Got the bike somewhat assembled to test systems this morning before the rain, sleet and snow hit. One of things I needed to do was make sure the bike started--I knew I was going to have to replace the carb as the main jet is bottomed out and I knew it would not sustain full throttle without burping a lot. For this test, I left the existing China carb on.
To test the system, I started first with the diode. The manual says it should put out about 18-20 volts for it to test good. Once running, I used my multimeter and checked voltages at the blade fuse and, sure enough, got 19 volts at low idle. The next step was to check the voltage regulator. I first checked the voltage at the AC output from the stator and, at idle, I was getting about 8 volts at low idle and was right where it should be. I checked for output by wiring in a car lightbulb after the switch, and sure enough, it turned right on. The bulb does get brighter as I revved the engine up, but I think the regulator will cap the voltage as it is designed for a max 13.8v output.
I made up a simple hold-down for the battery. I'll do some more work to it.
Here's the light running directly off the stator.
The light running off the regulator after the switch.
Here's a video of the engine being started and running at high idle. I purposefully set the idle up to get a decent voltage reading. Now, I can break down the bike and start the finish work. Oh, and by the way, you'll hear our Boxer in the background most upset that he can't be outside the fence with dad.
https://youtu.be/7PkJ5ksvuoM