I am going to rewire my 77' I was woundering what gauge wire would you recomend using? It will be a very basic wireing system. Front and rear light, Ignition, and the main electrical system. I was thinking 14 or 16, for the lights and things, And the factory battery cable and statar cable. Thanks in advance for the help.
Daryl
Sponsored Links
This ad is not displayed to registered members. Register your free account today and become a member on HD Forums!
16-14 guage is very overkill and will become a pretty thick bundle very quickly. Marker lights come with 20 guage I think, maybe 22. I used 18 AWG for everything except from the regulator to the battery which was a bit bigger and the bundle was still bigger than I would like. I'll be re-doing the wire on mine as well as it all goes back together from being stripped down and powdercoated. There is a standard for choosing the size wire with reguards to amp load but I don't have those figures memorized. Just remember, the biggest amp draw you will have is the head light and regulator to battery.
I won't be useing marker lights, Just the head light, High and low beam. Then the Ignition system, And regulator, relay, gen, and stator, and coil. I think that is pretty much it. I rewired it last year and for some reason my Battery keeps dieing out on me, I found a break in the bat, to reg, fixed it roadside, I will be replacing most of the wireing for new just to make sure, So you think I should go with 18 gauge for the other stuff? Thanks..
Think of it this way, the only real heavy amp draw on the battery will be the starter motor, hence the heavy gauge wire. The rest of the system is very low draw. When you get a new set of electronic points, it comes with an20 gauge wire to run to the coil. When you get a new regulator (solid state) the pigtail is comprised of 18 gauge wire. I doubt your headlightwould be drawing more than the charging system.
Looking at the wire chart myself, 16ga is just a bit under 1/16 inch diameter (that is .0625 inch) and 14ga is just a bit over. For my machine I did it all using 16ga, not because I know what I am doing, but rather it matches what comes on the bike. Granted there are 18ga wiring on an original too.
However, there is 1 wire that you should use a 10ga wire (in my opinion) and that is the wire that is red in color (on original) and runs from the battery + post to the BATT+ terminal of your voltage regulator. That is describing an XLCH like mine.
If you have an XLH, then this wire will be found on the starter solenoid and will run up to the BATT+ terminal of the regulator.
I recommend using 10ga (and use it on my bike) because:
1) The original wire was that size.
2) This wire is the single wire that supplies power from the battery to the rest of the bikes circuits. It goes from battery to voltage reg to ignition/light switch and then on to the different electrical services, excepting the electric starter of course.........pg
Stick with 18. I only used 20 on the marker lights but you won't have those. Also, double check the equipment you're using.The requirementsmay be different for your year. The generator/regulator may put out more juice.
Another tip that may help... I drew out my entire system (same as yours with the addition ofturn signals)in Illustrator so I wouldn't have to rely on the factory diagram and all the extra crap when troubleshooting. Use a code of some sort, lables or colored wire, to make visual identification easier.
Wireing Question?
