Horn Replacement

[HIspyder]

I choose to always use a harness with a relay. the stock horns probably pull about 5amps, but the air horn 15 to 18amps. the problem is not the wiring failing, it's that the motorcycle's horn button is directly wired to take the horn's current. It is not designed for 15amps. Horn buttons are known to fail under those conditions over time and replacement is a very expensive and involved operation.


I recently bought a stebel brand horn from Amazon and it came with the relay so I bought the inexpensive plug n play (made by wolo) harness that did not come with the relay

I checked Amazon and not all the stebel's have the relay included.
the more expensive harnesses do include it.

check that whatever you purchase, you get everything you need including a relay.

yeah, good advice not to stand in front of that horn when testing...I remember having my bike parked in my one car enclosed garage and it going off unexpectedly on installation...wow, I didn't let that happen again LOL

the best to everyone

I'll add a bit to this that might save you some wiring. The handle bar cluster horn button switches the GROUND side of the circuit. The horn is fed 12v power directly from a 25 amp fuse so no need for a separate power feed. Just use the relay to provide the high current GROUND side of the circuit to protect the factory button. This way the cluster switch only sees the current to feed the relay, not the horn.

Oh, and installing one on the F3 is really easy, its on the bottom inside the right hand front suspension. The new horn fits the factory bracket just fine.

I installed the Stebel in my F3 and adding the relay took very little time. Definitely worth the piece of mind of protecting the horn switch. I chose to mount the horn directly to the frame. There are holes in the frame in the perfect locations for the horn and the relay. And the right tie rod clears the horn when turning lock to lock.

 

[Indiana Ken]

This may sound stupid....

I just got a 2012 RT.

I purchased a Stebel Air Horn (plus wiring harness), and want to to install it.

Now here's the dumb part.. I am not a just take off all the Tupperware and go at it, type of guy. I dont even know where the stock horn is located on the bike, or what Tupperware to take off.

The manual does not say, and the shop manual I ordered will not be here until this weekend, and I want to get the horn in.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[cptjam]

Horn

F3, under right tie rod, just right of center of bike.
1330 RT, under left side panel, pull to remove. Beware of brittle plastic hook top rear. Pull upper front, lower front, lower aft first. Then brittle hook. Horn inside, 15mm bolt.
early RT, buried left of frunk. Remove all the pushpins you see, unplug wires. Leave horn. Mount new horn where you can get to it, below headlights.