Horn electrics

[mikemaycga]

I am installing an Stebel Nautilis mini to make the bike more noticeable to oblivious cagers. I bought an accessory wiring harness to help with the install.

The wiring harness directs me to wire ground to a bolt on the bike. Does the F800GS support getting to ground via a bolt to the frame or should I be running it back to the battery? I'm not sure how canbus handles the frame and ground.

Also, if I want to pull power from the existing horn using a positap, which wire triggers the relay? I think I read somewhere that brown is negative (which would answer the question). Also, is it better to connect the new horn wiring back to the original horn connector? Ultimately, that's better for returning the bike to stock form, but I would need to buy the connector. Is this something that the BMW dealer would sell?

For the mounting, I fastened the horn via a bracket to the radiator housing using an L bracket, with the top of the compressor stabilized with JB Weld. Any thoughts on if this will eventually cause the plastic housing to fatigue and fail? I only thought of this after the install. I noticed that others have mounted the compressor to the composite bracket that supports the light pod and instruments. My concern with that location is that there are several wiring harnesses that run through the bottom of that bracket and I was concerned about vibration eventually rubbing through the wire.


[IMG]
photo by mikemaycga, on Flickr[/IMG]

Finally, does anyone have feedback on the reliability of the horn after 2-3 years? I noticed that much of the original install information is from 2-3 years ago. At that time, it seems the most experience was limited to 7 months.

All help is appreciated.

[JRWooden]

I can help a bit.......

You can use the frame for a ground connection, the negative terminal of the battery is still tied to the frame even with CANBus.

The brown wire on the horn is ground ... for whatever reason BMW chose brown for ground connections. The other wire which is green-yellow I think is the "hot" lead. The CANBus monitors current draw for most devices (not 100% sure it monitors the horn), but you might want to leave the stock horn attached anyway for redundancy and tap the green-yellow wire for the trigger (which "should not" not change current profile enough to piss off the CANBus).

There is a thread somewhere on the Naut. install maybe F800Riders?

[mikemaycga]

Thanks for the information. That lets me finish the job.


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[Owly]

My Nautilus is now 7years old and works fine, on a R]1150 GS Adventurer . I fitted a moisture trap , looped tube on the inlet.

My wifes F650 twin, has a Nautilus split in two , compressor on the left, horn on the right side, with a connecting tube - its been there for 3 years and has no moisture trap fitted.

[mikemaycga]

[QUOTE=Owly;19224189]My Nautilus is now 7years old and works fine, on a R]1150 GS Adventurer . I fitted a moisture trap , looped tube on the inlet.

My wifes F650 twin, has a Nautilus split in two , compressor on the left, horn on the right side, with a connecting tube - its been there for 3 years and has no moisture trap fitted.


Thanks, that gives me hope that the horn will survive.

[bklynz00]

Originally Posted by mikemaycga

I am installing an Stebel Nautilis mini to make the bike more noticeable to oblivious cagers. I bought an accessory wiring harness to help with the install.

The wiring harness directs me to wire ground to a bolt on the bike. Does the F800GS support getting to ground via a bolt to the frame or should I be running it back to the battery? I'm not sure how canbus handles the frame and ground.

Also, if I want to pull power from the existing horn using a positap, which wire triggers the relay? I think I read somewhere that brown is negative (which would answer the question). Also, is it better to connect the new horn wiring back to the original horn connector? Ultimately, that's better for returning the bike to stock form, but I would need to buy the connector. Is this something that the BMW dealer would sell?

For the mounting, I fastened the horn via a bracket to the radiator housing using an L bracket, with the top of the compressor stabilized with JB Weld. Any thoughts on if this will eventually cause the plastic housing to fatigue and fail? I only thought of this after the install. I noticed that others have mounted the compressor to the composite bracket that supports the light pod and instruments. My concern with that location is that there are several wiring harnesses that run through the bottom of that bracket and I was concerned about vibration eventually rubbing through the wire.


[IMG]
photo by mikemaycga, on Flickr[/IMG]

Finally, does anyone have feedback on the reliability of the horn after 2-3 years? I noticed that much of the original install information is from 2-3 years ago. At that time, it seems the most experience was limited to 7 months.

All help is appreciated.

Im running my Stebel Nautilus for a little over two years now and so for so good!