Texan
Rollie Reincarnated
I installed my Passport 8500 on my FJR but wanted a reliable and loud warning siren that I could hear at highway speeds. I considered an earphone directly connected to the unit, but I like the flexibility to ride with earplugs or my Shure EC3 earphones for music. I also considered the H.A.R.D. LEDs, but it was pricey and I still wanted an audio alert that I could hear regardless of my field of vision. I also considered a Radar Screamer which is available for about $90 and which has good reviews (in fact, I have one on order to compare). In the end, I easily built my own and it works great. I think some of you might be better able to make it look better, so if you do, I am open to mounting suggestions.
Here is the way mine looks from the side. The Piezo speaker is mounted under the Ram-mount plate.
This is the view from the rider position:
You only need three parts to make this work. I purchased all the parts from All Electronics.
This is the Painfully Loud Mini Siren
This is the Solid State Relay
You will also need an SPST switch - pick any one you like. This switch is necessary to turn off the siren when you are riding in a city (everyone within 50' will hear it go off). This is what mine looks like mounted near the emergency flasher switch.
And here is the wiring diagram
I mounted the relay in a project box and put it under the seat. Again, others may make this look more professional and you could easily hide it behind the fairing.
How loud is it? I measured here at 2' - roughly the distance from the speaker to my helmet. 112dB is painfully loud. You MUST wear hearing protection when you are testing this.
How does it work? I can absolutely hear this even at unintentionally very fast speeds. The audio behaves like the 8500 audio. When there is one bar on the radar, the speaker sounds a "brap" which is easy to hear. With two bars, "Brap, brap" and so on. After about 4 bars, the siren goes open loop and sounds continuously, which is another reason you need the switch to kill the sound as you pass the LEO at legal speeds.
It's functional, costs under $20 and took me only an hour to install. (okay, maybe 3 hours because I did some debugging, but with this tutorial, you should be able to do it quickly.)
Good luck and safe riding.
Here is the way mine looks from the side. The Piezo speaker is mounted under the Ram-mount plate.
This is the view from the rider position:
You only need three parts to make this work. I purchased all the parts from All Electronics.
This is the Painfully Loud Mini Siren
This is the Solid State Relay
You will also need an SPST switch - pick any one you like. This switch is necessary to turn off the siren when you are riding in a city (everyone within 50' will hear it go off). This is what mine looks like mounted near the emergency flasher switch.
And here is the wiring diagram
I mounted the relay in a project box and put it under the seat. Again, others may make this look more professional and you could easily hide it behind the fairing.
How loud is it? I measured here at 2' - roughly the distance from the speaker to my helmet. 112dB is painfully loud. You MUST wear hearing protection when you are testing this.
How does it work? I can absolutely hear this even at unintentionally very fast speeds. The audio behaves like the 8500 audio. When there is one bar on the radar, the speaker sounds a "brap" which is easy to hear. With two bars, "Brap, brap" and so on. After about 4 bars, the siren goes open loop and sounds continuously, which is another reason you need the switch to kill the sound as you pass the LEO at legal speeds.
It's functional, costs under $20 and took me only an hour to install. (okay, maybe 3 hours because I did some debugging, but with this tutorial, you should be able to do it quickly.)
Good luck and safe riding.
