It looks like the place where I want to mount the horn is going to require a bit of length added to the stock horn wires. I'm wondering if I can go to home depot and just splice in what I need? If so, should I just get wire nuts and electrical tape to seal/secure it? What gauge wire?
Best job is to solder the joins and use heat shrink to insulate them. Put the heat shrink over the wires and slide it out of the hot zone before soldering.
for the love of god....please do not use wire nutz
Don't have a solder gun and can't afford one. I guess I'm going to have to see what they have and improvise.
I would probably cut the stock harness and solder in some additional wire, but you can make some extensions without having to hack into the stock wiring and solder anything.
Get some male and female crimp connectors from radio shack. Get some wire there too, or use whatever wire you have around the house thats about the same thickness as the stock wiring.
Cut two pieces of wire, and crimp a male connector on to one end and a female onto the other end, on each wire. Now you have two "extension cords" you can use to mount your horn farther away.
(http://www.radioshack.com/graphics/product_images/pRS1C-2266843w345.jpg)
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104091
(http://www.radioshack.com/graphics/product_images/pRS1C-2265828w345.jpg)
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103314
Home depot doesn't typically sell automotive wire (rated for gas/oil/other yucky stuff), they sell Home wire, like use their wire on houses, not motorcycles.
I would just buy: male spade connectors, female spade connectors, wire (same gauge as the old ones [if you are like my neighbors and lay on the horn for 5 minutes cuz you are too lazy to walk your lazy butt to the door and knock, use 12 gage, if you're always honking in traffic, lol, use 14 gage, if you are only using it to beep at sexy women use 16 gage, if you are only using it to pass inspection use 18 gage]), and some wire, and i guess in your case a crimp connector. And i would make 'extensions' for the spade connectors the horn uses.
aka: rule #732 states... never cut a vehicles wiring harness unless necessary, or you're just one of them custom ride, stock ain't cool, factory fittings that last eons ain't good enough for me, types of people).
edit:
zirc beat me to the 'extension cord'.
And i forgot to mention wally marts and automotive stores will sell the correct wire.
If you are using some sort of ultra loud super cool, (okay, really anything but a stock horn) you will actually be over amping the original wire most likely.... but given the standard beep beep duration of horn use... it shouldn't be a problem.
Awesome, thanks. I'll dip over to Autozone. Close than home depot anyhow.
You can get a 30w soldering iron at Radio Shack for less than $10. They are a good thing to have laying around. Doing a good job the first time saves you money and aggravation in the long run :thumb:
Mary
If you are on a budget and want to save money, skip the "special automotive grade" wire. Any decent quality multi strand copper wire will do. They are just labelled different to get more money out of people. Decent quality multi strand copper wire can be salvaged from power cables of most household electrical/electronic equipment (lamps, stereo, tv, blender , etc etc)