It all started when I wanted to upgrade the wimpy horn on my '99 S3. I figured I would go for the loudest one I could find and based on my research and an excellent post on this forum
Horn Installation I went with the Stebel Nautilus. I forget where I got mine from (eBay ?) but it was about $40 or so as I recall.
You can get them here :
http://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade/productview/2137
Now, as I waited for the horn to arrive I got to thinking about how I would actually mount the horn and also, power the horn. I figured I would just mount it in the same place as the stock horn. I also took at look at the afore mentioned post but as mine is a '99, the alternator is in the way so I couldn't utilize the excellent mount mentioned in the post but not before I bought some steel plate to make the mount however
.
At this point I figured I also liked the idea of a separate power connector strip as I already had my Autocom and Valentine 1 hooked up to the bike and so adding the horn power connection would start to get messy. Based on yet more research (thank you Al Gore for so thoughtfully providing the internet...) I found that some people had added a Blue Sea connector block...like this one:
Again, I forget how much I paid but it was $25 or so off eBay. There are a couple model but I got the 5025
http://www.bluesea.com/product.asp?Product_id=23629 there is a link on this page to the dimensions of the block) which also has a negative bus in addition to the positive bus - I just liked the idea of having everything connected to the some block.
There is another - the 5028 - that does not have a negative bus and is consequently smaller
http://www.bluesea.com/product.asp?Product_id=30994 .
Eventually both the horn and connector block arrived and I was ready to begin. Unfortunately at this point winter intervened and I had to put my poor S3 in the porch and that pretty much meant an end to working on it.
Couple weeks ago I pulled the bike out of the porch and wheeled it into my garage and I began to add both the horn and the connector block.
I first of all removed the V1 and Autocom connections and proceeded to added the connector block. I wasn't sure where to put it (other then under the seat) and I settled in the end in placing it where the tool kit is normally stowed, so I could use the retaining strap that is normally used to stop the tool roll from moving around. I toyed with the idea of attaching it to the top of the tail tidy I have fitted but as the tail tidy is curved, nothing seemed to look or work too well so I figured I wouldn't fasten it in and at that point I needed some way of securing it - hence the tool strap.
I used 12 gauge (I think it was) wire to connect the Blue Sea box to the battery - with an inline fuse and a relay (triggered from the tail lights - which I was using incidentally to power my V1 and Autocom so the wires were already there) so that the Blue Sea box is not powered when the ignition is turned off. I really liked the idea of the relay to ensure that I didn't leave anything on by mistake and run the battery down. I got the relay from Radio Shack and it's a simple auto relay - cost me about $4 or so I think but you can get them from most auto parts type shops . The relay is hidden in the picture but its located under the cross member by the side of the coolant tank.
In the top corner of the image you can see my Autocom lead (I have a similar set up on my ST to allow me to transfer the Autocom between bikes) and my V1 power 'block'
Wiring the Blue Sea box was pretty easy and took me about 2 hours - I am a bit anal (well OK a lot...) so I wanted to make sure it was neat and tidy (cable ties are your friend...)
Another picture of the Blue Sea box but with my Autocom unit 'installed'
It's tight under there but there's just enough room - I have a tail hump which I use instead of the passenger seat.
So I had the Blue Sea box installed...now for the horn.
The biggest problem (now I had some means to power the horn up) I had now was where to put the horn. I really didn't want to put it in the same place as the stock horn as it would really stick out - it's not a small horn. I played around a lot and eventually I took the front sprocket cover off. If you have ever taken that cover off you will see there is a small lip - sorry forgot to take a piccie of that
which got me thinking that maybe I could mount the horn on the cover. It was certainly out of the way and it didn't seem to stick out too much. My only concern was that it would somehow interfere with the chain - not something, given the location, that would be a good thing. However, because of the lip, any bolt used to connect the horn would still not be proud of the lip so I figured what the hell I would at least give it a go. I drilled the hole and mounted the horn - using as big a washer on the inside of the cover as I could fit. I also used a lock washer but I was thinking afterwards that maybe I should have used Loctite also - I may do that if I find it starts to get loose.
At this point I have only ridden to work and back, and I checked the chain carefully when I both got to work and once I had returned home (and listened intently while riding) and the bolt holding the horn in place doesn't interfere with the chain at all. Any comments on this would be most welcome as I am still not 100% its the best place to mount the horn. It does move a little but still not enough, it seems, to 'push' the bolt into the chain.
Once I had somewhere to mount the horn I then had to get power to the horn. The horn came with a relay (very similar to the relayI mentioned earlier when installing the Blue Sea box) and I ran 2 wires from the original horn connection to trigger the horn and ran power from the Blue Sea box. This allowed me to very easily use the existing horn button, with no further modification, to power the horn.
I connected it all up and turned on the ignition and hit the horn. Suffice to say it's LOUD and will surely get someone's attention.
Cheers,
Kevin
[ This message was edited by: Mercury264 on 2006-03-29 07:21 ]
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