A much needed upgrade

Esti1300

Esti1300

Joined
Aug 30, 2020
Messages
1,221
Location
Williamstown, ON
Bike
'06 ST1300A
Most have already done this to their rides and IMHO this is not a farkle. It a necessary safety upgrade. The FIAMM Freeway Blaster. I chose the lower frequency option. The claim is 133db at 4” distance IMG_3630.jpeg

I’ve taken care of being seen with the full LED lighting upgrade. Now I will also be heard… when necessary of course.
Installed in less than 5 min and fits right in the pocket where the old “meeper” used to live. No special wiring needed or relays as many have posted before. The OEM blade connectors slide right in place. The only thing I added that wasn’t in the package is a rubber washer to dampen any buzzing sound from the horn with metal to metal contact.

IMG_3632.jpegIMG_3631.jpeg

I haven’t re-installed the right inner fairing panel yet. It may be a little tighter than before.

The result of this CDN $20 upgrade is a horn that is actually louder and meatier than my car horn which is also a Honda (what’s with Honda’s and terrible horns?). :thumb:
 
Why just use the low tone? There is room in there to mount both the high and low tone Fiamms.

New Horn | ST1300 Related

Is the a replacement horn I can get locally, something that is louder and will fit in with minimal work?
www.st-owners.com www.st-owners.com
 
dduelin said:
Why just use the low tone? There is room in there to mount both the high and low tone Fiamms.

New Horn | ST1300 Related

Is the a replacement horn I can get locally, something that is louder and will fit in with minimal work?
www.st-owners.com www.st-owners.com
Click to expand...
Yes, I was aware of that having read through several threads on the subject. Will certainly consider.
 
I put the Stebel Nautilus in my ST1300, but it was a bit of a faff and required a relay, extra wiring etc. When the time came for me to upgrade the horn on my VFR1200X Crosstourer, I followed a similar path to Esti1300. I used a low-tone Stebel TM80 Magnum. Uses original wiring but is much more commanding! 136dB claimed (unlikely), current draw max 6A. Adding the high tone would involve relay etc but I'm happy with the simplicity of the upgrade and the improvement that I have.

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Mouse squeak

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The Mouse that Roared
 
I already had the low tone Fiamm in mine run just like yours off the stock wiring, but just did the dual low & high.

It makes a big difference.

You do need to add in a relay for the dual horns. The only extra required is running a new fused 12v source from the battery to said relay.
 
Obo said:
You do need to add in a relay for the dual horns. The only extra required is running a new fused 12v source from the battery to said relay.
Click to expand...
Ditto, and I left the OEM horn + wiring intact to make it fail-safe; relay coil wired parallel to the OEM tweeter, extra, fused, heavy gauge wiring feed from the battery to the high/low horns...
{BLAAAAT!!! -> latte-launch+iPhone drops = works!} :thumb:
Just yesterday a friend got swerved into on his NT700VA... fortunately the VW's wheel arch smacked on his LHS engine/crash bar... plastic crash bar cover sightly scratched, car has a big ding on a sensitive area, hard and expensive to fix :cool:... the car driver went into a tantrum, loud arguments, accusations, verbal aggression, the whole thing, so LEOs had been called to calm and control the situation... one hour wasted over a DH there...
Loud horns would likely have avoided the situation...

But not always, female on her cell (cutting into my lane forcing me to blare them horns + brake/stop hard) simply waved at me: "keep it down I'm on the phone!"... Whiskey - Tango - Foxtrot... ignorance at it's best... :mad:
 
I have the Fiamms mounted as well, and have used them on every bike I have ever had.

I know it is tough to fit the Fiamms in the fairing in the first place, but I noticed you neglected to use the mounting piece of steel which is usually enclosed with the horn. ALthough this looks like just "something extra", it is actually a really good idea to use it to mount the horn- it is designed to let the horn vibrate at it's maximum volume, and tone. I did not know this, and mounted mine too solidly, leading to decreased volume, and eventual failure.

