Horn stopped working

N

Nortoncommandoneil

Joined
Jun 9, 2004
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Hi
I seemed to have lost the current to the horn.( Purple and black wire / Red to horn.) I have changed the 3 spade headlight bulb connector to the headlight bulb and seemed to have lost power to the horn and also the main beam flash button. I have traced the wires back but cant find anything.

Can anyone give me any idea how to check this out, or have I miss connected something.





Thanks Neil.
 
Horn down on a Commando ? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but that'll mean a full strip-down then. :)
 
Yeah, wiring that damned horn was the toughest part, bar none, of a complete re-wiring job I did on mine.

When it fails, I'm just clamping one of those squeeze-bulb bicycle horns to the handlebars. (As an added plus, not only will that be much easier to install, but probably significantly LOUDER.)
 
You can tell? Someone at the factory likened the sound to "a bee under a bucket". I don't remember being able to hear it above 20 mph. In fact, I'm not sure the two protoypes even had one.

If ypou ride in places where a horn is needed, I'd be tempted to look for one of those compact air horns (Fiamm?) and mount it alongside the headlamp shell, with a big cable direct from the battery through a pushbutton next to the throttle.
 
Mine stopped working, I wonder why??? O its fallen off somewhere on the highway.
 
the horn on my sidecar rig died..

..not a problem.
Horn stopped working
 
Nortoncommandoneil said:
Hi
I seemed to have lost the current to the horn.

Thanks Neil.
Click to expand...

I think you will find that the horn is wired so it is always live, and the handlebar 'switch' just earths the end of the circuit.

So the real question is - is it the earth end that has gone, or the power side of things ??

P.S. It has been joked, with some merit, that Commandos were built around, and beginning with, the horn. So owners dread actual horn problems...
 
Rohan said:
I think you will find that the horn is wired so it is always live, and the handlebar 'switch' just earths the end of the circuit.
Click to expand...

Only on pre-1971 models.

Later models have a switched horn circuit with the button ahead of the horn, and power is supplied from the main white (ignition) circuit wiring.

The loss of both the horn and headlamp flasher strongly suggests the white feed to the handlebar switch is disconnected as they are both powered by the same white wire.
 
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