Air horns on Silverwing scooter

Safe operation on American roads, Especially Florida require a good set of air Horns, I like Hiding these so that the tourist believe they are about to be run over by a truck, Not a Silverwing Scooter.

Happy motoring lloyd 193.

Now that would amuse me

The Wolo Bad Boy is a very compact air horn (the same horn is sold under several other brand names; Denali SoundBomb, Stebel Nautilus, Fiamm Ultimate Blast, and several others).



A caution however: As it briefly pulls 36 A at startup it must be wired using a relay wired to pull 12 V directly from the battery:



Here is a suggested circuit. The 30 A fuse is adequate due to the short duration (25 ms) of the 36 A startup draw:

I have that same Stebel Nautilus horn on the shelf in the garage. I haven't fiigured out a location to mount the darn thing. It sure won't fit under the front cover --or, at least, I haven't seen a location.

My Forza-riding friend has one mounted on the front section of a Madstad windscreen mount. It is loud, and it's humorous to see what happens when he needs to get the attention of an inattentive nimrod drifting into his lane.

So if anyone has a suggestion about locating a Stebel horn, please post your idea.

Tim

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

I have that same Stebel Nautilus horn on the shelf in the garage. I haven't fiigured out a location to mount the darn thing. It sure won't fit under the front cover --or, at least, I haven't seen a location.

My Forza-riding friend has one mounted on the front section of a Madstad windscreen mount. It is loud, and it's humorous to see what happens when he needs to get the attention of an inattentive nimrod drifting into his lane.

So if anyone has a suggestion about locating a Stebel horn, please post your idea.

Tim

Hi Tim, Your Snail shaped Horn can be best located in the left recess For the triple tree clearance, Against the Left storage pocket. Drill two holes for a large heavy duty tie rap to hold the horn in the location explained above, Contact will be experienced with the triple tree. Holding pressure on the handlebar left while Thoroughly heating the left pocket inside with your propane torch tighten the heavy duty tie wrap to pull the horn into a high enough position so that the triple tree does not contact it when a full left turn is done. After thoroughly applying heat a second time and pulling the heavy duty tie wrap again, Determine where your second set of holes should be for the second heavy duty tie wrap to be placed. Of course the stock horn is removed as it is in the way. This is a tough job the first time and you might have someone help you, Mount the horn relay terminals down so that water in this wet location will not destroy the relay. Use the existing horn wires to connect to the relay, Fused ten gauge wires run to your battery will provide current for proper operation of your horn. This is a half day job the first time, So do not get in a hurry. Attach your wires to the horn motor before the installation. This produces a very satisfying result, do not give up. A drop of silicone inside your storage compartment seals the tie wrap holes.

Happy motoring lloyd193.

Thanks Lloyd. While it's not exactly what zi had hoped for I'll sure look into it.

Tim

lloyd193 wrote:

Hi Tim, Your Snail shaped Horn can be best located in the left recess For the triple tree clearance, Against the Left storage pocket. Drill two holes for a large heavy duty tie rap to hold the horn in the location explained above, Contact will be experienced with the triple tree. Holding pressure on the handlebar left while Thoroughly heating the left pocket inside with your propane torch tighten the heavy duty tie wrap to pull the horn into a high enough position so that the triple tree does not contact it when a full left turn is done. After thoroughly applying heat a second time and pulling the heavy duty tie wrap again, Determine where your second set of holes should be for the second heavy duty tie wrap to be placed. ..//.. A drop of silicone inside your storage compartment seals the tie wrap holes.

If I'm reading this correctly you are saying that the horn should be secured to the left hand pocket, now I may be being silly here, but, if the horn is fixed to the pocket, how do you check & 'top-up' the coolant in the periodic services

That sounds hard. Might just have to yell louder. Do love those horns, though. Had some on my ex-Police bike and they could wake the dead. My (err, wife's) new Jeep has a really loud horn also, and with the height of the Jeep, they're at window level. Nice!

