boyer bransden horn issue...

hey guys - so i have an 850 commando - with a boyer bransden electronic ignition and the power box - so no battery.

i'm using negative ground - with the one power feed (black w/yellow) providing power to the headlight and brake sensors - i branched a line off this line into the horn pushbutton switch - then out the other side of the switch to one of the contacts on the horn - the other contact is led to ground...


when the bike is running all electrics work as they should - only when i press the horn button - no horn - dims headlight, will stall the bike if i keep it depressed....wtf?!!?

what am i missing here? tested the horn on a battery and its fine...hooked up a multimeter to the horn contacts (with it disconnected) and its getting 12v....

thoughts?

Boyers go bonkers below 10.5 V so if not rev'ing enough its possible w/o battery to stall out on just brake [light] use. So suspect some ground loop currents or maybe even a short in horn current path or too little throttle rpm when poking the 'bee under a bonnet'.

I suspect the stock horn draws too many amps to use it in a batteryless system. Swap it out for a small jap horn.

i am using the horn off my cb750 ... same issue - any thoughts on specific bikes/horns (low power) to target?

All horns draw significant current, put a battery in the system, or switch to the clown car squeeze bulb horn like the chopper crowd. Certainly an 8oz. Shorai wouldn't slow the bike down too much. :mrgreen:

ARG. the whole point of not having a battery - is not having a battery.........and the clown horn approach (not that i hadnt thought of it...) wont pass a safety.....theres got to be an option......

Perhaps a mini air horn or one powered by CO2--mine isn't used on the road for years at a time


Tim Kraakevik
kraakevik@voyager.net

ianfotheringham said:

ARG. the whole point of not having a battery - is not having a battery.........and the clown horn approach (not that i hadnt thought of it...) wont pass a safety.....theres got to be an option......

Click to expand...

Old logic, modern sealed batteries are lightweight, don't leak acid, don't discharge as fast as old FLA.

So it should look something like this(wire colours excepted):

http://www.accessnorton.com/clear-wiring-schematics-t15786.html

I suppose there could be a wiring problem. You have a multimeter, what does the voltage drop to on the +ve feed to the Boyer ignition when the horn is pressed? As stated above, the horn will take a large initial current, which may be the issue. You also said the headlight dims, will the horn sound without the headlamp on?

I'd add, that not having a battery is maybe a benefit on a race bike, less weight, less to go wrong, but on a road bike, it has benefits like more stable voltage for your ignition when starting. And being able to sound the horn perhaps

I love the foggy thinkng of some otherwise sensable motoryclers. First Off, No battery means no battery and there's more advantage points in favor of no battery than lugging around an extra mass-wart only needed for a few toots now and then - that likely will be too little too late anyway when a good ole Rebel Yell would work faster better. So Second Off, WTF are you lugging around a horn and its copper leads and terminals and switch for when a plastic bicycle bulb horn is way lighter simpler and louder and likely legal too. Should be worth another 1/2 hp acceleration, .2 sec faster flick over and .025 of a G more in sharper turns, which when on very limits makes all the difference. There are personal protection siren alarms that don't weigh, cost or take up too much room. Heck a bicycle bar mount thumb energized jiggle bell would do it for me. Hell I'd put this on Peel just for the double taking grins...

everybody loves a smartass......

You could always wire in a small 12 volt electronic piezo beeper as used in computers; they are quite loud enough.

Also, the engine need not be running when the horn is tested (for whatever that's worth).

Not to go on a toot.....
I would vote for a battery and the loudest horn you can find. I rarely honk when I'm in my car, but I have steel around me, a seatbelt, airbags, etc. When I'm on a bike I keep my light on (50/90 Watt) and honk at just about everybody so they know I'm there. I have two horns; one wired to the usual purple/black wire and another to the extra red/white wire on the right switch (in case I forget which button to push). If I want to really get somebody's attention, I hit both horns. When you are riding on the street, you want to be seen and heard.

Sorry Chris but you only offer up slow poke head in the sand advice. If you put your seat in a saddle then you are giving up any respect I have to pay attention to your sense of weighing life and death decisions to ride or not, with or w/o a horn or 5. I used to believe in horns so much I rode with my thumb bouncing on the button to keep it-them beeping in close random staccato til realized it only made deer curious to cock their heads a bit before strikes. If panic braking and or maneuvering my hands are not free enough to toot toot toot. I now feel the same about lighed turn signals, if my lights on, speed position and hand waving don't do it then why would I think a winker would. No horn no signals helps live with no battery while seat in saddle begging for it in public. The extra exhaust sounds needed w/o a battery in rainy rush hour inner city stop/go traffic should be warning enough. I know mc's are crazy foolish senseless emotional immature addictions, just I'm not in denial anymore which is a Catch 22 life style.

Note: I bet you think freaked out Yossarian is thinking survival clearly here...
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G41SJUIawVo[/video]

While hobot knows he's off his rocker not to fly with the little fella that walks by and agrees Yossarian is crazy not to with with "him" piloting. Everyone was afraid to fly with "him" because ^EveryTime^ he did he ended up crashing in the water. A few days after this run way Catch 22 the little guy crashed safely in Lake Geneva and sat out the war with Swiss women and food and drink...

christulin said:

Not to go on a toot.....
I would vote for a battery and the loudest horn you can find. I rarely honk when I'm in my car, but I have steel around me, a seatbelt, airbags, etc. When I'm on a bike I keep my light on (50/90 Watt) and honk at just about everybody so they know I'm there. I have two horns; one wired to the usual purple/black wire and another to the extra red/white wire on the right switch (in case I forget which button to push). If I want to really get somebody's attention, I hit both horns. When you are riding on the street, you want to be seen and heard.

Click to expand...

Amen, brother.

I can't argue with the relative uselessness of horns and lights and loud pipes with a lot of the completely oblivious drivers on the roads. Maybe I'm just fooling myself or just making myself feel better. For fun, I alternate the high tone and the low tone to imitate a French police car.
My worst accident was being hit head on by a drunk driver (hit and run) but I have also been rear-ended on the Trans Canada Highway and on city streets, tapped twice by right hand turns from center lane to the off ramp (once by a cop) on highways. Horns and lights wouldn't have helped.
Sometimes, though, a pre-emptive honk will stop somebody who is a little undecided about whether to turn in front of me or not. Maybe, just once, the horn will save me from the BIG ONE.
Alternative strategy might be to go as fast as hell, so I only have to worry about cars in front of me; I think this is the Italian strategy.

christulin said:

Alternative strategy might be to go as fast as hell, so I only have to worry about cars in front of me; I think this is the Italian strategy.

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Maybe not fast as hell, (well, not all of the time :wink: ) but I do tend to roll just a bit faster than surrounding traffic; my thinking that it's easier to keep track of what's in front of me, rather than some bonehead cager running me down from behind. I might just jinx myself, but it's worked since '74 with only one low-speed tangle.

I'll agree with that one, on a more serious note. At a rider safety course, they recommended going a little faster than traffic, move around in your lane and change lanes often so you get noticed more.
Laverda refused to mount rear view mirrors until they were forced to. Their attitude was if you ride one, you don't have to worry about what's behind you.

No baby horns for me. Put on a Stebel Nautilus (also marketed as Bad Boy) in the stock location. You only need one!

Just out of curiosity, do the turn signals have any effect at idle, kill the engine? As it's been mentioned, you could get by with one of the smallest lithium MC batteries. $50

http://www.amazon.com/Ballistic-LiFePO4 ... B005LFS1KU