Added a Nautilus Horn to 2014 R1200RT

[Aussiegazza]

 

Embarrassed by the std horn.

 

Just put in a Nautilus from Hornig in Germany

 

Parts:

1x 1169012R12RTLC - Mounting and wiring

1x 11690120 - Nautilus Horn

 

The mounting and wiring is MORE dollars than the horn, but makes it so easy to fit. It includes the BMW connector to allow the horn wiring to be redirected to a relay.

 

I have not included a how to etc as the mounting instructions with the kit are excellent.

 

119 Decibels of true horn. How it SHOULD sound IMHO.

 

Garry

[Rob L]

Did this awhile back for about $33 USD.

 

http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=909845#Post909845

[Aussiegazza]

Update

 

You need to round off the leading edge of the horn's mounting boss or it may just touch the left fork's oil seal.

[ScottT]

I bet if BMW offered a Nautilus or other good horns as a $100-$150 dollar option almost every RT sold would have a real horn. Pretty sad you have to install a decent horn yourself on a bike you paid round about $23k for.

[Guest Kakugo]

I bet if BMW offered a Nautilus or other good horns as a $100-$150 dollar option almost every RT sold would have a real horn. Pretty sad you have to install a decent horn yourself on a bike you paid round about $23k for.

 

That's true for all modern bikes.

I bought the original low-high horn for my Hexhead straight from BMW for 38€ (and the parts guy told me it's the same code from the old 5-series) so it's just nickel-diming on the manufacturer's part.

[strataj]

I don't understand the horn deal either, my 02R1150RT factory horn was very load. I too upgraded my wethead RT.

 

The funny thing about a horn is the larger the vehicle the loader the horn, explain that...

 

Jay

[beemerboy]

I don't understand the horn deal either, my 02R1150RT factory horn was very load. I too upgraded my wethead RT.

 

The funny thing about a horn is the larger the vehicle the loader the horn, explain that...

 

Jay

 

I have a '02 RT as well and can attest to its mighty horn. It's my understanding that at some point later in either the '02 or '03 production run a bean counter figured out they could reduce manufacturing costs by going to a lesser horn. This thread is a timely reminder that I should look into something to replace my K12s' puny noise maker.

[MotoBones]

I'm not sold on locating a Stebel or Wolo between the fork tubes of an R1200RT wethead. Those horns have a reed that dies if it gets wet, and that location will clearly get wet.

 

Any other suggestions for mounting a Stebel or perhaps a pair of hi and low Fiamm Freeway Blasters? I have a Clearwater CANopener and can use the green accessory wire to power the horn and have it work with the OEM switch.

[mneblett]

Two options I've used: a pair of Fiamms hanging from brackets (stacked one over the other) between the forks (did that on my wife's R12RT - same basic arrangements as an R12RTW), a pair of Fiamms bolted inside the left radiator duct on my R12RTW. There's a recent thread with pics on the RTW mount.

 

I also use the Canopener horn output on the RTW. Sounds weird when both the stock and Fiamm horns go off, particularly with a fraction of a second delay between their starting -- weird, but effective.

[MotoBones]

Two options I've used: a pair of Fiamms hanging from brackets (stacked one over the other) between the forks (did that on my wife's R12RT - same basic arrangements as an R12RTW), a pair of Fiamms bolted inside the left radiator duct on my R12RTW. There's a recent thread with pics on the RTW mount.

 

I also use the Canopener horn output on the RTW. Sounds weird when both the stock and Fiamm horns go off, particularly with a fraction of a second delay between their starting -- weird, but effective.

Wonder if the CANopener allows you to shut down the OEM horn, perhaps with the right combination of pushing buttons, such as you use when adjusting the dimming on the lights?

 

[mneblett]

The OE horn is completely separate from the Canopener.

 

You can disconnect the OE horn. No dash light when disconnected, but a horn fault code will be stored by the computer. That's how I run the camhead RT's horns.

[Jim VonBaden]

I'm not sold on locating a Stebel or Wolo between the fork tubes of an R1200RT wethead. Those horns have a reed that dies if it gets wet, and that location will clearly get wet.

