Stebel Compact Nautilus Air Horn installation

[rdsmith3]

I had mounted the FIAMM freeway blaster horn a few years ago, and it was a huge improvement over the stock "meep meep" horn. There are two FIAMM horns, a low tone and a high tone. I used the low tone. It is pretty much a plug and play replacement in this bike, but you do have to improvise a little in mounting it. You do not need to modify the wiring. I used this for a few years with great success, but I lusted for more power; more decibels. Remember that a few decibels more will be exponentially louder.

Recently, I installed the Stebel Nautilus compact air horn. It is incredibly loud, based on my garage test. In my garage, it sounds like a train is coming. Now we're talking. The Stebel compact air horn does fit in an R1150R, but it is snug. It is a tight fit, and the fork hits it when you turn the bars all the way to one side. You need to use a relay to wire it. I put the relay inside the fuse box. I also added an in-line fuse. I used 14 ga. wire for the installation.

There is no delay between pressing the button and hearing the horn. I guess that because of its compact size, it does not take a noticable amount of time to build up air pressure.

While the horn sounds really loud in the garage, it is not quite as loud as I hoped on the road. It is definitely a loud horn, and it gets people's attention, but it is not the tractor trailer horn sound that I am longing for. It does have a European sound that is appropriate for this bike, whereas the FIAMM sounded more like an old Buick.

Here are some pictures. I apologize for the poor quality. I took them outside at night time, and they are a bit blurry.

This shows that I mounted them in the same place as the stock horn.



At the bottom of this picture, you can see that I wrapped the wiring in spiral plastic wrap. I drilled a hole in the side of the fuse box for the wires to enter.



With the fuse box lid removed, you can see that I put the relay and the fuse holder in the empty spot in the fuse box.



All connection were soldered. I used marine grade heat shrink tubing wherever possible to cover the soldered connections.

[DJ Downunder]

Thanks Bob...and great job with the pics...this is on my 'to do' list.

I had to use my stock horn the other day and all it did was embarrass myself.

DJ

[Lion_Lady]

I've got the Stebel Nautilus Compact horn on my Rockster, and I find that the sound will actually push cars back where they belong.

I had to use it heading thru Richmond, VA yesterday on our way home from Athens, GA... a full size pick up decided to use my lane to get around a slower car.

I laid on the horn and the truck quickly returned to its position. The driver ducked his head and waved in embarassed apology at me as we continued past him.

P

[chris]

Looks good, sounds great, checked out the sound files on the Stebel site. Shame there's nowhere to fit their Nautical range of small boat horns! They sound fantastic!
I'd love to do this but after the grief I had wiring my towbar on the car I don't have the confidence to start hacking the electrics on my bike!
BTW, I just happily installed a 240v ring main and lighting circuits in the new conservatory no problem...it's just automotive electrics that freak me a little!

[NHighCotton]

Does anyone know the amperage of the stock horn or has install this horn using the stock wiring?

Doesn't the stock horn use a relay?

[baltm604]

The horn fuse is 7.5a.

The stebel nautilas is rated up to 18a. Hence the need for separate wire, fuse and relay.

Bill

[NHighCotton]

Ok it's working and blowing the doors off the garage

Let me run this past the electrically superior to make sure I did this right.

I'm using the old exsisiting horn circuit to trigger the new relay which transfers the power through the new horn circuit that includes upgraded 14gage wire and 20 amp fuse and to my get out of the damn way Stebel horn.

Besides relocating my ground wire and thinking that I wouldn't be using the existing horn circuit I believe I'm in business without worries of burning up my bike, ..... did I do good??


Thanks to all the posters for their help and to http://www.twistedthrottle.com/

[baltm604]

That sounds right to me. In the past I have run the hot directly from the battery, used the old horn switch to run the relay, and ran ground the first convient place on the frame I could find.

Bill

[boxermania]

I bought the FIAMM's 2+ years ago at Harbor Freight Tools for $13 and installed in place of the ABS (If you have ABS, you can't install this set-up)

http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/16855299-L.jpg
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/16855300-L.jpg
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/16855302-L.jpg

Now here is the deal.....I tapped right off the battery with a 20 amp inline fuse (14 gauge wire), this can be seen on the pic from the back of the horns, used the bracket with the horns for the horn relay, piggybacked the small horn on top of the big horn (trimmed some of the end off the small horn to fit the roundness of the big horn and be able to used two back to back rubber covered 5/8" clamps to hold the horns together and a thin automotive hose clamp to hold the horns to an existing ABS bracket with two holes. I put bolts, believe they were 5 or 6 mm to rest the horn(s) there and run the clamp around the bolts and the horn(s).

THe only bracket that I had to make is the one attaching the air compressor to an existing bolt on the computer bracketry. I used the original horn wire, removed the wire ends and brought back to the solenoid part of the relay so I can use my stock horn switch, already fused (7.5 amp), and be able to convert back in a jiffy.

Look at the picks in detail and you will capture what I have mentioned, last time I removed the tank I went ahead and soldered all conections and added heat shrink tubing to all, just for protection even though all is very well confined inside the ABS area.

Haven't had one bit of problems and several ilustrious members of this forum we treated to it's sound, one night during BBII in West Virginia late at night, while we were checking each other's rides and trying to burn the grass with accessory lightning and other interesting gadgets.

Enjoy........

[Lion_Lady]

Did you use the relay that came with the horn?

Had my Stebel horn die after riding in some serious rain... the $2 relay crapped out. Replaced with a $15 relay from Radio Shack and its fine. Ridden in rain, etc. no problems.



