BansheeHorn - warning system for Motorcycles, Cars & Boats

[The Mad King Pepe']

Just found out about this, and I really like the idea. It's a system that will pulse a loud horn (like a stebel nautilus) and the high beams when you hold the horn pressed for over 1/2 a second. But you can still honk normally in short pulses.

Info here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/153591688/banshee-horn-safety-system-for-motorcycles-cars-an

And video here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/153591688/banshee-horn-safety-system-for-motorcycles-cars-an/widget/video.html

[ducatiz]

that's a pretty good idea.  i like that it runs parallel to the stock horn so you can "give a friendly toot"

[Slide Panda]

Showed this to the wife and she expressed some interest in one for her cage. IT does seem like a cool idea if you've got space for the air horn.

[Drunken Monkey]

Throw in a recoil-less rifle and you're on to something... 

[ducatiz]

Throw in a recoil-less rifle and you're on to something... 

plasma gun.  no ammo needed, just need a big enough battery and no recoil.

[seevtsaab]

seevtsaab likes this

[The Mad King Pepe']

Got mine in the mail a couple weeks ago and finally found the time to install it.

First impression: seems nicely organized and setup. The instructions are clear and all you need is included. BTW, the horn is BIG! (think Stebel Nautilus)


So big, that I had a few problems finding a place to install it. I've seen people install theirs on the sides of the engine, but that would not work for me since I've gotten into the habit of fording creeks and the horn would pretty much drown under water. My f***ed up solution was to move the battery tray down on top of the cylinder head, and put the horn right above the battery (a Shorai L14 whatever).


So far, so good. The only issue I have now is that the Banshee horn will not fully engage when the stock horn is plugged in. Everything works fine when I unplug the stock one, my GS might have the CAN-BUS system and that might be the issue. We'll see...

[ducatiz]

That IS a stebel nautilus. 

I rather like it on a car, but it's just too big for a bike for me.

[Slide Panda]

That IS a stebel nautilus. 

Yep - the dudes kickstarter said it'd ship with stebel nautilus. So loks like he just put his own sticker on it.

In his video the horn was actually in the tail section - anything like that on the GS pepe?

[The Mad King Pepe']

The size of the Nautilus (thought so but wasn't sure) can definitely be an issue when looking for a spot to place the horn. But it's definitely worth it for me considering the amount of time I spend dodging cagers.

And yes, it's as loud as it sounds in the video.

[Slide Panda]

Throw in a recoil-less rifle and you're on to something... 

Like so?


Pepe is genuine eye-tal-yun - should be right up his alley

[NAKID]

Like so?


Pepe is genuine eye-tal-yun - should be right up his alley

i Like how it's magically balancing like the bikes on Ducati's website...

[ducatiz]

The size of the Nautilus (thought so but wasn't sure) can definitely be an issue when looking for a spot to place the horn. But it's definitely worth it for me considering the amount of time I spend dodging cagers.

And yes, it's as loud as it sounds in the video.

Someone posted a dual horn setup with a couple of Hellas a while back which was almost as lound as the Nautilus.

I love the Nautilus, I had it on my Volvo.  Crosswalks in Manhattan were a lot more tolerable -- just lay on that horn when you're coming thru and the pedestrians GTF out of the way FAST

[The Mad King Pepe']

Like so?


Pepe is genuine eye-tal-yun - should be right up his alley

If the banshee horn doesn't work, that will be my final solution to deal with traffic in DC... 

[The Mad King Pepe']

Finished setting up the Banshee Horn and it now works like a charm!

I emailed the guys at Screaming-Banshee.org and after exchanging a few emails with Peter Olt (the guy who invented the whole system) he quickly found the solution to my problem: use a relay to "clean up" the signal from the horn to the Banshee control unit.

The original setup had a single splice from the (+) wire to the horn to the Banshee control unit, now I have two splices that actuate (or activate?) a relay -- connectors 85 & 86. I'm using splices instead of the piggy-back spade connectors included in the kit because BMW uses a special plug for the horn. Most bikes (all Ducs I've seen) use spade connectors on the horn, so that shouldn't be an issue.


Power out -- connector 87 from the relay -- connects to the wire that formerly went from the horn to the Banshee control unit. Power in (pin #30) is just another splice on a (+) wire. The relay for the Banshee is the one on the right in this pic, the control unit is center and bottom, relay in the center is for the cigar lighter socket above and left to it. And yes, I need to do some wire cleanup once I'm satisfied with all the locations.



Link the installation manuals shows the wiring schematics: http://screaming-banshee.com/installation

And here's a (cell phone) vid of the thing in action:


This video illustrates how the relay works, I disconnected the stock horn on the GS so you can hear the relay clicking when I honk.



Overall I am VERY satisfied with the Banshee horn. There were some issues at the beginning which I think is acceptable given that this is a new product from a small shop. What impressed me is how available and responsive to my emails Peter was (he even gave me his cell#...      ). He sent me the fix (free of charge) to the problem and now everything works like a charm.