HTH.
 
Haven’t tried fitting the cowl parts together yet. I’m not sure how that piece of steel would be part of the mounting.
Did you install the piece and horn to a more forward position in the pocket or towards the rear? Dangling lower is not an option with limited reach of the connectors.:think1:
 
Esti1300 said:
Haven’t tried fitting the cowl parts together yet. I’m not sure how that piece of steel would be part of the mounting.
Did you install the piece and horn to a more forward position in the pocket or towards the rear? Dangling lower is not an option with limited reach of the connectors.:think1:
Click to expand...
This crude picture shows how to use the supplied Fiamm horn tangs to mount both the hi and lo horns using the stock horn stay. Obviously the horns bolt to the tangs then to the stay where the OEM was. The forward most horn may interfere with the inside fairing piece so trim the horn trumpet a little so it doesn't touch the fairing piece. I tried but could not locate the picture of the horns mounted like this.

Horn (2).jpg
 
This is what I did in the last 2 weeks or so.... both horn openings pointed "down" to prevent water getting in.

Then I did the headlight high beam / driving light flash with the horn upgrade.

IMG_3945.JPG

Here's the thread on the flashing lights upgrade... complete with how it looks in that area now and a video of it in action. (not trying to hijack this thread!)

relay, Schottky diode, bridge rectifier or mosfet? | Electronics / Electrical

I'm working on a combination of projects and want to make a tweak to it but wondering if there's an easier way. As I'm not really familiar with 2 of the components perhaps someone can chime in with their 2 cents. Background: Just installed dual horns, fed off a 4 pin relay. I'd like to have...
www.st-owners.com www.st-owners.com
 
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And here's someone else's install photo. They did a ground back to the battery. I just did mine to the frame. They also appear to have attached the relay to the inner cowl. I attached mine to the black frame tube so I could remove the inner fairing as required without removing the outer Tupperware.

fiamm st1300 2.jpeg
 
klaproth said:
I have the Fiamms mounted as well, and have used them on every bike I have ever had.

I know it is tough to fit the Fiamms in the fairing in the first place, but I noticed you neglected to use the mounting piece of steel which is usually enclosed with the horn. ALthough this looks like just "something extra", it is actually a really good idea to use it to mount the horn- it is designed to let the horn vibrate at it's maximum volume, and tone. I did not know this, and mounted mine too solidly, leading to decreased volume, and eventual failure.

HTH.
Click to expand...
Correct.
My Brother in-law installed both high and low tone Fiamms on his 2007 ST1300. He cut the Fiamm supplied brackets shorter to make the install easier. When he tested them he found that they were not very loud or impressive at all. He thought that he had a defective horn, so he called Fiamm to ask about a warranty replacement. The very first question that Fiamm asked him was if he had cut the brackets- which tells me that this is a common issue that they encounter often. He told them that he had. Fiamm explained to him that the length of the bracket is part of the function of the horn. They explained that to work properly the horn must vibrate. The length of these brackets is designed to allow the horn to vibrate at a specific frequency to get both the tone and the volume that they are designed to provide.

Fiamm said that they would send him new mounting brackets free-of-charge to try first. If he still wasn't satisfied, they would replace the horns on warranty. He installed the new correct length brackets and the full volume and tone was restored.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
Fiamm explained to him that the length of the bracket is part of the function of the horn. They explained that to work properly the horn must vibrate. The length of these brackets is designed to allow the horn to vibrate at a specific frequency to get both the tone and the volume that they are designed to provide.
Click to expand...
An 1100 is more spacious in this regard...

IMG_1750.JPG
 
Obo said:
They also appear to have attached the relay to the inner cowl. I attached mine to the black frame tube so I could remove the inner fairing as required without removing the outer Tupperware.
Click to expand...
I placed mine behind the LH side cover; a) weather protection, b) quick/easy access... which you want in case of a malfunction (like welded relay contacts... don't ask... :rofl1:)
 
  • Haha
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