 

Any other suggestions for mounting a Stebel or perhaps a pair of hi and low Fiamm Freeway Blasters? I have a Clearwater CANopener and can use the green accessory wire to power the horn and have it work with the OEM switch.

 

I used the CANopener on the Stebel horn on a 2015 RT. It was a very simple install, up high and neat. Little chance of a lot of water intrusion, and both horns work together. Even if the Stebel did die, you still have the stock horn. Very clean install as well.

 

Jim

[MotoBones]

 

I used the CANopener on the Stebel horn on a 2015 RT. It was a very simple install, up high and neat. Little chance of a lot of water intrusion, and both horns work together. Even if the Stebel did die, you still have the stock horn. Very clean install as well.

 

Jim

Jim, can you describe how you mounted the Stebel? Perhaps provide some photos of your clean install? I'd appreciate that and I expect some others here would, too. The OEM horn is pitiful.

 

As I understand, to install a horn via the CANopener you use the gray wire to fire a horn relay, ground the relay and the horn, and run fused power straight from the battery. Does that sound like what you did?

 

Many thanks.

 

Bones

[mneblett]

As I understand, to install a horn via the CANopener you use the gray wire to fire a horn relay, ground the relay and the horn, and run fused power straight from the battery. Does that sound like what you did?

I'm not JVB, but that is how I wired my horns with the Canopener.

[MotoBones]

As I understand, to install a horn via the CANopener you use the gray wire to fire a horn relay, ground the relay and the horn, and run fused power straight from the battery. Does that sound like what you did?

I'm not JVB, but that is how I wired my horns with the Canopener.

 

Thanks, Mark. How did you mount your Stebel?

[Jim VonBaden]

 

I used the CANopener on the Stebel horn on a 2015 RT. It was a very simple install, up high and neat. Little chance of a lot of water intrusion, and both horns work together. Even if the Stebel did die, you still have the stock horn. Very clean install as well.

 

Jim

Jim, can you describe how you mounted the Stebel? Perhaps provide some photos of your clean install? I'd appreciate that and I expect some others here would, too. The OEM horn is pitiful.

 

As I understand, to install a horn via the CANopener you use the gray wire to fire a horn relay, ground the relay and the horn, and run fused power straight from the battery. Does that sound like what you did?

 

Many thanks.

 

Bones

 

Hi,

 

I'll take pictures Saturday at the tech day, but I used the lower of the two headstock fairing mount bolts and an L-bracket. It tucks right up in the round frame hole way up high.

 

I used the CANopener as a trigger to a relay and a fused hot from the battery. I did not touch the factory horn wires at all.

 

Jim :brow

[mneblett]

As I understand, to install a horn via the CANopener you use the gray wire to fire a horn relay, ground the relay and the horn, and run fused power straight from the battery. Does that sound like what you did?

I'm not JVB, but that is how I wired my horns with the Canopener.

 

Thanks, Mark. How did you mount your Stebel?

I'll take/post pics of the GS's air horn and the camhead RT's Fiamms this evening.

[MotoBones]

Thank you, Jim and Mark.

[mneblett]

Here are my two contributions.

 

R12RT - 2012 camhead: Two FIAMMS, stacked, between the forks. A bit hard to tell from these pics, but if you look closely for the fork legs for orientation you'll see that the horn stack sort of sticks out forward and downward, with the top of the brackets bolted to the OE horn's bolting location.

 

From below:

 

 

From the rider's right (forks rotated to the left for a better view):

 

 

From the rider's left (forks turned fully to the left for a better view):

 

 

Closer from the left:

 

 

 

 

R1150GS - 2001 air horn. This horn is also suspended from the OE horn's mounting location:

 

From below:

 

 

Looking down from the left:

 

 

Bracket bolting location at the front of the steering head, from the right:

 

 

Note in both installations I used a factory repair connector to "plug-n-play" between the bike's horn wiring and the relay that powers the horns. This leaves the OE harness untouched, allowing re-installation of the OE horn to go back to stock condition. This was handy in the case of my R12RTW purchase, as I simply moved the FIAMMs from my K16 to the RTW (IIRC, the second or third time these horns have moved) and plugged the K16's OE horn back in to restore it to "stock."