The Bern wrote:

If I'm reading this correctly you are saying that the horn should be secured to the left hand pocket, now I may be being silly here, but, if the horn is fixed to the pocket, how do you check & 'top-up' the coolant in the periodic services

You're not being silly bud, but the coolant reserve tank is topped up by the removing the right side glovebox inner pocket.

Over the years I've read quite a few posts from blokes who've bought a Stebel Nautilus or similar small penis compensating horn only to find there's no convenient or large enough space to fit them. Ask them what a relay is and it's a 4 X 4 100 metres race where the athletes carry batons.

Personally I wouldn't waste my money on superfluous junk like that. How often in a year does a rider actually use the OE horn, as an 'over yonder' rider, in an average year my Silver Wing horn gets sounded twice. Once when I test it before it's annual MOT test, the other time is by the MOT examiner when he tests it.

The rare exceptions were when I lived in Cumbria before retirement. I occasionally had the odd press to warn and piss off Herdwick sheep grazing or sitting on fell roads that were pissing me off, It usually did the trick.

My Dutch push bike has a rather splendid black and white polka dot Basil bell, that gets far more use warning dawdling tourists, pedestrians, and annoying the Canada Geese on the riverside cycle paths beside the River Ouse in York. These geese are a nuisance, and their droppings are the size of shotgun cartridges.

Meldrew wrote:

The Bern wrote:

If I'm reading this correctly you are saying that the horn should be secured to the left hand pocket, now I may be being silly here, but, if the horn is fixed to the pocket, how do you check & 'top-up' the coolant in the periodic services

You're not being silly bud, but the coolant reserve tank is topped up by the removing the right side glovebox inner pocket.

I'm a plonker senior moment :lol!:

The Bern wrote:

Meldrew wrote:

The Bern wrote:

If I'm reading this correctly you are saying that the horn should be secured to the left hand pocket, now I may be being silly here, but, if the horn is fixed to the pocket, how do you check & 'top-up' the coolant in the periodic services

You're not being silly bud, but the coolant reserve tank is topped up by the removing the right side glovebox inner pocket.

I'm a plonker senior moment :lol!:

More Comic relief!

LLoyd1939.

cliffyk wrote:

The Wolo Bad Boy is a very compact air horn (the same horn is sold under several other brand names; Denali SoundBomb, Stebel Nautilus, Fiamm Ultimate Blast, and several others).



A caution however: As it briefly pulls 36 A at startup it must be wired using a relay wired to pull 12 V directly from the battery:



Here is a suggested circuit. The 30 A fuse is adequate due to the short duration (25 ms) of the 36 A startup draw:

Cliffyk, Thanks for the great Schematic, This will certainly help anyone attempting to wire up one of the high Amp draw horns. I Have found to get that initial air horn bark that the 14Ga. wire is not sufficient. Using 10 Gauge is the best, 12 Gauge can do, But 14 Gauge is marginal as we are approaching its Amp Capacity. Thanks again.

Happy Motoring Lloyd 193.

IMHO 10 gauge would be overkill, but maybe that's just my reluctance to work with it in tight quarters,

FWIW in the current draw test I conducted (the trace I posted) it was wired with 12 AWG to my 12.6 V 45 A power supply (salvaged from a 1990 IBM System/36 mini-computer).

The published ampacity of conductors is always specified for continuous loads, specific conductor temperature rises, and environmental considerations. As in this application we are looking at a single conductor in air I feel that for practical (and I agree not optimal) use the 14 AWG is adequate due to the very short duration of the compressor's start-up surge.

It is more than capable of carrying the 16 A continuous draw.

If contemporary consumer motor vehicle wiring were judged strictly against published allowable ampacities 99.44% of it would be found inadequate. For example the OEM 130 A generator to battery wire on my '09 Toyota Tacoma is metric 10 mm² (equivalent of 7.5 or so AWG) generally rated for 50 A or so.

