WOLO horn

My stock disc horn was making a miserable bleat, so I decided to spring for a WOLO compact electrical/air horn. I mounted it temporarily by the left front triangular motor mount bracket, I don't intend for it to stay there, it's just to get some decent sound immediately.

I lost function of the stock disc horn this week, I had already removed it, blasted it, and painted it, and reassembled/mounted it. No sound, not a bit of a beep, nothing. So I threw my multi-meter onto the horn leads, hit the switch, and measured-nothing. Then I went to the switch, and found voltage, and a closer inspection of one spade female for the horn revealed nearly totally-severed copper strands. I crimped-on a new insulated female after measuring the skinned lead, 12V now.

Then I mounted the horn using a piece of aluminum angle-iron I cut to fit, after drilling two holes, radiusing the portruding end of the angle iron where it hit the round end of the compressor casing, just to tuck it in a bit. I haven't used the relay that came w/the horn but I will, I also bought a watertight ATC blade inline fuse to come-off the battery w/a copper O-ring terminal, & then to the relay.

The horn is much-louder than the pathetic meep-meep of the stocker, and I expect it to be even-louder when I wire-in the relay. I'm gonna use my decibel meter to measure the difference, and may try to get a measure on current draw each way too.

For those of you observant-enough to notice, "my God, he's risking his life, running without a motor-mount bolt!" I took it off while working on the horn to wire-brush it.

I do have a problem though, for some strange reason, I can't turn the bike to the right when I am trying to roll it around the carport :ummm::confused2:

And, in a totally-unrelated comment, I am getting closer to having my bike where I want it mechanically before I decide to disassemble it and to paint/powdercoat parts. PCW came this past week!:biglaugh:

Addendum: I relocated the horn from the lower left engine mount to the right side below the CV diaphragm covers. I used a piece of aluminum L-angle w/holes drilled in it.

That sure is a big horn - looks almost like the Stebel. And you will sure hear a BIG difference with the relay, as without it you'll hardly be getting 11V from the horn switch..

The question remains, where will you mount it permanently?

naughtyG said:

That sure is a big horn - looks almost like the Stebel. And you will sure hear a BIG difference with the relay, as without it you'll hardly be getting 11V from the horn switch..

The question remains, where will you mount it permanently?

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I agree. I have the Stebel and love it. My question is......if one is good....is two better??.....I was thinking of putting on a second one but how much louder do you think it would be? It wouldn't double in decibels right? Maybe 1-1/2 times louder? Or nothing much noticable?

In theory it *should* be twice as loud..

naughtyG said:

In theory it *should* be twice as loud..

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Yeah.....I know all about theory.........What is the real-world conclusion?? I already have a second horn I was going to put in my car. I guess i'll plug it in to the bike first and see what the two sound like together.......I'll have to see if db meters are affordable. I don't have one of those.....

95spfldmax said:

I'll have to see if db meters are affordable. I don't have one of those.....

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You can download one for your iPhone if you have one - app is called SPL Meter by Studio Six Digital. Cost $2 or $3..

naughtyG said:

You can download one for your iPhone if you have one - app is called SPL Meter by Studio Six Digital. Cost $2 or $3..

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i tried a couple of those apps. the prob is that the phone's mic can't handle the dBs--it gets oversaturated

95spfldmax said:

Yeah.....I know all about theory.........What is the real-world conclusion?? I already have a second horn I was going to put in my car. I guess i'll plug it in to the bike first and see what the two sound like together.......I'll have to see if db meters are affordable. I don't have one of those.....

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you can borrow mine, just split the shipping with me and get it back to me before christmas--i have plans for it



Regards from my Taptalking Hercules Android

hmmm I've been using it mostly for music..

dunno NG. maybe cause i was trying them to measure my exhaust notes

Regards from my Taptalking Hercules Android

My oldest brother, a railroad engineer, used a sound pressure level meter to monitor the cab sounds while working. I have it now, & will use it for the horn.

My digital multimeter shows 12.0 v @ the contact spade terminals for the horn. I think the relay & a dedicated 14 ga lead to the relay for power & from the relay to the horn should make a significant difference in amps available to power the horn. Yes it appears to be a Stebel Nautilus copy. I intend to mount it on the left between the V of the cylinders, I have to fab a bracket first. I was thinking of using the screws which hold the intakes to the cyl heads for mounting the bracket. It probably would mean removing it to carb-synch, but so-what? Two screws. I think I would need to remove the plastic chrome vanity cover for the intakes to mount it there in-tight.

ninjaneer said:

you can borrow mine, just split the shipping with me and get it back to me before christmas--i have plans for it

Regards from my Taptalking Hercules Android

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That's nice of you Ninja. I was thinking about picking this up for short money. What do you guys think of the accuracy of this unit? Far from professional grade i'm sure......

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-in-1-digital-multimeter-98674.html

dunno bout grade, quality, but a voltmeter, assumably an meter, plus temp and sound. wow. if its good, i wish i had seen it fore buying mine. would saved alot of space

Regards from my Taptalking Hercules Android

95spfldmax said:

That's nice of you Ninja. I was thinking about picking this up for short money. What do you guys think of the accuracy of this unit? Far from professional grade i'm sure......

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-in-1-digital-multimeter-98674.html

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It's all done to how much sound pressure the microphone can handle. I'm sure it isn't 'pro' for sound and luminosity :confused2:

FYI....my friend brought into a RUSH concert,hold your fire tour, a radio shack spl meter,,,they had speakers all around, sounded great & the spl was about 90db.

rf900flyer said:

FYI....my friend brought into a RUSH concert,hold your fire tour, a radio shack spl meter,,,they had speakers all around, sounded great & the spl was about 90db.

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All Neil Pert could do was 90 db? Was he sitting in a Porta-potty w/the SPL meter?:rofl_200:

I inherited a SPL meter my oldest brother used to measure ambient noise when he was an engineer for Conrail and Amtrak. I haven't used it yet other than a casual use for the stereo. Maybe when I swap-out my stock megaphomes for the UFO 4/1?

I looked at the specs for the HFT multimeter and for the price, they aren't bad. Not professional, not a professional price either. Should be good-enough for your use, whatever the function. Remember, a lot of the use of such an instrument is in how you use it. An old LEO trick for radar was to point the gun at your dash and turn the fan onto whatever speed gave you the reading you wanted using the HVAC fan speed control, so you had something 'excessive' to show the hapless motorist, though sometimes you didn't need to do that, I am told.:biglaugh:

Here is some interesting reading on luminosity and its measurement,
http://www.ledrise.com/shop_content.php?coID=18
pay-attention to the viewing angle and the dispersal of the light. There are handy conversion factors for lux, candela, and lumens. I used to review site plans for residential, commercial, & industrial uses, and the photometric survey was often required. How-much light falls per sq. foot, on the ground, in a parking lot? Or, means of egress illumination meeting a similar standard? I always thought the electrical engineer who sealed those plans had the best job. They get good $ for doing that, and they require a sealed survey from the customer to do it, a subordinate does spot measurements, and a computer program lays-out the readings onto the survey.

I bet if you get that meter and learn how to use it, you will be checking the freezer to see how it's functioning, how-cold the a-c blows in the car, your stereo speakers' SPL (be sure to read the spec for the power range and distance from the driver, and I don't mean the vehicle driver!), light output from your headlight, and whatever other obscure uses you can find.