stebel horn relays

[agf]

Hiya folks,
I know this is a bit of a re-hash of old threads and I have been reading them all, but cant find the answer:
I just installed a Stebel compact horn on my naked.
the hassle i have is that the horn blasted a couple of times and now nada. I set the whole system up with the relay, I know all my wiring gets me 12 volts through the fuse to the relay. I know that the wiring from the stock horn terminals is sound all the way to the relay. I know that when I hit the horn button I hear the relay click, but no juice out of the relay to the new horn.
I went to a local auto parts store and tried another relay... nothing.it clicked like it should, but again no juice to the horn. I even tried the oem horn and nothing through the relay, could I have a dud and then tried another dud?
I have tried the horn straight off the original wiring, and damn its loud. so i know the horn is good, butI dont want to burn ut the horn button. So any advice, should I try another relay, anyone have experience with relays failing?

 

[RJ2112]

Hiya folks,
I know this is a bit of a re-hash of old threads and I have been reading them all, but cant find the answer:
I just installed a Stebel compact horn on my naked.
the hassle i have is that the horn blasted a couple of times and now nada. I set the whole system up with the relay, I know all my wiring gets me 12 volts through the fuse to the relay. I know that the wiring from the stock horn terminals is sound all the way to the relay. I know that when I hit the horn button I hear the relay click, but no juice out of the relay to the new horn.
I went to a local auto parts store and tried another relay... nothing.it clicked like it should, but again no juice to the horn. I even tried the oem horn and nothing through the relay, could I have a dud and then tried another dud?
I have tried the horn straight off the original wiring, and damn its loud. so i know the horn is good, butI dont want to burn ut the horn button. So any advice, should I try another relay, anyone have experience with relays failing?

It sounds like you popped the fuse on the line going to the horn....

The purpose of the relay is to route the higher current draw for the louder horn on a path that does not go through the switch. Now, the switch controls the relay, which is a MUCH beefier remote contrlled switch. But, it draws current on a much more direct path from the battery so there's almost certainly a fuse on that path.

If you have a Digital Multi Meter (DMM), it will be easy enough to track down.

The only other possibility is that your ground path has opened up. To get current to flow, you have to have a complete loop back to the battery. Check that as well....

 

[agf]

when I was at the auto shop we tried a different set up relay and that popped the fuse in the rh pod, as it should. The wiring loom for the horn has an in-line 20 amp fuse between the battery and the relay and its totally intact. I thought like you that the earth or grounding was a bit suss, but it all seems to be ok. I keep thinking that it has to be the relay but ??????. maybe instaed of running both wires from the stock horn to the relay I should take the original blak wire to the horn and ground it and also take the black wire from the relay and ground that too?

 

[OZXJR]

I had the same problem with mine,the relay that came with the horn lasted a couple of weeks then nothing.
I bought a new relay and havent had a problem since.

 

[agf]

Yeah thanks Mick I read how you had ditched the relay all together in some earlier threads. I gotta say that coz I read you reccomendation I decided to go with the mod in the first place.
I reckon it must have either been a mix up in the pos/neg from the original wiring to the relay, maybe pushing the relay contacts away from where they should be rather than closing the circuit,it might have fritzed the relay??? and maybe that stuffed the one from autobarn too. I know the connection(pos/neg) to the new horn is right coz its really feeble when its connectd wrong.
I might just buy a new relay at lunchtime tomorrow and keep the fingers crossed

thanks for the responses, if anyone has further knowledge and/or experience that might help, I dont mind if you keep the thread going

 

[RJ2112]

Yeah thanks Mick I read how you had ditched the relay all together in some earlier threads. I gotta say that coz I read you reccomendation I decided to go with the mod in the first place.
I reckon it must have either been a mix up in the pos/neg from the original wiring to the relay, maybe pushing the relay contacts away from where they should be rather than closing the circuit,it might have fritzed the relay??? and maybe that stuffed the one from autobarn too. I know the connection(pos/neg) to the new horn is right coz its really feeble when its connectd wrong.
I might just buy a new relay at lunchtime tomorrow and keep the fingers crossed

thanks for the responses, if anyone has further knowledge and/or experience that might help, I dont mind if you keep the thread going

The relay you are using should have five connections possible.

The three that should be used to connect the horn to the battery are:

NC is 'normally closed'
NO is 'normally open'
C is 'common'

Power from the battery should be connected (with inline fuse) to the 'common' connection.

The lead to the horn's + side should be connected to the 'normally open' point on the relay.

'Normally closed' does not have to have anything on it.

The other two connections apply power to the coil, which is what closes the relay. This is where the wire from the horn switch is supposed to hook in.

 

[CoolATIGuy]

Sidenote, I just bought this wiring harness off Amazon: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0028ZKMM6"]Amazon.com: Plug-n-Play Wiring Harness for Stebel Nautilus Compact Air Horns: Automotive[/ame]

Came with a relay that's worked fine for me since day 1, still going strong. I still have the original relay from the Stebel that I haven't used as a backup.

It cost <$25 shipped for the whole harness, and I got to focus on figuring out how to install the horn and get to using it rather than electrical problems.

