Horn rep

The OEM horn is suboptimal, something more powerful is a justifiable, and a desired, safety upgrade.

I had some positive experience with installing horns on my BMW motorcycles hence a VW/Audi low frequency horn (VW part nr 18G951221) is a personal preference.

They pop up on ebay for ~$20, in addition you will need a proprietary OEM pigtail plug connector (VW part nr 4D097199), again ebay ~$7. One might get these at VW or Audi dealers, of course.

The beauty of this upgrade: no need for a relay, no errors in BMW on board computer.
Moreover, you will be able to scare truckers. Perhaps, I am slightly exacerbating, but the difference is quite amazing. In addition, the new horn fits into the same location as the original one.

Of note, the polarity of connections does not matter, which is also helpful. I cut the wiring about an inch away from the original horn, had to remove (blindly) a plastic zip fastener to extend the wires, soldered the new pigtail connector, protecting the soldered areas with a heat shrunk tubing. It is a bit tricky to mount the new horn in the original site but doable. Thin fingers are of help if you do not wish to remove the left side panel, etc.

It was fun project and the result is very satisfying indeed.
 

DrCohen

Active member
The OEM horn is suboptimal, something more powerful is a justifiable, and a desired, safety upgrade.

I had some positive experience with installing horns on my BMW motorcycles hence a VW/Audi low frequency horn (VW part nr 18G951221) is a personal preference.

They pop up on ebay for ~$20, in addition you will need a proprietary OEM pigtail plug connector (VW part nr 4D097199), again ebay ~$7. One might get these at VW or Audi dealers, of course.

The beauty of this upgrade: no need for a relay, no errors in BMW on board computer.
Moreover, you will be able to scare truckers. Perhaps, I am slightly exacerbating, but the difference is quite amazing. In addition, the new horn fits into the same location as the original one.

Of note, the polarity of connections does not matter, which is also helpful. I cut the wiring about an inch away from the original horn, had to remove (blindly) a plastic zip fastener to extend the wires, soldered the new pigtail connector, protecting the soldered areas with a heat shrunk tubing. It is a bit tricky to mount the new horn in the original site but doable. Thin fingers are of help if you do not wish to remove the left side panel, etc.

It was fun project and the result is very satisfying indeed.
Horn replacement is an interesting issue. I've never been in a situation on my C650GT where I really felt I needed a louder horn, but it's always tempting. There's sadly very little data on the loudness of various candidates as installed and wired on the bike. There also is little good data on how various horn tones affect the behavior of motorists.
I wonder if it isn't better to have a horn that sounds like a scooter (assuming it's loud enough to be audible). If my horn sounds like a bus or a large sedan, will motorists who hear it be looking for a scooter? :unsure:
 

Hack2004

Member
I installed a set of low/high two tone Fiamm horns on my 2017 650GT. What a difference . I have done this with my other BMW bikes over the years. Easy install - 1. take off front side panels, 2) take off the offending meep-meeper stock horn and 3) mount new fiamm horns and 4) keep using stock wiring and relays and switch. People will notice you.
 

DrCohen

Active member
I installed a set of low/high two tone Fiamm horns on my 2017 650GT. What a difference . I have done this with my other BMW bikes over the years. Easy install - 1. take off front side panels, 2) take off the offending meep-meeper stock horn and 3) mount new fiamm horns and 4) keep using stock wiring and relays and switch. People will notice you.
Photo of mounted horns?
 

530I

New member
I installed a set of low/high two tone Fiamm horns on my 2017 650GT. What a difference . I have done this with my other BMW bikes over the years. Easy install - 1. take off front side panels, 2) take off the offending meep-meeper stock horn and 3) mount new fiamm horns and 4) keep using stock wiring and relays and switch. People will notice you.
What model of two tone Fiamm did you use ?
Can you post a link ?
 

DrCohen

Active member
I installed a set of low/high two tone Fiamm horns on my 2017 650GT. What a difference . I have done this with my other BMW bikes over the years. Easy install - 1. take off front side panels, 2) take off the offending meep-meeper stock horn and 3) mount new fiamm horns and 4) keep using stock wiring and relays and switch. People will notice you.
4) I'm pretty sure that the stock wiring does not include connectors for two horns (or even for one non-BMW horn). I'm also pretty sure that the stock wiring does not include relays.
Instructions 1) and 2) make sense, but the rest... :unsure:
 

Billy Goat

New member
I've been attempting to replace the stock single horn with twin tone Hella horns as descibed here https://www.webbikeworld.com/dual-horn-relay-wiring-harness/ using the existing factory wires for the trigger but either with or without a separate wiring harness directly from the battery, the bike seems to flick a fusable link, I assume between the factory horn button and the factory wiring loom horn plug somewhere because no fuses are tripped and the horn will work again for another three second blast after restarting the ignition. Everything I've read seems to make out it's plug and play but not in my experience; two horns will trip a fusable link but one won't. Adding new wiring from the horn button to the new horns looks too tricky for me if you've seen the complex chipboard inside the handlebar contol button panel. Anyone had experience with this this issue?
 

