Blood, sweat, tears & beers . . .

Can a horn be hooked up without using a relay? I've heard you can hook one up directly to the battery + terminal. Doesn't sound right to me. (Getting ready to install my horn, another DOT requirement). Thanks for any input.

Depends on your switch and the horn. If the switch can handle the current of a horn then no relay is needed. If you use a high output horn they draw much more current than as regular horn, they need a relay.
I think a relay is a good idea. Most any of the headligt relays the parts store sells will be fine. They can handle 30 amps and are cheap. That way whatever horn you use will work well. Wiring is easy. battery through a fuse 10 amp should work. to relay terminal 30 , from relay terminal 87 to horn. Power after the key to terminal 86, 85to the horn button. If your horn button goes to ground to toot the horn your done. If the horn button has two wires the wire form the relay to one side. the other wire to ground.
Or power after the key to horn button on one wire the other wire to the relay #86 then ground the #85 terminal.
On my 75 Yamaha XS650 When I rewired the bike I used a relay like that to power the ignition. Old kill switch are often uncapable of carrying the current the ignition needs.
As with the horn, fused power to the relay, from the relay to the ignition. The kill switch just turns the relay on. Even a crappy kill switch can carry the current the relay needs to work.
Leo

My head hurts....feels like I was in shop class. :gah:

But not my shop class!

Thanks Leo. It was a little hard for me to follow. I understand pictures better. Is my sketch right? (No relay, no kill switch). My kill switch is the ignition key.

Don't see the relay in your sketch...how about this...

Thanks for the input. Guess what I was trying to say is that I don't want to use a relay. To me, it's just one more componant that can go bad. It complicates the wiring and I'm trying to keep the wiring as simple as possible. There are ways to get around factory wiring - they make everything too complicated. Too many gizmos if you know what I mean. If it's possible to wire the horn without a relay, that's the way I want to go. The componants in my sketch show what I have on hand: a 15amp breaker,a 12v/4amp mini horn with two terminals & a horn button with two wires.

In a few hours it will be Monday, the last teacher work day till next school year. Thought I' d share with you some of the projects my kids made in shop class this year. I'm very proud of them - some couldn't even read a tape measure at the beginning of the school year.

This will be my 500th post! Well, I don't have a starter for starters, nor a run button. Only running lights & horn thru a 15 amp breaker. I'm using a wiring diagram from Bitter End Choppers. Doesn't say how to wire in a horn or any of the other extras (like turn signals which I'm not using either).
I'm going to experiment on my bench with the stuff I have before installing on the bike. will post results & pics later.

Do your kids know about the years you've spent in prison??

What in the f*** is the matter with you? I told you on two separate posts I was pulling your leg. And I pulled it hard because I was getting tired of you calling me a "dork" (twice) and "stupid" (once). Who made you the dork & stupid police? Didn't anybody ever teach you some manners? I would if I was down in your neck of the woods. If this gets me thrown out of the forum at least I'll be shed of you.

Sorry but it wasn't funny. What kind of teacher jokes about being a convicted felon/prisoner? One with no class, excuse the pun. I wonder what your schools headmaster would think of your "humor" or lack there of?? If you were in my neck of the woods and teaching at my childrens school and making stupid joke like you did, you wouldn't have to come looking for me because I would be knocking on your door buddy asking what the hell is wrong with you.
You should hope what you wrote doesn't get you fired instantly.

Lighten up............:gah:

Too much like a soap opera around here. Goodbye . . .

:roflmao: U OK?

Talk about no sense of humor..

You kind of deserved that TommyC, I am surprised that JoshBob was polite this long..