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I plan to use Anderson SB50 connector for ground cable going from battery to chassis (engine) on my race bike to stop battery drain.

Will using larger negative cable for the battery cause any issues? Looking at the positive battery cable. It seems the positive cable is smaller in size (8-10 gauge) compared to the 6 gauge new ground connector that I plan to get.

I usually stop battery drain during storage by removing the negative terminal thus disconnecting the circuit. But I need quicker solution because removing tail fiberglass fairings is pain and time consuming. Thus using SB50 connector for negative chassis ground would be a quick solution. It has 50AMP continuous capacity and 120AMP

The bike is 2015 Suzuki GSXR 1000.

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    Can you explain why the different cable will stop battery drain?
    – HandyHowie
    Feb 2, 2022 at 22:06
  • Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair! Ditto to HandyHowe. As far as the cable, you can always go bigger without issue. You're asking for trouble if you went smaller. Feb 2, 2022 at 22:15
  • I usually stop battery drain during storage by removing the negative terminal thus disconnecting the circuit. But I need quicker solution because removing tail fiberglass fairings is pain and time consuming. Thus using SB50 connector for negative chassis ground would be a quick solution. It has 50AMP continuous capacity and 120AMP.
    – Wild Star
    Feb 3, 2022 at 7:13

2 Answers 2

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Using a larger cable won't be a problem, thicker wires can carry more energy, you may not need it thicker but it won't hurt anything.

I would encourage you not to use that type of push connector, they aren't ideal if you are going to be connecting and re-connecting on a regular bases - they will wear out over time and they aren't weatherproof. I'd encourage you to use a purpose built battery isolator switch instead.

Of course your best course of action is to fix the battery drain, it could get worse or be a sign of a wider issue.

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A thicker cable will not cause any issues. A longer cable will add resistance, so you want to keep the new cable with the connectors on as short as possible to keep starting motor current as high as possible.

Those connectors look like they have two poles and if you are only planning on breaking the battery negative terminal, then I would consider using both poles of those connectors in parallel. Together they will take 100A continuous current, rather than just 50A

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  • Cars. trucks and suvs with electronics use power to retain memory for radio presets, engine and other computer memories. Parasitic power loss is less than 50 milliamp (0.050 amp). Good batteries should last several months in warm weather but have less charge in cold temps. A race bike with its small battery may have parasitic current and can be measured with an digital multimeter. If there is parasitic current , a battery disconnect is justified. Bike batteries have less capacity and lose its charge compared to car batteries. Separate a possible battery issue from parasitic current loss.
    – F Dryer
    Feb 8, 2022 at 19:30

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