wspollack

Active member
I've been attempting to replace the stock single horn with twin tone Hella horns as descibed here https://www.webbikeworld.com/dual-horn-relay-wiring-harness/ using the existing factory wires for the trigger but either with or without a separate wiring harness directly from the battery, the bike seems to flick a fusable link, I assume between the factory horn button and the factory wiring loom horn plug somewhere because no fuses are tripped and the horn will work again for another three second blast after restarting the ignition. Everything I've read seems to make out it's plug and play but not in my experience; two horns will trip a fusable link but one won't. Adding new wiring from the horn button to the new horns looks too tricky for me if you've seen the complex chipboard inside the handlebar contol button panel. Anyone had experience with this this issue?
I don't own a C600 or a C650GT, but I certainly wouldn't take anything apart (which I think would be asking for trouble.

I have added Stebel air horns to four bikes now, and have always used the stock wires on the stock horn as relay triggers, without issue.

While that webBikeWorld article is pretty old, Eastern Beaver still makes horn wires, if not the exact version that the late Rick K used before. See https://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/Horns/horns.html

What I would do is:

- Order the "Horn Kit with Battery Connectors - allows you to connect directly to your bike’s battery" in either 3- or 4-foot length.
- Also order the "Dual Horn Splitter."
- Hook the rings on that first product directly up to the battery, and the leads marked "Old Horn Connections" to the old horn connections, and the leads marked "New Horn Connections" to the single-pair end of the splitter. And then hook the dual-pair end of the splitter to your new horns.

The quality of Eastern Beaver products is, in my experience with them for about two decades, second to none. So there shouldn't be any glitches.

Also, with a direct connection to the battery and the juice to what had been the stock baby horn, I can't see how the ECU, CANbus, what-have-you, would complain about anything. After all, the relay trigger circuit would be drawing less current than even the stock baby horn used to use. And with power to the new horns direct from the battery, I don't see how the bike's electronic monitoring would know that anything's going on; I could be wrong on this, but I've also bypassed electronic nannies on CANbus systems to install smart-charger and heated-gear sockets.

If this setup mirrors what you've already tried, then I would check your wiring connections, i.e., double-check your work.

Good luck.
 

Billy Goat

New member
Thankyou Bill for your advice - I really appreciate it. I don't pretend to know much in this space and learning slowly.

The wiring harness I installed (pic attached) has the config in the diagram I have drawn (atttached). Perhaps i have made a mistake in polarity somewhere. I am rechecking as you wisely suggested. I just can't help but think that as the issue existed with factory wiring/power and the issue remains under new direct wiring/power, the only constant has been the factory button wiring. But I could be, and often am, wrong, as my wife would know! Will keep at it and thanks again mate.
 

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wspollack

Active member
Thankyou Bill for your advice - I really appreciate it. I don't pretend to know much in this space and learning slowly.

The wiring harness I installed (pic attached) has the config in the diagram I have drawn (atttached). Perhaps i have made a mistake in polarity somewhere. I am rechecking as you wisely suggested. I just can't help but think that as the issue existed with factory wiring/power and the issue remains under new direct wiring/power, the only constant has been the factory button wiring. But I could be, and often am, wrong, as my wife would know! Will keep at it and thanks again mate.
Am I correct that you purchased that wiring assembly, preconfigured like that?

I ask, to make sure that the correct terminals of the relay are being used for the intended purposes. That is, the relay's trigger circuit is being used as a trigger, and the relay's power circuit is being used to complete the power. The relay socket was pre-wired for you, correct?

One other thing. Both of those battery wires are connected to the battery terminals, correct? That is, you're not attempting to use any part of the bike for a ground, correct?
 

Billy Goat

New member
Thanks again for the brains trust, Bill.

Am I correct that you purchased that wiring assembly, preconfigured like that? Yes indeed
The relay socket was pre-wired for you, correct? Yes correct
you're not attempting to use any part of the bike for a ground, correct? Yes, correct, harness wired back to the battery.

I just now noticed that the relay I was using (the lower 30amp one which came with the aftermarket Hella horns) was quite hot to the touch without any use of the bike.

So I swapped it out for the high 80amp one which came with the harness - an voila - we have two blasting horns! I'm still checking and rechecking my work and monitoring the heat issue closely but the new relay is not heating up.

Thanks again for your support Bill!
 

JOSEMACAD

New member
dual-horns-mounted-on-bmw-scooter.jpg
 
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