Denali Mini Sound Bomb Question
 

Hi - New to the forum, first ??.

I have a 1990 XT600 and the disc horn, which was no great shakes to begin with, finally died, so I got a Denali Mini-Sound Bomb replacement.

This is supposed to work as a plug-and-play, no relay required, but from experience I know that is only on newer bikes, with sturdier electrical systems, so I also got the wiring/relay kit.

It set up exactly as instructed, using the stock horn wires as a signal, with power coming direct from the battery, everything running through the relay.

The horn worked just fine when parked/idling, but as soon as I rode off, it started beeping randomly. So I disconnected the power wires, rode further, tried reconnecting them, and it now started beeping randomly even before I switched the motor on. My supposition is, even with the relay, the power is just overwhelming the stock horn switch and wiring.

So I did what I've done before, and bought an aftermarket intermittent switch and wired it up to the relay inputs for the switch. Now, the horn isn't beeping at all, motor on or off.

Does anybody have any idea what the problem might be? Looking at the wiring diagram, pushing the horn switch simply connects the horn to ground. I know enough about electrics to think it should work, which makes me curious why it doesn't. The wiring I added is considerably thicker than the stock horn wires (I thought it should be) but it's exactly the same gauge as the wiring feeding into the relay.

Thanks in advance for any opinions/advice!

Denali Mini Sound Bomb Question - MYSTERY SOLVED
 

The light bulb came on when I realized the random intermittent honking only happened when I was riding the bike, ie sitting on the seat.

I'd placed the relay right next to the CDI box, which is a little shorter than the relay. One of the plastic prongs on the seat pan was contacting the relay and, when I got on the bike, my fat ass was making the relay short out internally. I could see a little scuff on its outside.

So I moved it over next to the (much taller) intake snorkel. Problem solved.

I've chased down some truly weird electrical issues in my time, but this was a first.

Administrator, if you want to leave this as a cautionary tale for anyone else doing a relay-included install, please do. But you won't bother me if you want to take it down.

Mush on.