odd horn thing

i thought my horns were dying so bought used ones. when put "new" ones on they not work. so i tested them all with my portable car jumper. turns out my old horns work. and one "new" one does with the jumper. so i put the loudest ones on the bike. and they don't make much of any sound. any suggestions?

 

Low voltage or a bad ground. (Probably a bad ground.) Measure the voltage on both wires at the horn, assuming yours is a two-wire horn. They should read almost the exact same as the battery voltage. If they do, your horn switch may be the problem. If you get a low-voltage reading at the horn, you've got wiring issues.

 

sometimes if you turn the little screw with the lock nut in the center of the horn you can bring them back to life

 

when i was testing the horns with the jumper i got them sounding real good by adjusting the screw. but thanks. and check all the wiring when it gets a little warmer than 4 above f. it was a little cold on the finger tips working on it yesterday.

 

When horns come in pairs, one is a "low" tone and one is a "high" pitch tone. So you may want to make sure you have one of each instead of two of the same tone. That will make them cover a larger audible tone and get you heard better in traffic. The stock horns may sound loud when your sitting in your garage, but aren't very effective out on the road. I suggest looking into a pair of after market horns, such as Freeway Blasters, etc. which can be found a any auto supply store.