Stebel horn issue. | GTAMotorcycle.com

Stebel horn issue.

J

jc100

Well-known member
I’m an electrical dumbass. Let’s just get that out the way.

I have a Stebel split horn (compressor and actual horn separated) attached to my bike. It’s wired in such that a relay operates when the horn switch is activated, the trigger comes from the horn wire. The OEM horn works fine. The Stebel used to work fine. Now it doesn’t. There was a kink in the air pipe to the actual noise part of the horn from the compressor. Routing this back I found it had come off the air nipple from the compressor. Aha I thought, just get rid of the kink, reattach and all should be well. Nada!

How do I work out what the issue is without stripping a bunch of stuff off the bike which is a pain? I have a multimeter. If I attach that across the two terminals of the compressor that should tell me if the compressor is kaput shouldn’t it or will it not? If that’s OK I guess it’s the relay that’s gone? I can just about reach that relay so a swap wouldn’t be too much of an issue I guess. I don’t see any loose connections and fuses look to be fine.

I don’t have a spare 12v battery but I have some standard 9v batteries, do you think I could attach that across the terminals of the compressor for a quick and dirty check to see if it’s working ok?

I’m working on the assumption that the kink stopped airflow long enough to ruin the compressor although the air tube coming off the nipple of the compressor might suggest it blew the pipe off under pressure from the kink.
 
If you put your fingers on the compressor when you press the button, you should feel if its moving. If its vibrating the electrical side should be ok. Is there air coming out the nipple when the hose is off? You could have a bug in the nipple, hose or diaphragm messing up air movement.
 
Troubleshooting with a relay in line can't be easily explained unless you know which wires go where, and whether + or - 12v is switched through the horn button. Then you need to know which terminals on the relay (30, 85, 86 and 87) go where. The first step would be to unplug and replug all the electrical connections.

If the compressor is silent, it may be faaked wiring or compressor. If the compressor buzzes it may be frozen, tap it a few times with the blunt end of a screwdriver to see if it frees up.

If you can sketch out a wiring schematic that shows where each wire goes, we can give you step by stem troubleshooting for the electrics.

Why did you rewire the horn circuit? A stiebel should run off the bike's regular 14guage horn wires, no additional relay needed (unless you're running the standard horns at the same time).
 
Mad Mike said:
Troubleshooting with a relay in line can't be easily explained unless you know which wires go where, and whether + or - 12v is switched through the horn button. Then you need to know which terminals on the relay (30, 85, 86 and 87) go where. The first step would be to unplug and replug all the electrical connections.

If the compressor is silent, it may be faaked wiring or compressor. If the compressor buzzes it may be frozen, tap it a few times with the blunt end of a screwdriver to see if it frees up.

If you can sketch out a wiring schematic that shows where each wire goes, we can give you step by stem troubleshooting for the electrics.

Why did you rewire the horn circuit? A stiebel should run off the bike's regular 14guage horn wires, no additional relay needed (unless you're running the standard horns at the same time).
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KTM canbus! It needs to be wired in with a relay or the canbus throws a fit!

I’ll see if I can detect any compressor movement.
 
jc100 said:
KTM canbus! It needs to be wired in with a relay or the canbus throws a fit!

I’ll see if I can detect any compressor movement.
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I didn't realize it was a KTM -- things get really complicated with a CANBUS setup.

For the life of me I can't figure out why a motorcycle company, particularly one who sells into the enduro and ADV markets, complicate something as simple as horn and light wiring by running it thru CANBUS.

The trouble could be completely unrelated to your horn (hopefully not), as CANBUS driven circuits can be thrown off by bad electrics, drained or weak batteries. Sadly they don't always reset themselves, I've read horror stories of aftermarket lights and horns bricking up part of the CANBUS computer requiring a visit to the Keep Taking Money dealer for a reset.

Hope you find an easy fix.
 
Mad Mike said:
I didn't realize it was a KTM -- things get really complicated with a CANBUS setup.

For the life of me I can't figure out why a motorcycle company, particularly one who sells into the enduro and ADV markets, complicate something as simple as horn and light wiring by running it thru CANBUS.

The trouble could be completely unrelated to your horn (hopefully not), as CANBUS driven circuits can be thrown off by bad electrics, drained or weak batteries. Sadly they don't always reset themselves, I've read horror stories of aftermarket lights and horns bricking up part of the CANBUS computer requiring a visit to the Keep Taking Money dealer for a reset.

Hope you find an easy fix.
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I don’t think it’s canbus related or the OEM horn would be out too. Problem is I wired this in years ago and I’m having a job seeing what goes where. I positapped the live horn wire for the trigger originally and jiggled that a bit to see if it was loose. Pretty sure the compressor isn’t doing diddly squat. Could be I haven’t checked the correct fuse or a visual inspection isn’t enough. Guess I‘ll have to learn how to play with the multimeter. At least I still have my meep meep OEM horn. I really like having this air horn when it’s working though. It really wakes up the ghost drivers.
 
jc100 said:
I don’t think it’s canbus related or the OEM horn would be out too. Problem is I wired this in years ago and I’m having a job seeing what goes where. I positapped the live horn wire for the trigger originally and jiggled that a bit to see if it was loose. Pretty sure the compressor isn’t doing diddly squat. Could be I haven’t checked the correct fuse or a visual inspection isn’t enough. Guess I‘ll have to learn how to play with the multimeter. At least I still have my meep meep OEM horn. I really like having this air horn when it’s working though. It really wakes up the ghost drivers.
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Ok, lets start with the simple stuff, jump the relay.

Take 1 lead off your multimeter, touch one end to the RED wire (+) on the Stiebel, and the other end to the + side of your battery. If the compressor runs, you have a wiring problem elsewhere on the + side of the circuit -- the horn is good.

If that fails, touch the lead to the black wire (-) on the compressor to the (-) side of your battery. If the compressor runs, you have a wiring problem elsewhere on the (-) side of the circuit.

If you get nothing, you probably have a dead compressor.
 
Mad Mike said:
Ok, lets start with the simple stuff, jump the relay.

Take 1 lead off your multimeter, touch one end to the RED wire (+) on the Stiebel, and the other end to the + side of your battery. If the compressor runs, you have a wiring problem elsewhere on the + side of the circuit -- the horn is good.

If that fails, touch the lead to the black wire (-) on the compressor to the (-) side of your battery. If the compressor runs, you have a wiring problem elsewhere on the (-) side of the circuit.

If you get nothing, you probably have a dead compressor.
Click to expand...

Where I have the compressor currently it’s going to be hard to do that. I was going to remove the compressor and see if a 9v battery would make it do anything. Didn’t know if that has enough juice though.
 
9V battery will not provide enough current. It needs a fair amount of oomph. Do you have a spare motorcycle battery or are you able to jump from your bike's battery to the positive pole on the compressor?
 
robmack said:
9V battery will not provide enough current. It needs a fair amount of oomph. Do you have a spare motorcycle battery or are you able to jump from your bike's battery to the positive pole on the compressor?
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I’ll see if I can rig up some clips and stuff for my bike battery. I have a battery jump starter too but I don’t know how smart that is in terms of realizing I’m trying to get it to do something it isn’t designed to.
 
I don‘t appear to have the right crap lying around right now to do this properly (my multimeter/leads are crappy tire specials) . Just ordered some alligator clip leads and watched a video on how to check relay switches.
 
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