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Stebel wiring problem

6K views 31 replies 8 participants last post by  kawa afterthought 
#1 ·
Okay I even got the pre-wired kit, and can't figure what's wrong!
Horn comes on as soon as I turn the key.

I just wired the fused pos red and neg ground to the battery,
and the blue to the brown/black wire that went to the old horn.

The relay is setup with the blue to the 86 connector on the bottom,
87 connector on the left goes to pos of battery,
30 connector on right goes to pos of new horn,
and 85 connector on top goes to neg of battery and neg of new horn.

Anyone know what's wrong?
 
#4 ·
The Gadget site reference above shows different hook up of the relay...

30 is fused 12V + incoming from battery
85 is the ground
86 is from the horn button lead
87 becomes hot 12 V+ out to the Stebel

Other than that, possibly your 'blue wire' gets 12 volts on it when you start the engine...and that pulls in the relay.

check the voltage on the blue wire while running?

If it is 12 volts, then it is not the correct wire from the horn button.... and you will need to find that.

??

Annie
 
#5 ·
Well I've tried a dozen times. Just as described.
Even tried the other relay that came with the wiring. Same thing. And my ears hurt :)

I can't find my circuit tester, but there's only the brown/black and black/white connected to the old horn. The black/white must be ground.

I just don't understand why it's doing it. The brown/black must be supplying voltage to open the relay circuit when the ignition is on. When it's removed from the relay, there's nothing. When connected to the old horn, it only sounds when the horn is pressed. I just don't get it.

Thanks all for your suggestions, though.
 
#7 ·
you need a voltmeter...
one of those two wires will go hot if the engine is running and the horn button is pushed. That is the one you want to hook to the relay base 86.

good luck





I can't find my circuit tester, but there's only the brown/black and black/white connected to the old horn. The black/white must be ground.

I just don't understand why it's doing it. The brown/black must be supplying voltage to open the relay circuit when the ignition is on. When it's removed from the relay, there's nothing. When connected to the old horn, it only sounds when the horn is pressed. I just don't get it.

Thanks all for your suggestions, though.
 
#6 ·
confirmed
85: ground (to frame or battery)
86: low current input (hot wire from oem/bike horn)
87: power output (hot to stebel horn)
30: +12V input from battery

also, found this posting by Jeep Pirate

Your existing horn wires go on terminals 85 & 86. It does not matter which order. Your positive wire from battery (with in-line fuse) goes to terminal 30. The wire to the air horn goes on 87. Then just ground the other air horn wire.
 
#9 ·
Not an electrician by any means, but have you considered a bad relay, i work on computers all the time and have seen lots of new components dead or malfunction right out of the box, and they are much pricey-er,(is that a word)?

Just sayn. If I am out of line or offline please feel free to ignore, i do that a lot.:eek:
 
#10 ·
I have a grounding horn button system.
I had to run the blue from the ground of the old horn to 86.
I used a coil power adapter from the fused 12v to both 85 and 87.
The ground from new horn and battery are discarded.

Is my bike different from all the others? Is it a problem somewhere?
2 days old and not news I want to start with.
 
#14 ·
From the Vulcan 900 maintenance manual wiring diagram, the horn is a "switched ground" activated device. The Brown/Black wire goes straight to the fuse panel (+12V). The Black/White wire goes to the horn button on the left handlebar grip. The other side of the horn button switch connects to a Black/Yellow wire which connects to frame ground. So, when the horn button is pressed, the connection to ground is made and the horn sounds.

Sounds to me like your bike is wired just like the book says.
 
#11 ·
this is probably my misunderstanding too.
But if you can do the following it should work..


---I cant follow your color descriptions...but the horn button controls a wire that goes hot only when the button is pushed. Find that wire and land it on 86
--- Land the 12+ v fused source from battery on 30
---Then provide a new ground from 85 to the frame or the neg terminal. Direct.
--- Take a wire from terminal 87 directly to the Stebel hot lead.
--- Take the Stebel ground lead to the frame somewhere or the neg terminal.

Then when you push the horn button... 86 energizes the coil to pull in. That causes 30 to connect to 87...which powers the horn..thru to ground.

your bike shouldnt be different...
 
