Denali SoundBomb Compact or not?

[Colorado Jeff]

Hi All:

 

I bought a 2018 R1200RT about a year ago and it came with a SoundBomb installed.  All was well, and we really love the big attention grabbing sound.  But in the last six months, nearly every time we ride, the black wire would get cut right at the connection. 

 

At the 12k last summer, the service guy let me know it was cut.  That was only the second time, so I was surprised.  He made a statement about a SoundBomb and how a wethead needs the compact version.  I stated that I thought it was the compact version.  He went into the shop to look and never came back and corrected me, so I assumed it was a compact.  Since that time, the wire has been cut and the connecter smashed on nearly every ride.  

 

Looking at the images, is it the "Denali SoundBomb Compact Dual-tone Air-horn" or not?  Looks like one in the pictures on the Denali site to me, but it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong... today.  

 

If it is the compact, why is the wire being cut, but more importantly, how do I fix it?

[MachineJoe]

Jeff,

 

Looks like my Denali mini/compact.  To me it doesn't look like it was cut or even smashed. Is it being pulled out by not having enough slack when you go full left or right?

 

 

[Rougarou]

Yep, looks pulled, give it some more slack and see what happens.

[Colorado Jeff]

Thanks guys for the thoughts, there is plenty of slack in the wire (for now anyways, a little gets eaten every time I have to fix it) and the connecter is definitely being smashed.  I just pulled the connector out of the bottom of the SoundBomb and like all the other times, it's been smashed over and the wire cut.  The service guy at BMW of Denver said something about suspension banging on the SoundBombs, which is why one needs the compact version. I do have the compact, but am still having this issue.   

[Rougarou]

Better crimping, then heatshrink around the connector/crimped part

[Colorado Jeff]

21 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

Better crimping, then heatshrink around the connector/crimped part

 

Thank you for the advice, but not sure how this will resolve the issue.  This does not appear to be an issue of making a better, more secure and waterproof connection.  The horn works fine when I fix it.  The crimped connector went on to the SoundBomb straight, and when I check after losing the horn, the connector is bent over like you see in the picture.  Something is hitting the connector, just like the service guy suggested. 

 

So why now and not in the first six months of owning using the bike?  Why my compact SoundBomb but not yours?  Mine appears to be installed correctly with the correct Denali mounting bracket.  

[Rougarou]

Could be a hit or could be a pull.  Either way, looking at the copper wire in the first happy snap, the wire "appears" flat, as if it was pulled out and not cut.  Pulling can and do bend the connectors.  Quadruple check that there's enough slack in the line, stop to stop, bounce to bounce and stop/bounce to stop/bounce.........I dunno.

[Scott9999]

Just off the top of my head ....

 

If you don't know what's going on underneath the hood when you're riding, leave a tell before your next ride.  Get some spray powder (maybe food powder?) and spray up underneath near the areas where you believe contact is occurring.  Look at the area afterwards, and identify what parts are contacting the horn.  Then, fix it.  Change the bracket shape, the bracket mounting spot (i.e. from other reviews, the bracket available from twistedthrottle does not mount on the same hole as the OEM horn), replace it, or see if lines or anything else can be moved to compensate.

 

It's a mechanical problem.  You just need to identify it.  If the spray powder is too light, i.e. blows away, etc., try chalk powder (i.e. like used for chalk lines, find it at a hardware store), or maybe graphite powder (i.e. localize it to the suspected contact points. 

 

If it doesn't happen to other's bikes with the same equipage, but it happens to yours, then it's probably the way the horn and bracket were mounted.  

 

I second Rougarou's suggestion on slack.  Heck, again, just brain storming, attach a secondary wire (e.g. 18 or 16 gauge, or maybe a picture hanging cable) over the top of the horn's power wire, using zip ties all along, tape it to the connecting point, and see if that pulls out as well, or gets mashed.  Then maybe try lighter wire or string, and firmly to the end, see if it breaks.  The wire/string/cable would have to be strong enough with the first test to make sure it doesn't break, that it pulls out if stretched, and light enough WITHOUT stretching to break, to see if the cable is hyperextending, and being pulled out.  Again, it's a mechanical problem; just devise some mechanical tests to verify what's actually happening.  Or, bite the bullet and replace the power wire, adding a Velcroed or zip-tied "loop" somewhere along the way, to ensure slack.  

