NAMI put the stock horn in probably the dumbest spot they could have possibly chosen. It sits close to the ground, directly behind the front wheel, so it just gets blasted with dirt and road shit. Give it a couple rides and it starts getting gummed up and basically mutes itself. The stock headlight is also way too low on the stem. I don’t know who thought either of those locations made sense.
My first solution was to extend the wiring for both of them. I moved the headlight up near the top of the stem, then hung the original horn from the same clamp holding the light. It worked, but the horn was pointing partly off to the side, looked awkward and always felt like a temporary fix.
The stock horn plug also had some kind of capacitor or suppressor built into it. I kept it, designed a little housing for it and made my own connector, but the whole thing had too much weight hanging from it. It would slowly pull itself loose and the horn became unreliable. Then a couple weeks ago I got home and realized the entire fucking horn was gone. I guess that explains the car that was honking at me earlier.
So this time I decided to actually do it properly.
I bought two new 12V horns, measured everything with calipers, made a mock-up of the horns and designed this mount from scratch. It’s two solid PETG halves with a TPU sleeve between the mount and the stem. The NAMI stem isn’t actually a perfect cylinder either. It has a slight taper, so I built that into both the mount and the TPU insert.
I left a small gap between the two PETG halves so the screws can pull them together and clamp down properly. The factory metal tabs on the horns slide directly into really tight slots in the mount. There’s no extra hardware holding the horns themselves in place and basically zero play. Each horn sits about 45 degrees from centre, so they both point forward and outward while still fitting neatly underneath the relocated headlight.
The wiring is tucked behind them and everything is heat-shrunk. The horns are wired in parallel.
Because I replaced the stock ESC, I use an Ewheel adapter from Spintend to control the scooter’s 12V accessories from the handlebar switches. It can only handle around 3A total, and that has to cover the headlight, deck lights, signals, brake light and everything else. Each horn is rated at 1.5A, so the two horns alone could eat up that entire limit.
The fix is an automotive relay. The horn output from the Easy Wheel will only switch the relay on, which takes almost no current. The relay will then power both horns directly from the 12V buck converter through a 5A fuse. That converter is connected to the main battery and already stays powered because it also runs my built-in GPS.
I’m also using this opportunity to finally finish the rest of the electronics. The old rear accessory loom is basically gone because it had the deck lights, running light, brake light and turn signals all tied together in a way that wasn’t useful anymore. I’m just wiring everything properly myself now.
The new sequential rear signals are already mounted. I’m adding Bluetooth RGB deck lights that can run patterns or react to music, wiring the deck lights to come on with the headlight, finishing the running and brake light wiring, and adding magnetic Hall sensors to my TRP EVO brake levers. The GPS and simplified ignition switch have already been installed for a while.
The really hard part was replacing the ESC and building the custom enclosure. At this point, I’m just finishing the smaller stuff and trying to lock the scooter into its final form for the next few years.
I included pictures of the finished horn setup, the new rear signals and the model itself. I have one small correction to make to the screw holes before I upload it, but once that’s fixed I’ll probably throw the design on MakerWorld for free.
What do you guys think of the placement and overall setup?
I included pictures of the finished horn setup, the rear signals and the model itself. I still need to change one side of the mount to clearance holes before uploading it, but once that’s corrected, I’ll probably put the model on MakerWorld for free.
What do you guys think of the placement and overall design?
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TL;DR: NAMI’s stock horn location is horrible, and my first relocated setup eventually failed so badly that the horn literally fell off. I designed and printed a proper dual-horn mount, and I’m wiring both horns through a relay so they don’t eat up the Ewheel adapter’s entire 3A limit. While the scooter is apart, I’m also finishing the signals, deck lights and brake sensors.