#12 ·
The brown/black horn wire goes hot with the horn button only when it's using the other horn wire for ground.

When it's used with the the battery or frame ground, it's always hot.

Still trying to figure out what's making it different or if it's a problem.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Actually. I kinda resent the armchair (non) electrician crack..... I made my living for many years as an electrician and was formally trained as one.

Since I dont have the manual for that bike, my advice was more generic and would have allowed someone with a voltmeter to figure this out to use this other wire. I put a Stebel on my husband's bike with my voltmeter and without aid of the wiring diagram.......

Have we heard it worked yet anyway?



The guy with the wiring diagram for the bike beats the armchair (non)electricians. Who would'a thunk it! Glad that it's sorted out.
 
#17 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hey Fellas
Why didn't you just buy the wiring harness already made up for the horn. Its $20 at Bikers Highway and then you don't have to jerk around with all the wiring BS, its plug-and -play. For guys like me I need something STUPID PROOF!!
 
#19 ·
If it were me, I would check and double check the wiring again and if you can't pin it down, call Stebel. I am sure they have a troubleshooting line that can help. Just a sugestion my friends,,,,IMHO
 
#23 ·
Getting ready to wire in a Stebel horn and from this discussion it seems that the wiring harness that I bought is not going to work. There is reference here that Timmyg123 has the correct answer to this issue. My question is what is a coil power adapter and where do I purchase it, or is it part of the wiring harness package? Any chance someone could explain somewhat clearer the wiring sequence listed on page one, the last posting by Timmyg123/ I would much appreciate it............Walt E.
 
#24 ·
Walt, the 2nd post gives a link to Gadgets Fixit page for horn installation. It has a clear diagram for wiring using the supplied harness and relay. It is very simple for an electrical installation and I don't know how I could summarize it to make it clearer. For some folks though, electricity is always going to be a magical thing. My FIL was ASE certified but always had problems with the electrical portion. Just a mental block for a purty smart feller. I think the hardest part of the whole is just making sure you have good connections and all your joints are covered in heat shrink. The last connectors I bought from my Auto Parts store were Waterproof. After crimping the plastic shield on the connectors are heated and are their own heat shrink tubing with waterproofing glue inside. They work really well. The fuse holder that normally comes with the horn kit is a barrel type fuse and all the fuses on your 900 are mini fuses. You might pick up a mini fuse holder and appropriate size fuse as well and use that for the feed to your horn relay instead.
 
#28 ·
MrClean, Thanks for the reply. I will let you know how I do with the wiring. Generally, I don't have a problem with these things, but once burnt the entire wiring harness on a riding lawnmower (my wife's) out trying to wire around a cut off switch, so I am a little leery of doing the same on my Agnes. Took me forever to rewire the lawnmower, (with my wife setting over my shoulder telling me I told you so) :)
 
#30 ·
MrClean, One of the easiest electrical hook-ups that I have attempted (and I didn't burn up the wiring harness in the attempt :)))........ The plug-n-play harness was wired exactly like the sticky note diagram, so it took longer to mount the horn on the right side of the bike, under the gas tank than to wire. I placed the relay back in the seat cavity screwed to one of the bolts that hold the plastic battery cover in place and then scared the hell out of the dog when I tested it out. Poor puppy, probably won't come around the bike for a month now.... so, except for running around with one of those t-shirts that promote animosity towards bikers (like "can you here me now a-hole" which I feel are attitudes left over from high school) I believe they can hear me now.........
Thanks again for the help and if your ever in St. Louie, look up Agnes Magee and me......
 
#32 ·
timmyg123: you are correct when you stated that the horn only works when the ignition is on. I am not sure why you would want to honk the horn when the engine is off, which means that the bike is standing still, which means that unless you honk at pretty girls while you set on the curb trying to look cool, it is a waste of time to try and wire the system to work without the key on........ But hey, to each their own way...Right! Glad you have it working the way you want it to, but also glad that I didn't have to go through hoops to get it to work for the practical side of using a horn; that being in a traffic situation where I need to make my presence known..........Walt E.
 
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