P

[NHighCotton]

Like baltm604 I pulled the hot straight off the battery and fused it, I used the small allen bolt rear of the front seat mount as ground (the larger bolt is not grounded). I put the fuse in the fuse box with the rest of them so it should be protected from rain.

I mounted the horn with the bellows pointing rear and the connections pointing fwd and down. I used a piece to flat iron and a spacer on the L/H side of the frame tab so it sits center with the frame, this prevented the forks from hitting the horn. I might make some type of cover over the horns wire connections since they are exposed to the wind, bugs and rain.

I supposed additional lighting would wire up the same, assuming you wanted to use the high/low beam switch as the trigger?

[rdsmith3]

Ok it's working and blowing the doors off the garage

Let me run this past the electrically superior to make sure I did this right.

I'm using the old exsisiting horn circuit to trigger the new relay which transfers the power through the new horn circuit that includes upgraded 14gage wire and 20 amp fuse and to my get out of the damn way Stebel horn.

Besides relocating my ground wire and thinking that I wouldn't be using the existing horn circuit I believe I'm in business without worries of burning up my bike, ..... did I do good??


Thanks to all the posters for their help and to http://www.twistedthrottle.com/

Yes, that sounds right.

Be careful when you hit a really big pothole. The fork compression can knock your horn. DAMHIK.


Does anyone else find it odd that BMW installs a relay for the puny factory horn that you use once in a while, but no relay for the headlights that are always on and draw much more power? What's up with that?

[TX2Step]

I installed one of these beasts on my R1100R tonight. After I was finished I took her out for a spin around the 'hood sans helmet and honked the new horn. Almost broke my eardrums. This puppy's LOUD!!

Here are some photos of the installation:


This is the wire coming from the battery and up to the front of the bike.

The relay is nestled snugly in a spare spot in the electrical box. Yes that is a Kisan Signal Minder in place of the flasher relay. A worthwhile investment!

A veiw of the horn from "starboard".

A fuzzy closeup from "starboard".

A view from below.

Another view from below.

A closeup from below.

Another view from below.

A "port" side view. Note the air intake "snorkel" that goes up under the tank to draw in clean air. And yes, I need to get some black wire ties and get rid of all those crazy colors, I know!!

[MartinW]

Great shots TX2Step.

Did you modify the horn in order to fit it on the existing horn mount or did you make up a bracket?

I have one of these horns (unfitted) which I was about to fit under the seat/tank in the unused ABS space as it seemed a v tight fit behind the forks.

My concern is that where I plan to put it, it will be a bit muted.

[TX2Step]

Great shots TX2Step.

Did you modify the horn in order to fit it on the existing horn mount or did you make up a bracket?

I have one of these horns (unfitted) which I was about to fit under the seat/tank in the unused ABS space as it seemed a v tight fit behind the forks.

My concern is that where I plan to put it, it will be a bit muted.

I made up a bracket using a large heavy "L" bracket that you can buy in a hardware store. I just put it in a vise and bent one leg over 90 degrees and drilled one new hole in it.

At first it looked like it would be a tight fit up behind the forks, but once you get it up in there there's all kinds of room. The biggest issue is routing all of the clutch, brake, and electrical lines around it. My clutch cable was the biggest problem. I had to re-route it to the outside of the left fork, where it now rubs against the fork. I need to come up with a solution for that before it wears through.

Since my bike has ABS I don't have any extra room under my tank. But that seems like a good place to mount the horn if you have the available space. I have heard of some other folks mounting theirs under the tank with good success.

BTW this thing is LOUD. One morning several weeks ago a woman (who had a cup of coffee in her hand) was drifting toward me into my lane on the freeway. I gave her a good blast and not only did she swerve back, she spilled her coffee all over herself. I felt bad but it was a little humorous too.

[MartinW]

Thanks TX2Step. I might keep to the undeseat location and see how it sounds, if not I'll follow the bracket/original location route.

[ErikU]

I installed one last week under the gas tank where the ABS would go. (This was on a non-ABS bike). The install was easy, the only thing you need that it doesn't come with is a couple very big washers. Then it bolts right onto the bike and there is even a perfect spot for the relay too. Electrical was simple.

I was a bit concerned about muffling the sound by putting it under the tank, ha,.. no need to worry about that. My ears were ringing and in pain after the test (no joke). I did a demo for someone else and they were shocked by the noise. ha.

[TX2Step]

I was a bit concerned about muffling the sound by putting it under the tank, ha,.. no need to worry about that. My ears were ringing and in pain after the test (no joke). I did a demo for someone else and they were shocked by the noise. ha.

I was wondering about this thinking that the underside of the metal tank might actually act as a resonator and reflect the sound outward/forward more. I would be curious to hear how it sounds with a full tank vs. empty tank.

Cheers,

Ron

[Sunbeemer]

I installed a Stebel Nautilus horn under my tank using the supplied relay that I installed in the fuse box with new 14 gauge wire directly from the battery to it and back out to the new horn. I just wanted to let anyone else know that might try mucking about with the wiring under the fuse box that you can use the green wire with white stripe coming out of the Horn Relay (the second black box from the left at the front of the fuse box) to trigger the relay solenoid off the old horn (and you can still use the old horn if you just tap into it). But, you should be aware that THERE IS ANOTHER GREEN WIRE WITH A WHITE STRIPE coming out of the third relay from the left (the Fuel Pump Relay) that is a BIT FATTER which can easily confuse you into thinking it's the horn wire -- DAMHIK. Be sure to use the smaller green wire with the white stripe coming out of the Horn Relay or you could deafen yourself when you turn on the key in your garage...