questions about my /6 horn

[mfp4073]

My bike didnt come with a horn. I got one off ebay for $5 and it doesnt work, kinda acts like it want to as I can feel it actuate but not make any noise. Do horns fail or do I have another problem?

Also, what is the wiring? From my limited testing it almost looks like the wires switch from postitive to ground when the ignition is turned on? As in one of the wires has power when ignition is off then the other has power when the horn button is pressed when the ignition is on..... was not making very good heads and tails of it.

btw, this is an early /6 with the /5 controls.

[mfp4073]

bump?

[disston]

mfp guy,

I'll check the wiring diagram later if I have time. My trouble is I don't have a horn. I think they are good ideas tho so I'll try to look at the diagram for you later today.

Right now I think you need to find out if the horn is any good. You say it makes a noise, sorta clicking maybe, when you try it? This is the way they act when they are no good. They get water in them I think and the age of stuff with electricity and water is none of it good for a proper horn.

Using a couple of scraps of spare wire hook the horn directly up to the battery. Doesn't really mater which terminal is which, try it both ways. This will tell you if the horn is any good.

[mfp4073]

Ok, so the horn is just a simple circuit, in out, not 2 ins and ground through the housing. I am feeling that the horn is bad and if you say it sounds like the right symptoms I am willing to accept that. I need to come up with another horn, maybe off my truck and see if I can get it to fire. Then I guess its a question of finding a working horn!

[rufusswan]

The horn's sound is usually adjustable. You may find a nut right in the center of the horn, try turning the nut and see if you can 'get some action'.

[disston]

There should be two male spades or two female spades on the horn. Whatever it is hook them up to the battery. Sometimes one of the terminals is connected to ground but this will be a wire ordinarily. Just trying to see first if the horn is any good.

[lightfighter]

im not sure i agree with the horn being a simple circuit.

mine is missing too(what an odd trend?) and I decided to check the wires while I ruminate on where the replacement horn will come from.

the green/black wire is ignition hot. according to the wiring diagram it goes to the starter relay, which seems to support ignition hot being correct.

the other wire goes to the headlight bucket, thru the board, into the handlebar cluster(to the horn switch), back to the headlight bucket, into the "31" circuit(which appears to be a common ground?)

this all makes me wonder why when i put a test light on the second wire, and ground that test light, I get 12 volts when I push the horn button. First guess is that a PO made the horn switch into a simple circuit, and it doesnt actually work the way it shows on the wiring diagram any longer???

[disston]

OK, I looked at the wiring diagram in three different manuals. (that Haynes book has a terrible wiring diagram). The horn is hot with the ignition on. It gets it's power from the starter relay. The horn button works the horn by providing the ground wire. The ground wire from the horn goes into the headlight bucket where it crosses over one or two connections in there and then goes to the horn button. Another wire from the button goes to the common ground, mentioned earlier. It is connecting the ground wires that completes the circuit.

I think you said you have the hot wire. A wire close to where the horn goes that is hot with the ignition on. This wire goes to one of the terminals of the horn. There will be another wire that goes to ground when the horn button is pressed. If anything else is going on then find out where this other wire is or is going or what happened to it.

This idea of completing the ground circuit to make something work is very common in electrical designs of motor vehicles.

It is very plain to see how this works if you look at the wiring diagram.

[bpeckm]

Youse guys are making a mountain out of molehill....disston is correct....

Horns are simple: one wire is "hot", usually switched on with the ignition switch (and it doesn't matter which one is hot), the other one goes to the horn button, which simply completes the circuit by "grounding" the horn. To test a horn, just touch one side to the hot side of the battery (using a wire!) , and the other to the negative side: if it makes noise, the horn works. If it doesn't... well, the horn is nfg.....

[ontic]

Yep, /5 switchgear in a /6 is pretty simple, short story the horn is hot and the switch grounds to the handlebars- longer story the circuit goes from the swtich to the little screw in the top of the switch housing, to the switch housing, to the perch and then to the handlebars and on...
If you take out the screw from the top of the housing the horn won't work (that took me a while to figure out one day). It also won't work on annodized handlebars (I've put /5 switches on my G/S and with annodized handlebars I have had to add an actual actual earth wire up to the switch housing)

screw is visable on top of the switch housing

[mfp4073]

I got to testing and found I do have a horn that works (well if you call that noise a horn... more on that later). Seems as if I am not getting full power to the wires at the horn. I can get it to make noise if I bump the horn. When testing straight from the battery it works fine and makes that dull yak dying noise. So need to dig into my wiring. Suspecting the switch at the handlebar not making full ground.

Next part. Any good ideas for a horn that actually makes some real noise? Never heard a stock horn until today...and well...see the dying yak comment above