Horn/Electrical Problem
- Thread starter Dr. Dolittle
- Start date
J
Jack Klarich
Guest
Much easier to remove the horn and replace it with one of these...
Jack told me to do this :lolrolling
Yes I did, I had one on my Panhead LOL
HOW does he do this LOL
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Much easier to remove the horn and replace it with one of these...
Jack told me to do this :lolrolling
Thats Jack, like water--path of least resistance.:newsmile100::newsmile100:
J
Jack Klarich
Guest
HMMM, kind of like lightning, electricity and the dreaded POOF:newsmile100:
J
Jack Klarich
Guest
Somebody mention poof?
That was me Boss:newsmile100:
You guys are having such a good time, I almost forgot...Dr. D's horn is fine, from post #25...just not getting power down to it, as he was able to power it and scare both him and his dog. The shower of sparks has me thinking that the normally hot side is grounded somewhere...there should be no sparks if the ignition was off...
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Hoople
Account Removed
NewHD, has a very good point. According to the factory schematics for a 2009 FLHX (Doc, don't have 2008 prints) the stock factory horn has 2 wires. A Black wire which is ring terminal grounded to the right side stud under the seat. The other wire which (in 2009) is yellow & black, continues on (through a couple of connectors) and ends up at the left grip horn button. A color change takes place for the power feed going into the button. The other side of the horn button (power feed) is now orange/white. That orange/white wire goes to (& gets it's battery power from) the Accessory fuse. The accessory fuse gets it power from the ignition switch which must be in the ON position for the horn circuit to get power.
***In order to have battery power at the Horn, you need BOTH of the following ***
1) Have the Ignition switch ON and
2) Push the left grip Horn Button.
Important: First thing,,, test your test light tool to be sure it works and does not have an internal short. Clip the alligator clip to the Battery Negative Post. Touch the "needle point" of the tester to the Battery positive post. Test light should light and NO shower of sparks should happen.
If you pass the above "tool test",,,now perform the following steps to test the Horn Circuit.
1) Disconnect BOTH wires going to the Horn.
2) Take your test light and connect the red alligator clip to BATTERY positive.
3) Now touch the needle point end of your tester to the BLACK wire of horn wires.
4)Test light should Lite "on" indicating ground side of horn is OK.
1) Now take the test light alligator clip and clip it to FRAME ground.
2) Touch the needle point of your tester to the Yellow and Black horn wire. 3) Turn on ignition key and push the Horn Button on the left grip.
4) Light on tester should come ON when you push the left grip horn Button.
If the above takes place,, your horn is bad.
The 1st 4 steps Tests the ground circuit for the Horn.
The 2nd 4 steps tests the power supply Going to the horn.
***In order to have battery power at the Horn, you need BOTH of the following ***
1) Have the Ignition switch ON and
2) Push the left grip Horn Button.
Important: First thing,,, test your test light tool to be sure it works and does not have an internal short. Clip the alligator clip to the Battery Negative Post. Touch the "needle point" of the tester to the Battery positive post. Test light should light and NO shower of sparks should happen.
If you pass the above "tool test",,,now perform the following steps to test the Horn Circuit.
1) Disconnect BOTH wires going to the Horn.
2) Take your test light and connect the red alligator clip to BATTERY positive.
3) Now touch the needle point end of your tester to the BLACK wire of horn wires.
4)Test light should Lite "on" indicating ground side of horn is OK.
1) Now take the test light alligator clip and clip it to FRAME ground.
2) Touch the needle point of your tester to the Yellow and Black horn wire. 3) Turn on ignition key and push the Horn Button on the left grip.
4) Light on tester should come ON when you push the left grip horn Button.
If the above takes place,, your horn is bad.
The 1st 4 steps Tests the ground circuit for the Horn.
The 2nd 4 steps tests the power supply Going to the horn.
By the way Doc, the "piece of flexible red plastic" is called a Boot. Your too funny!
Not trying to be funny - just my ignorance shining through!
Raining here today and tomorrow so maybe I'll get a chance to poke around some. Thanks for the previous post Hoop! Just what I'm looking for - step by step instructions to follow even if I don't 100% understand what I'm actually doing.
I already did the test on the battery with the test light and it lit up fine and passed the test. I will continue on later today and let you know the results.
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Well, here's what I did and where we stand now.
First some background I didn't mention yet. The Rivco horn setup is actually 2 horns, one inside the stock cowbell and the other mounted low where the engine guards attach to the frame. Gives you a loud, 2 tone sound. I had it installed at the Leesburg rally in 2009. The installation instructions on their website mention the necessity of using a relay when installing.
I began the testing on the lower horn since it's out in the open. Clip to battery + and probe to horn black wire gave no test light. Clip to frame ground and probe to horn white wire (couldn't find a yellow/black) caused the test light to illuminate without turning ignition on or pressing horn button.
Hooked lower horn wires back up and removed the cowbell to get at the upper horn. Saw a distinctive mesh type wire cover that made it easy to trace this wire up to the relay in the battery area. At this point I also noticed a clicking noise with ignition on and horn button pressed that didn't happen if I repeated with the accessory fuse pulled.
Examining the relay wiring to the battery I'm pretty sure I found my problem but I still need some guidance. I discovered that BOTH wires coming from the relay to the battery are connected to battery +. I must have done this when I had all the wires off to install my Hogtunes amp. Now I need to know which wire needs to be switched to battery negative. They're both black wires so that's no help but one of them passes through a black plastic rectangular box that I'm assuming is another inline type fuse.
Sorry to ramble on so much but I wanted to be as specific as possible.
First some background I didn't mention yet. The Rivco horn setup is actually 2 horns, one inside the stock cowbell and the other mounted low where the engine guards attach to the frame. Gives you a loud, 2 tone sound. I had it installed at the Leesburg rally in 2009. The installation instructions on their website mention the necessity of using a relay when installing.
I began the testing on the lower horn since it's out in the open. Clip to battery + and probe to horn black wire gave no test light. Clip to frame ground and probe to horn white wire (couldn't find a yellow/black) caused the test light to illuminate without turning ignition on or pressing horn button.
Hooked lower horn wires back up and removed the cowbell to get at the upper horn. Saw a distinctive mesh type wire cover that made it easy to trace this wire up to the relay in the battery area. At this point I also noticed a clicking noise with ignition on and horn button pressed that didn't happen if I repeated with the accessory fuse pulled.
Examining the relay wiring to the battery I'm pretty sure I found my problem but I still need some guidance. I discovered that BOTH wires coming from the relay to the battery are connected to battery +. I must have done this when I had all the wires off to install my Hogtunes amp. Now I need to know which wire needs to be switched to battery negative. They're both black wires so that's no help but one of them passes through a black plastic rectangular box that I'm assuming is another inline type fuse.
Sorry to ramble on so much but I wanted to be as specific as possible.