Electrical gremlins

[OfficerImpersonator]

When I honk my horn, the sound from the horn is weak and feeble - but the sound from my radar/laser detector is quite loud. For some reason, when I depress the horn button, the horn sounds a pathetic and feeble sound and the Escort 8500 blasts away, tells me it's detecting a laser speed trap. In my garage. With the door closed.

Any guesses as to why the horn is making the radar detector go off?

[henzilla]

a loose ground is a possible culprit...the horn is completing a circuit somehow. What power source did you hook the Escort to?

[OfficerImpersonator]

a loose ground is a possible culprit...the horn is completing a circuit somehow. What power source did you hook the Escort to?

It plugs into a BMW-style power outlet located on the dash. To discern where the outlet connects to the bike's electrical system will involve the removal of a lot of Tupperware. :(

[henzilla]

just for chuckles, look at all your fuses, it depends on what is tied to what but you could be getting some type of ground loop. You could also test your horn with 12V to make sure it isn't causing the problem by shorting out...kinda strange it's picking up a laser signal...mine does that near highway construction only:scratch

I have replaced stock horns and fiamme's on several bikes when they started to "squeak"

[GSAddict]

a loose ground is a possible culprit...the horn is completing a circuit somehow. What power source did you hook the Escort to?

+1 look for an loose or corroded ground connection

[MotorradMike]

Any guesses as to why the horn is making the radar detector go off?

Has it been this way for a while or did this start after you repaired something?

What happens if you unplug the horn relay?

If the horn is truly weak and feeble - fix that first. (Bad ground, relay, or horn) and go from there. If the battery is in good enough shape to start the bike it will certainly blow the horn.

2 'far out' possibilities might be:
Battery brown-out causes detector to go off.(Probably do the same when you start the bike)

or

Feeble horn is vibrating a window in such a way as to fool the detector.(You could block the light port to check that one.)


I said they were far out.

Tell us if you find anything.

[OfficerImpersonator]

I have three outlets on my dash - one BMW style and two SAE style. I've tried plugging the Escort into all three outlets, and each time I get the same results.

It's obviously not a huge deal, so I'm not going to worry about it until the bike next goes in for service. If there's one thing I know absolutely nothing about, it's electricity. At least this is only 12 volts instead of 120 volts!