Not bashing your problems mate, just a future note to those thinking of putting their own together, and have electrical skills on par with mine (aka, pretty low). :thumbup:

 

[Motogiro]

In addition here is a link Relays to a great reference to most common automotive type relays used which may very well be close to your horn set-up./ Notice the pin/tab/spade call out numbers on the relay like 87, 87a, 30, etc. Since it sounds as if your relay is operational you shou8ld use pins 87 and 30 from battery to horn. This would be in the normally open (NO) configuration of the relay. Your relay may not have callouts on the pins/tabs but it will have a NO configuration with the coil.

 

[agf]

This is how the loom is set up, and matches the wiring diagram from Stebel:
The feed to the relay from the original horn connection is correct the hot(blue) wire goes to terminal85 and the ground wire(black) goes to terminal86.
according to the diagram that came with the horn the power from battery should go via the 20 amp fuse to terminal 30 and then terminal 87 feeds to the Stebel. the negative from the Stebel goes back to negative on the battery.


But I was wondering if terminal 30 should feed to the horn and the battery should feed to terminal 87? Will this make a difference?

thanks everyone for help and advice

 

[Motogiro]

This is how the loom is set up, and matches the wiring diagram from Stebel:
The feed to the relay from the original horn connection is correct the hot(blue) wire goes to terminal85 and the ground wire(black) goes to terminal86.
according to the diagram that came with the horn the power from battery should go via the 20 amp fuse to terminal 30 and then terminal 87 feeds to the Stebel. the negative from the Stebel goes back to negative on the battery.


But I was wondering if terminal 30 should feed to the horn and the battery should feed to terminal 87? Will this make a difference?

thanks everyone for help and advice

That all sounds good as far as the connections go. If the horn has a good ground it sounds like you have a blown fuse or loss of current from a connector between the battery and the fuse to the horn. You can take a test light and see if you have output at #87 on the relay when you hit the horn switch then there is a break in the wire/connection between the relay and the horn.

In this case it really doesn't matter which way/direction (30 to 87 or 87 to 30) the feed is but if there was a different configuration it would.

 

[agf]

thanks cliff,
when I ran a multi meter over the connections I fet full power on both sides of the fuse and certainly on the relay pin so I know that current is actually going in to the relay.
But when I hit the horn button I can hear the relay click but there is nothing on terminal 87, which brings me back to thinking its a dud relay and the one I tried at AutoBarn was a dud as well???.
I was pretty fastidious when it came to routing the wires, studied the diagram a ferw times so it didnt seem foreign. I am happy with all the tests have done so far, so it just has to be a dicky relay, i hope
btw I meet a guy in the parking area each morning and hae asked how the install went, so i relayed ( pun, what pun?) the whole story but hooked it up to the regular wiring for a short blast, It made him turn away like he was waiting for shrapnel or something.
now he wants one but has nowhere to put it on his GXR

 

[Motogiro]

Just for chitz n giggles maybe try the other unused pin 87a? maybe they wired it bass ackwards internally? If you take the wire off 87 and put it on 87a the horn will honk right away cuz that's the normally closed contact. If it doesn't work at all then they have some bad relays.

 

[agf]

its only a 4 pin relay Cliff.
I think I might try a new relay, coz everything else seems to be A-1, I get power to the relay from the horn switch, both the OEM and Stebel horns work from the original wiring, so I have power where I need it there with no shorts or dud connections and the relay triggers( I can hear it clicking away when I hit the horn button) The only prob seems to be that no power comes out of the other side of the relay so it has to be the problem, Has to be


thanks

 

[CoolATIGuy]

Some diagrams here http://flosser.com/fileadmin/files/Pdf/Flosser_Flyer_AIr_Horn_12V.pdf and here Boneman's FZ6 Site - STEBEL Nautilus Horn

Help?

 

[agf]

I've read Boneman's site and the flosser wiring diagram is exactly what I have followed so it has to be dud relays
out shopping at lunch I think
thanks again everyone

 

[agf]

ok new relay is in and its a gem
will post some pics in :
Re: Horny naked member's this is for you...

so I took the relay into an electronics store asked the guy if they carried what I had in my hand and he tested the old one...kaput, showed me the test on the new one....perfect
rewired it all at lunch, fresh tape zip ties and the pics are in the other post
thanks everyone for all your suggestions, very much appreciated

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Been watching this thread and glad you got it figured out.

I have the original Stebal relay (with the kit) on both bikes, no problems although I've heard of failures.

You may want to make sure its protected from the weather. I have mine wired with the actual plug facing downwards (to keep water from seeping into the relay itself).

 

[CoolATIGuy]

I think with the wiring kit I bought pre-assembled, the wires were long enough I was able to leave the relay and everything up under the fuel tank next to the battery, just routed the wires through the same place the other cables came out...

 

[agf]

.......

You may want to make sure its protected from the weather. I have mine wired with the actual plug facing downwards (to keep water from seeping into the relay itself).

thanks for your interest, I've read your comments on the horn too, it helped in my decision to get one.
I thought by using the wiring loom that came from the same supplier and the relay from Stebel I would have no problems.
Its been interesting getting back into a bit more technical work on a vehicle. I haven't done much in the past few years, with cars that are computer driven.
I elongated the power leads so the relay and fuse sit under the left hand pod with a few other relays. most of the loom sits between the frame and airbox on the left and the power and ground in the same sort of location on the right.
I didnt solder joints this time round, but found all my old electrical connectors and pliers (lets me remove it if I have to) from about 20 years ago. I figure under the pod should be pretty safe, and all the connections are well taped