 

If I were you, I'd just like to be sure of what's going on there before I start replacing or moving things.   Trying to defeat a ghost is a pointless waste of time and money.

[Hosstage]

Did you ever have a hard hit or bump while riding in the past? That may have bent a bracket, a suspension mounting point, etc. Any work done in that area before this started?

[Colorado Jeff]

19 hours ago, Rougarou said:

Could be a hit or could be a pull.  Either way, looking at the copper wire in the first happy snap, the wire "appears" flat, as if it was pulled out and not cut.  Pulling can and do bend the connectors.  Quadruple check that there's enough slack in the line, stop to stop, bounce to bounce and stop/bounce to stop/bounce.........I dunno.

Thank you again for the suggestions, there's plenty of slack in the wires.  It does not pull when I go lock-to-lock on the handlebars.  The horn worked fine for the first six months I owned the motorcycle with no issues whatsoever.  In addition, the red wire had never been damaged or pulled out.  If the wire was short for the black wire, it'd also be too short for the red wire.

[Colorado Jeff]

19 hours ago, Scott9999 said:

If you don't know what's going on underneath the hood when you're riding, leave a tell before your next ride.  Get some spray powder (maybe food powder?) and spray up underneath near the areas where you believe contact is occurring.  Look at the area afterwards, and identify what parts are contacting the horn.  Then, fix it.  Change the bracket shape, the bracket mounting spot (i.e. from other reviews, the bracket available from twistedthrottle does not mount on the same hole as the OEM horn), replace it, or see if lines or anything else can be moved to compensate.

 

It's a mechanical problem.  You just need to identify it.  If the spray powder is too light, i.e. blows away, etc., try chalk powder (i.e. like used for chalk lines, find it at a hardware store), or maybe graphite powder (i.e. localize it to the suspected contact points. 

 

If it doesn't happen to other's bikes with the same equipage, but it happens to yours, then it's probably the way the horn and bracket were mounted.  

 

I second Rougarou's suggestion on slack.  Heck, again, just brain storming, attach a secondary wire (e.g. 18 or 16 gauge, or maybe a picture hanging cable) over the top of the horn's power wire, using zip ties all along, tape it to the connecting point, and see if that pulls out as well, or gets mashed.  Then maybe try lighter wire or string, and firmly to the end, see if it breaks.  The wire/string/cable would have to be strong enough with the first test to make sure it doesn't break, that it pulls out if stretched, and light enough WITHOUT stretching to break, to see if the cable is hyperextending, and being pulled out.  Again, it's a mechanical problem; just devise some mechanical tests to verify what's actually happening.  Or, bite the bullet and replace the power wire, adding a Velcroed or zip-tied "loop" somewhere along the way, to ensure slack.  

 

Thank you for your response, you've made some good points.

 

The mounting of my SoundBomb looks identical to the image posted of a mounted SoundBomb compact on the Denali website.  So I don't think it has been damaged.  To Hosstage's point above, I did have a pretty darn hard hit on the front suspension going over Douglas Pass in western Colorado, but the issue existed prior to that hit.

 

While I like the idea of leaving a tell, I kind of shudder to think of the clean up of that mess "under the hood" afterwards, but I may have to do that all the same.  I'll give a try to these suggestions over the next week.

[Colorado Jeff]

19 hours ago, Hosstage said:

Did you ever have a hard hit or bump while riding in the past? That may have bent a bracket, a suspension mounting point, etc. Any work done in that area before this started?

Thank you for the suggestions, I did in fact have a hard hit on the front end when descending Douglas Pass in western Colorado.  However the problem started a few weeks before that hit.  As to your second question, no work was done in that area prior to this being an issue.

[lkraus]

Splice in a couple inches of wire, maybe use a flag style connector to redirect the wire.

 

[Colorado Jeff]

Update:  I fixed the wire connector and the horn worked fine before we left for a Saturday ride.  I ensured that I had plenty of slack in the wires and checked to make sure there was no interference when moving the handlebars from lock-to-lock.  I saw no other item that might interfere with the wires

 

Not even 20 miles down the road on a very relaxing ride (i.e. no aggressive riding of any kind; no fast acceleration, no quick stops, no high-lean corners) and the wire was already disconnected from the horn.  The connector is once again bent over to the left, the wire itself was not cut.  It's odd that the red power wire is not impacted.

