shared circuit with other items. I assume 2ns gens also have several items on that circuit.

If I was concerned and have an application like yours I would just run a separate line of nice heavy wire with a fuse sized accordingly.
4 feet of wire and a fuse and relay is pretty cheap. Just use the stock horn wire as the trigger wire.

You don't want to lose other important items because of a stupid horn.

I use a Fiamm freeway blaster with stock wiring, but I don't live in India either.
 

Drif10

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I use the Denali with their additional relay. Had it in use for 4 years now, between two bikes. Ride year round in Canada, so it's had plenty of crap and cold, plus the heat of summers in the south. Works well.

Also rigged a diode across the trigger wires between the horn and my driving lights, so when I hit the horn, they get a very loud sunburn too. :D
 

cycledelic relic

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I mounted dual FIAMM Freeway Blasters on both the 14 Strom 1000 & the 14 Tenere.

The Strom didnt need a relay...just a jumper lead from the orig wires to 2nd horn. Easy fit under the can opener (beak)

The Tenere needed a relay & wiring. The horns were a tight fit in stock location on the forks behind the led light bar


LOUD HORNS NOW
 

WJBertrand

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Use a relay for two reasons. With a relay you can run heavier wire from the battery or your power block to the horn to make sure it can develop full rated volume. Secondly using a relay protects the OEM horn circuit and switch from potential damage. You can use the OEM horn circuit to trigger the relay. I've heard of a few cases on various makes of bikes where the horn button contacts burned and wore out from pushing too many amps through them.
 
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I am considering the denali Soundbomb, Twisted Throttle has a bike specific bracket for S10, but it mounts on the engine. Any alternatives to mount on the frame or crash bar?
 

Superraid

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I am considering the denali Soundbomb, Twisted Throttle has a bike specific bracket for S10, but it mounts on the engine. Any alternatives to mount on the frame or crash bar?
Home made bracket to the underside of crash bar, sound bomb with relay and compressor mounted where the toolkit goes, really gets people out of the way
20211217_122033.jpg
 

The Mountain

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Reviving this thread. In reviewing the Soundbomb Mini page, and the associated "plug-and-play" harness, they don't include the relay with the harness (though they do for their compressor horns that use the same harness). Anyone know what relay it takes?

And on a more general note, reviews of Fiamm trumpet horns on Amaxon frequently mention their vunerability to water e.g. one guy just washed his bike with a hose and the horn stopped functioning. Does anyone know which horns are more, or less, susceptible to water intrusion, or at least to being damaged by water?
 

SparrowHawkxx

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...

And on a more general note, reviews of Fiamm trumpet horns on Amaxon frequently mention their vunerability to water e.g. one guy just washed his bike with a hose and the horn stopped functioning. Does anyone know which horns are more, or less, susceptible to water intrusion, or at least to being damaged by water?
I have the Fiam Freeway Blaster horns and 12 V relay on my 2013.
- 72102 High Note horn - link
- 72112 Low Note horn - link

Still sound great and never had any issues with water. They've been on the bike for 125,000 miles and almost 8 years now.
I mounted them so the openings are pointed to the side and slightly to the rear to help prevent rainwater from being scooped up into the horn.

See some installation info and pictures in another thread.
Horn upgrade-advice needed, Reply #13 - link

More installation info in the attached file if needed.
 

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bimota

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