'81 450T-8 gauge wire, Battery & Starter?

[Guest]

Rewiring my 81 450T. Is 8 gauge wire big enough for battery and starter? The factory looks almost to be 6 gauge. Thanks.

[Steve]

Not sure exactly what gauge it is, but 8 should be fine.

According to this chart, 6 gauge is good for 101 amps for chassis wiring, 8 gauge is good for 73 amps.

I have used an amp meter on larger bikes (850 and 1000) and only seen 50 amps draw on the starter wire.

.

[pete]

I don't know what gauge it was, but the only wire I could get that wasn't huge like they use on cars was rated at 50 amps continuous and it doesn't get hot while starting or anything like that.

[thevillaindylan]

Steve, Pete, thanks for the replys. I picked up 8 ga. 50 amp, oil and resistant wire. I picked up a $horai batttery that i'm mounting under the tail due to it's tiny size (4.45"W x 3.50"H x 2.28"D) I'm moving the electrics under the stock seat pretty much the same way Pete did it. Thanks for all the pics Pete.

Pete, did you have any grounding problems with the electrics under the seat? I'm grounding the reg/rec and igniter to the 22 ga. steel plate I made. I attached the plate to the frame using the same type of rubber lined pipe straps. Do I need to ground that plate to the frame?

[pete]

Steve, Pete, thanks for the replys. I picked up 8 ga. 50 amp, oil and resistant wire. I picked up a $horai batttery that i'm mounting under the tail due to it's tiny size (4.45"W x 3.50"H x 2.28"D) I'm moving the electrics under the stock seat pretty much the same way Pete did it. Thanks for all the pics Pete.

Pete, did you have any grounding problems with the electrics under the seat? I'm grounding the reg/rec and igniter to the 22 ga. steel plate I made. I attached the plate to the frame using the same type of rubber lined pipe straps. Do I need to ground that plate to the frame?

Yup you sure do!

I have all my grounds going to the starter solenoid post as the solenoid case is the ground for it, and I have a wire straight from there to the frame. The rubber mounts will insulate the electrics tray from the frame so there will effectively be no ground if you don't run that wire.

I have a feeling I put a second one in directly to battery negative also, but I can't remember now... I'll try to remember to have a look tomorrow.

[posplayr]

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showpost.php?p=1615346&postcount=26

There is a pic at the bottom of this post. From your R/R Solenoid mounting plate, you will need a ground wire to:
1.) battery to plate
2.) frame to plate
3.) Harness ground to the plate.

In the figure I show 4 configurations that are essentially equal. I suggest mounting all the ring lugs to the same mount with dielectric grease.

[thevillaindylan]

Cool, thanks for the replys. Posplyr, thanks for the pic, this helps immensely.