Soooo.... I thought I would test the charging system to see if anyone was home, and usually a quick test is to start the bike and watch the headlamp, if it gets brighter as the RPM's go up you probably have some charging action going on. I start the bike up and the headlight is pretty darn bright already, and when I rev it up it kinda looks like its getting brighter, but it is hard to tell since it's already so bright.
I decide to quit being lazy and I hook up my DVOM to the battery and I have about 12.4 volts with the ignition off. It drops down to 11.5 volts when I switch on the ignition but it jumps to 15 volts when I start the bike and let it idle, and as I rev it up to 4 grand or so it climbs to 20 volts. If I switch the headlamp on you can subtract about 1.5 to 2 volts from these numbers. Maybe I'll just use the headlamp as a voltage regulator.
Is this normal? That should light up the road at night. At least the alternator is alternating
I might need some regulator help....