 

The picture below was taken at our lunch stop 50 miles after I noticed the horn was not functioning.

 

This is baffling. 

[dirtrider]

14 minutes ago, Colorado Jeff said:

Update:  I fixed the wire connector and the horn worked fine before we left for a Saturday ride.  I ensured that I had plenty of slack in the wires and checked to make sure there was no interference when moving the handlebars from lock-to-lock.  I saw no other item that might interfere with the wires

 

Not even 20 miles down the road on a very relaxing ride (i.e. no aggressive riding of any kind; no fast acceleration, no quick stops, no high-lean corners) and the wire was already disconnected from the horn.  The connector is once again bent over to the left, the wire itself was not cut.  It's odd that the red power wire is not impacted.

 

The picture below was taken at our lunch stop 50 miles after I noticed the horn was not functioning.

 

This is baffling. 

 

Afternoon  Colorado Jeff

 

You might have to move that horn to another location, when you hit a big bump, or stop hard,  the front suspension compresses allowing something on  the front lower fork cross-brace, control arm,  or fender to come up & contact those horn connections. (look for witness marks to see what is possibly hitting that horn)

[Rougarou]

Even under slightest compaction, that brake line bundle looks like will rise up and as you push right, it looks like it will compact into the black wire and snag the wire on the bundle holder pulling it out.  Try routing the horn wires from the "up" side and either pre-bending your connector or getting a bent connector.

 

 

Or, move the horn

[wbw6cos]

Is there anyway to mount a GoPro camera in the area?

[Colorado Jeff]

2 hours ago, Rougarou said:

Even under slightest compaction, that brake line bundle looks like will rise up and as you push right, it looks like it will compact into the black wire and snag the wire on the bundle holder pulling it out.  Try routing the horn wires from the "up" side and either pre-bending your connector or getting a bent connector.

 

 

 

Or, move the horn

Excellent thought on the brake line bundle, I'll see about moving it.

 

As for moving the horn, that is an option too.  However, this is using a Denali mount specific for this motorcycle and others who have this same horn are not having the same issue.  THAT, and why only in the last six months of riding and NOT the first six months of owning the motorcycle is what is baffling the most to me.

[Colorado Jeff]

2 hours ago, wbw6cos said:

Is there anyway to mount a GoPro camera in the area?

I've given that a thought too.  I'd really like to see what the heck is going on here.   I'm going to look into that this weekend.  Thanks for the suggestion!

[Colorado Jeff]

3 hours ago, dirtrider said:

Afternoon  Colorado Jeff

 

You might have to move that horn to another location, when you hit a big bump, or stop hard,  the front suspension compresses allowing something on  the front lower fork cross-brace, control arm,  or fender to come up & contact those horn connections. (look for witness marks to see what is possibly hitting that horn)

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll be looking at moving if I cannot figure out another solution.

[dirtrider]

12 hours ago, Colorado Jeff said:

  I'd really like to see what the heck is going on here.   I'm going to look into that this weekend.  

Morning Jeff

 

Just straighten that bent horn terminal out to be straight as when first installed, then cut 3 Q-tips in half (shorten them), then firmly tape those 3 shortened Q-tips to the wire connector (no wire in it).

 

Next, put the connector back on the horn terminal, then put  a glob of bright lipstick on those 3 Q-tips that stick down.

 

Then go ride the motorcycle.

 

After the ride look for the lipstick marking (witness marks) on whatever is coming up & contracting the Q-tips. 

 

  

[Colorado Jeff]

1 hour ago, dirtrider said:

Morning Jeff

 

Just straighten that bent horn terminal out to be straight as when first installed, then cut 3 Q-tips in half (shorten them), then firmly tape those 3 shortened Q-tips to the wire connector (no wire in it).

 

Next, put the connector back on the horn terminal, then put  a glob of bright lipstick on those 3 Q-tips that stick down.

 

Then go ride the motorcycle.

