I can't find my digital wiring diagram and the scan I have on a
manual is all but useless for trying to read wire colors and follow wires.
Something is odd, and I'm having a hell of a time wrapping my head
around your description. I didn't get to my bike today as planned.
Tomorrow... that should clear a few things up.
If anyone has a good scan of a 450 wiring diagram they could send me
that would also help. Or point me at a link.
At 12:43 PM 3/11/2012, you wrote:
Yeah, looking at the wires to the horn and not the button.
The order you have for the circuit would make sense to me, with
perhaps the addition of having the 12v in being relayed so it's only
hot when the bike is on, but it doesn't match what I'm seeing from
the wiring diagram or the readings I'm getting on the bike. I'm
measuring voltage between each wire and the frame and I get 12 volts
steady from one when the bike is on (0v when off) which would match
your theory, but the other wire should measure 0 volts when the
button is pressed if it just runs to ground. Instead I get +12v on
that wire when the button is pressed.
My measurements seem to match what the wiring diagram in the manual
illustrates, although it doesn't illustrate the horn getting to
ground directly to the frame. If the horn just used those two wires
as the circuit and didn't ground directly then you would be looking
at an incomplete circuit, until you pressed the button and then you
would have a +12v on both wires, which doesn't give you any
electrical difference to power the horn
This dead horn is actually already not the original horn that was on
the bike (also dead, not too surprising for 30 years old) and the
horn I replaced the original with only had one connector, not two
like the original did, and it definitely grounded through the
frame. If I hooked up the constant 12v line it would honk
continuously anytime the bike was on, and if I hooked up the 12v
when the button was pressed the horn honked. I'm starting the think
maybe the original horn had a relay built in, so that the horn would
ignore the trickling voltage until it hit 12v-ish and then it would
use the power from the 12v steady line to actually power the
horn. That's pretty speculative though.
On Mar 11, 2012 8:01 AM, "Pat Patterson"
<<mailto:p...@hot4x4.ca>p...@hot4x4.ca> wrote:
It's 4:40 am here... when I get up (lets not call it morning lol) I
have some things to do to my bike anyway so I'll grab my multi meter
and have a look.
I suspect that it's normal tho.
Actually the more I read and wake up my fuzzy brain something isn't right.
Your testing the 2 wires that go to the horn itself not the wires
to/from the button correct?
My understanding of the horn circuit is as follows.
Batt 12vdc+ -------- 12v+ fuse12v+ ------- 12v+ horn12v+
---------12v+ button(Normally open) 0v ------- 0v ground 0v ----- 0v
neg side of batt. (from ground to batt it's actually frame not wires)
I hope that makes seance to you. If it does and you're getting .2
anywhere I have 0v you're ok. That can be anything from meter
accuracy, to static charge to feedback on the ground side with a bad
ground somewhere (could be on any circuit) If you're getting .2
where I have 12v (and I have the circuit right) then you have a
problem. What I can't say exactly without knowing where in my line
drawing, and maybe not without actually seeing the bike. But I'll be
able to make a good guess just knowing exactly where in the circuit the .2 is.
for reference a car would be;
batt12v+ --------12v+ fuse 12v+ --------- 12v+ Relay 0v ===---coil
side-- 0v horn button 0v----0v ground. Relay 0v ===------ switched
side--- 0v horn - ground. Auto horns ground internally, bike horns
run a second wire back to the switch for ground.
At 02:58 PM 3/10/2012, you wrote:
So I'm up on the road and I realize my horn is dead. I found some
brake fluid dripped onto it and I figure that could have done it in.
I also used my multimeter and found that one of the wires to the
horn has 12 volts anytime the bike is on, and the other has 12 volts
when the button is pressed. What worries me is that the button wire
has .2 volts when the button isn't pressed. That doesn't seem like
the kind of voltage leak that might kill a horn, but I don't see why
it's not 0 when the button isn't pressed and I hate to put another
horn on just to die in another hour of riding because of a voltage
leak (brake fluid leaks are bad enough). Can anybody else with a 450
check the voltage on those wires and let me know if my voltage is typical?
Pat Patterson
Abbotsford, BC, Canada
VA7PDP
Pat Patterson
Abbotsford, BC, Canada
VA7PDP
2001 PT Cruiser
83 450 Honda Nighthawk
78 F350 460/C6 on propane
71 Bronco 302/C4/D20 D44/9" {o===o}
"Just add Lightness-"
Colin Chapman. (1928 - 1982)
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