However for a short (< 24") run, rarely being asked to actually deliver 130 A, and for the sake of meeting government imposed fuel economy standards (i.e. weight reduction) Toyota went with it. Take a close look at the wiring on a Silver Wing (or any newer car or bike) and you will be stunned by how "undersized" the wiring is...

lloyd193 wrote:

The Bern wrote:

Meldrew wrote:

The Bern wrote:

If I'm reading this correctly you are saying that the horn should be secured to the left hand pocket, now I may be being silly here, but, if the horn is fixed to the pocket, how do you check & 'top-up' the coolant in the periodic services

You're not being silly bud, but the coolant reserve tank is topped up by the removing the right side glovebox inner pocket.

I'm a plonker senior moment :lol!:

More Comic relief!



LLoyd1939.

Wind yer neck in, at least I'm prepared to admit it when I get something wrong

I had a Stebel Nautilus on my X9500 and I loved it!

It occurred to me, however, when I was contemplating fitting one on my first Silverwing, that it didn't have the desired effect on the road; indeed, I realised it was potentially putting me in danger.

If, when riding or driving, I get blasted by a horn worthy of a 40-ton artic I expect it to be attached to a 40-ton artic so immediately look for one in my mirrors and beside me, possibly moving aside to let it pass. I do not look for a motorcycle.

I haven't explained it very well but you may get my drift.

By the way, I have an unused, boxed Stebel Nautilus in my storage unit if anyone wants to pay money for it.
I might fit it on my Suzuki Jimny, though.

cliffyk wrote:

IMHO 10 gauge would be overkill, but maybe that's just my reluctance to work with it in tight quarters,

FWIW in the current draw test I conducted (the trace I posted) it was wired with 12 AWG to my 12.6 V 45 A power supply (salvaged from a 1990 IBM System/36 mini-computer).

The published ampacity of conductors is always specified for continuous loads, specific conductor temperature rises, and environmental considerations. As in this application we are looking at a single conductor in air I feel that for practical (and I agree not optimal) use the 14 AWG is adequate due to the very short duration of the compressor's start-up surge.

It is more than capable of carrying the 16 A continuous draw.

If contemporary consumer motor vehicle wiring were judged strictly against published allowable ampacities 99.44% of it would be found inadequate. For example the OEM 130 A generator to battery wire on my '09 Toyota Tacoma is metric 10 mm² (equivalent of 7.5 or so AWG) generally rated for 50 A or so.



However for a short (< 24") run, rarely being asked to actually deliver 130 A, and for the sake of meeting government imposed fuel economy standards (i.e. weight reduction) Toyota went with it. Take a close look at the wiring on a Silver Wing (or any newer car or bike) and you will be stunned by how "undersized" the wiring is...

More great Information, Thanks again.

Happy motoring Lloyd 193.

lloyd193 wrote:

Safe operation on American roads, Especially Florida require a good set of air Horns, I like Hiding these so that the tourist believe they are about to be run over by a truck, Not a Silverwing Scooter.

Happy motoring lloyd 193.

Conditions here in Orlando are Worse than anywhere I have Traveled in this country. We have been designated as one of the worse drivers in America, We have over a million out of state cars on our streets every day, All these people are on cell phones, Looking down, texting, reading maps, weaving lane to lane and driving into one way streets of course the wrong way. Air horns are a necessity here for survival, I have almost been hit by these distracted drivers many times, Thanks for these great air horns. I Recently completed work on another rear ended Scooter, Seriously injuring its rider.

Happy motoring Lloyd 193.

A bit on the fuses / relay wire size from a rider that approved or sent back big dollar wheels on a daily basis.

Those things were invented so smaller wire could be used in applications where electrical loads may be on/off quickly. Ride more worry less. The BIGGEST issue with the wiring on modern vehicles is the fact that the insulation is NOT good old rubber as in the past. It is made up of a soy compound and who loves soy? Yep your new ride, whether two wheels or four, is a giant rodent picnic. Rodent buffet on wheels.