 

After the ride look for the lipstick marking (witness marks) on whatever is coming up & contracting the Q-tips. 

 

  

That's a fine idea.  We were trying to think of a good way to leave a mark, and I think you nailed it with lipstick.

 

Jeff

[MachineJoe]

I wanna know what lipstick is gonna look good on your RT 

[Colorado Jeff]

On 12/9/2021 at 6:46 AM, MachineJoe said:

I wanna know what lipstick is gonna look good on your RT 

It'll probably be whatever I'm wearing that day!  :)

[Scott9999]

Is this the time for those "lipstick on a pig" jokes?  No?

 

nevermind.  🤣🤣🤣

 

(Note:  I did NOT violate TOS by calling OP a pig.  I was talking about his RT, which is being kind of piggish to his fine horn at the moment.  😏)

[Lowndes]

It looks like you might not be getting a good crimp on that connector.  Do you use a good crimper tool??  Pliars won't do it.  The end of the wire that pulled out (its fuzzy, out of focus a little) should show definite deformation and the crimp should be in a "U" shape.

 

The flag connector that Ikraus suggested would get the wire going in the direction it needs to go.  

 

   

 

 

[Rougarou]

Ya, but that doesn't explain the bending of the connector

[Lowndes]

33 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

Ya, but that doesn't explain the bending of the connector

 

Correct, but if it gets the wires out of the way of whatever is bending them...

 

I like the lipstick on the camera idea.

[Paul De]

I would have thought the hard blue insulator on the connector would have left a scuff or mark on what ever was smacking into the connector hard enough to bend it.  

 

Great use of lipstick, it is almost as handy as duct tape.  When the wife was pitching a tube of lipstick because she didn't like the shade anymore, I snagged it out of the trash for the tool box. I got the what are wanting that for look, so I  told her I was getting in touch with my feminine side...  Seriously though, every tool box should have a tube of lip stick.  Last time I used it was when I installed some wood paneling and outlined the edge of a switch box with it on the back of the panel.  You will get a perfectly sized and placed cut out every time!

 

I may have missed it, so I hope this isn't a redundant.  If you haven't repaired it yet, use a 90 degree connector for this fix.  Also a couple of short pieces of shrink tube as a flex/stress relief where the wire is crimped to the connector.  I have used two layers of shrink tube where the wire was likely two be flexed at the connection point. The first layer of shrink tube goes on the wire itself and a second layer of shrink tube that covers the shank of the connector and first layer of shrink tube.

 

[Colorado Jeff]

On 12/15/2021 at 10:04 AM, Paul De said:

I would have thought the hard blue insulator on the connector would have left a scuff or mark on what ever was smacking into the connector hard enough to bend it.  

 

Great use of lipstick, it is almost as handy as duct tape.  When the wife was pitching a tube of lipstick because she didn't like the shade anymore, I snagged it out of the trash for the tool box. I got the what are wanting that for look, so I  told her I was getting in touch with my feminine side...  Seriously though, every tool box should have a tube of lip stick.  Last time I used it was when I installed some wood paneling and outlined the edge of a switch box with it on the back of the panel.  You will get a perfectly sized and placed cut out every time!

 

I may have missed it, so I hope this isn't a redundant.  If you haven't repaired it yet, use a 90 degree connector for this fix.  Also a couple of short pieces of shrink tube as a flex/stress relief where the wire is crimped to the connector.  I have used two layers of shrink tube where the wire was likely two be flexed at the connection point. The first layer of shrink tube goes on the wire itself and a second layer of shrink tube that covers the shank of the connector and first layer of shrink tube.

 

Thanks Paul, great ideas!  I appreciate it.

[Colorado Jeff]

On 12/14/2021 at 4:53 AM, Lowndes said:

It looks like you might not be getting a good crimp on that connector.  Do you use a good crimper tool??  Pliars won't do it.  The end of the wire that pulled out (its fuzzy, out of focus a little) should show definite deformation and the crimp should be in a "U" shape.

 

The flag connector that Ikraus suggested would get the wire going in the direction it needs to go.  

 

   

 

 

Thank you Lowndes, I am using a nice new crimper tool, very similar to what you showed in the picture.  Agreed, will use a 90 degree connector next.