 

Let me know if you have any Qs or need better pics.

[Jim VonBaden]

Mark is showing a Hexhead/Camhead, which is very different from a Wethead.

 

Jim

[mneblett]

Mark is showing a Hexhead/Camhead, which is very different from a Wethead.

 

Jim

Correct -- that is what I thought was asked for; must have misread!

[MotoBones]

It took me a while to realize it, but Jim VonBaden's approach for mounting a Stebel horn works perfectly. Jim rocks! The hardest part for me was fabricating a bracket. I used a stainless steel angle brace trimmed down to size so there is plenty of clearance with the fork tubes. Max BMW told me to torque that lower fairing mount bolt to 15 foot-pounds. Still plenty of threads extending on the other side of the fairing mount.

 

There's a handy round recess in the bike's frame (right side forward of the battery) where you can place the horn relay. I needed to grind down the corners of the relay housing just a bit and it fits in the nice and snug.

 

One advantage of using the Clearwater Lights CANopener to trigger the horn relay is there is no delay when you hit the horn switch, like when you get with the OEM horn.

 

I removed the OEM excuse for a horn.

 

[Jim VonBaden]

Added a new air horn, and damn is it loud!

 

 

 

 

Hope this helps!

[alexp]

I'm looking to get a 2015 RT and was wondering what are my options in getting a new horn. I did get dual horns installed in my 2008 from BMW. Can I use that option and plug right to the bike? There was a harness connector available for the second horn. Its different now?

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

[mneblett]

I'm looking to get a 2015 RT and was wondering what are my options in getting a new horn. I did get dual horns installed in my 2008 from BMW. Can I use that option and plug right to the bike? There was a harness connector available for the second horn. Its different now?

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

No second connector in the harness. I added the BMW/FIAMM-style dual horns on my '15 RTW. You can either pick up a mating BMW plug ("repair" connector -- a plug with a two-wire bare pigtail) from your dealer and plug it into the stock horn connector to drive a relay to trigger your dual horns, or leave the stock horn in place and use a Clearwater Lights CANopener 3 module to drive the dual horns.

 

The CANopener is a plug-n-play black box that plugs directly into the bike's CanBus and reads the signals thereon, including the "horn on" signal; when that signal is received outputs a horn activation voltage on its horn output wire. This approach avoids the OE horn-replacement approach's problem of generating a stored horn problem code in the bike's memory (which is actually a non-problem, as it does not trip a warning light or otherwise affect bike operation).

[alexp]

Is the BMW FIAMM style the same used back in 2008? So in this case I need to get two horns since the OEM that comes with the bike is like the moped ones correct? And get the CANopener box to connect everything.

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

[mneblett]

Is the BMW FIAMM style the same used back in 2008? So in this case I need to get two horns since the OEM that comes with the bike is like the moped ones correct? And get the CANopener box to connect everything.

Many ways to do this.

 

The reference to the BMW or FIAMM horns is a reference to the small (3" dia.) nautilus-shell shaped horns -- the same as the older RT horns. For maximum effect you want one hi-tone and one low-tone horn.

 

Yes, the current OE flat, round (pancake) horn is not what you are looking for. If you go the CANopener route, you can leave it in place and it will also sound with the dual horns. If you go the repair connector route the pancake horn is eliminated.

 

Keep in mind that the Clearwater Lights CANopener unit is primarily sold to ease integration of their excellent (and expensive) U.S.-made LED lights onto a CanBus-equipped bike. Be prepared for sticker shock.

 

Either way (CANopener with stock horn remaining or replacement of the stock horn with a repair connector to trigger only the dual horns) you will need to have a relay that delivers 12V+ power from either the battery or an auxiliary fuse box to the dual horns. The relay is controlled by either the CANopener or the repair connector. The OE horn wiring is too light for powering the dual horns directly.