although I am not exactly sure why.
Thanks to everyone who replied a while back regarding my charging mystery. I ended up replacing several things but never did figure out what the problem was.
I got the kit from EME that had the upgraded rotor and diode board along with some new brushes.
I also got the voltage regulator that Motorrad Elektrik carries, a new UPG battery from Amazon, and had a new ground cable made here locally.
Happily, but also frustratingly, everything seems to be working correctly now. Happy, of course, because it works but frustrated since I don't know what the problem was.
I tested the rotor and diode board and they both read OK. A local guy told me that it is not uncommon though for the rotor to test OK but to not be when it runs. I do remember reading somewhere about how the spinning can open up a bad spot in wiring that might still connect when still. Maybe that was it?
I did not test the voltage regulator. It was the original, I believe, and looked the part. And I had planned to go to a higher output version anyway. I suspected that this might have been the culprit since it was the only thing that I didn't rule out originally.
One thing that I noticed while I was under the hood was that the nubs where my diode board mounted had been painted. Would this be enough to keep things from working if it kept the diode board from grounding well? I cleaned them off, of course. I sanded the paint off and put some contact stuff on the bare metal.
Since I have done all of that, I get a solid 12.85V even when the bike has been sitting a while. And well over 13V when running. Very happy about this. I have recently gotten a voltmeter that I am going mount soon. But with a rigged one that I attached early in the process, it seems that it is finally doing the right things at the right times now.
Not connected to charging but still electrical - a while back I had asked about the turn signal indicator lights and how to make them brighter (mine were very dim and hardly visible in the daylight, barely at night). I hadn't done anything with the bulbs in the dash but I did follow some directions from here about changing to LED's and a new relay. That change happened to make a big difference in how bright the indicators are. So I guess the problem there was probably the contacts on the relay. Nice to have a problem taken care of as a bonus. So for anyone else having that problem, check the contacts and it might be all that is needed. Otherwise, I was able to get the relay for the LED's off the shelf from O'Reilly's.
Thanks again to everyone who responded before. I've had some internet connection problems and a laptop crash and couldn't reply easily until now.
