Following the wiring diagram, the horn fuse feeds the horn directly. The horn button connects to ground through the dash.
The feed to the horn is therefore hot, so that wire to the horn touching ground will blow the fuse.
I'm assuming that the 2012 circuit is basically the same as the earlier bikes.
Rob
Yeah, I definitely had some exposed wire on those frayed wires. I did a quick and dirty job of re-taping (insulating) the wires individually and then together. This is my temporary fix until I find the time to just re-wire the whole thing. I'm not comfortable taking apart all the wiring, so I'm just going to start where horn wires are first exposed near the forks, then put in some new wire from that point to horn leads.
I have to get new rear tire and chain and sprockets sometime in the next month or two.
I hope this is not the beginning of a big money-pit.
thanks for the clarification, Rob - info. in my head is revised accordingly ... I think I'll stick w/ my relay setup for the stebel ... didn't try the same comparison on the ER6, but on the two prior bikes I had, I was shocked at how much louder even the OEM horn sounded if it was fed by a larger wire ... I know, a bit off topic but perhaps helpful if someone is trying to get a few more db's ... if this ailment applies to the ER6 also, based on your description of the setup, all that would be required is a lower gauge wire from the fusebox to the horn.
cheers,
What I tend to do rather than fitting something like the Stebel is to buy a cheap basic horn and fit it in parallel to the stock horn. You obviously increase the volume, but the new horn is always a slightly different pitch to the stock one so that the combination of the two has a particularly penetrating sound that seems to be able to cut through anything.
The exta horn costs less than a tenner at UK prices so it's a very low cost mod.
Thicker wire might help, but it would have to run the entire pathway - fusebox to horn to horn button to ground, or if you fit a relay, fusebox to horn to relay to ground. I'd use a relay rated at 30A to avoid the possibility of the contacts burning.
The relay won't blow, but the contacts will pit and burn over time if they're not substantial enough, so that the horn very gradually gets a bit less loud.
Where in Cheshire are you?
I bought a new er6f yesterday and love it.
But the stock horn is mediocre so I've been thinking if I can fit small air horns to increase the db's, do you know if this feasible ?
Thanks, Guys.
I read the whole thread and decided I knew enough to try to get the horn working.
I bought the bike for 4 month, and couldn't get the horn to work. The PO (girl, original owner) cut the two wires to the horn, when I connected them the horn still wouldn't work.
I checked the fuse (OK), and sprayed my electrical spray ("Lube Job" I use it on all my electric guitars and amps. GOOD Stuff) on the whole fusebox. I took apart the switch and sprayed it too. Then after reading this thread I took my test light and connected it to the NEG on the Battery. The light came on when I tested both wires while the wires were hooked the the horn and VOILA !! The horn worked !! I still don't know, for sure, the reason it didn't but it's working now.
Thanks to the Forum for being there.
captbruce
My 2012 just 2 weeks after having it the horn quit. Found the while turning the handlebars it strained the horn wires, and eventually broke the wire inside.
Had to strip it after unplugging it, and adding a bit of extra length. Just isn't quite long enough I guess.
Linear Mode
