Alternator issues?

[jonnythan]

The guy I bought this '87 XV535 from said that the regulator/rectifier needed to be replaced. Sounds good to me. I order a new one, but one of the exhaust system bolts is stripped all to hell so I an't get to the old rectifier. I'll bet he knew about this beforehand, but that's besides the point.

The plugs for the rectifier are easily located underneath the left hand side cover. I unplug the old one and plug in the new one, letting it dangle beside the bike. Well, there is no change. The voltage across the battery does not increase when I twist the throttle. It stays around 11.72 volts, aboutthe same as the battery reads with the ignition to "on" but the bike not running.

My service manual also has me check the wires from the stator to make sure resistance between each pair is ~0.4 ohms. My voltmeter reads "1.0" ohms for each pair, which is a bit off, but consistent. I chalk the difference up to the fact that it's a $5 voltmeter.

The service manual doesn't seem to indicate anything further to diagnose charging system problems. Any help?

[Lep]

You said you let it dangle there but you didn't say if you grounded it. Alot of times they ground though the mounting bolts.