1ogkz wrote: Thanks again, So basically the regulator is overcompensating due to voltage loss on the brown wire in the wiring harness. Would it damage anything other than the battery if i took it out for short rides till i get it fixed?
Correct. The brown wire is what tells the regulator what the battery voltage is at. If the brown wire is losing voltage, the regualtor thinks the battery is low so it sends more output to the battery.
To test/run it, you can temporarily run a wire from the battery post to the brown wire on the regulator. This will prevent any damage, and will allow you to confirm the reg/rec is working correctly. But it will prevent you from turning the bike off, so you will want to put a switch and a 5 amp fuse in the bypass line for safety. Switch this line on after the bike is running, and switch it off before killing the motor (to prevent the fuse from blowing). This switch will become a partial, secondary ignition switch and is not a permanent solution. (If you shut off the ignition switch, and leave this line connected with bike running, full current will be going through some skinny wires to keep the bike running, so the fuse is there to protect the wiring, but will blow if you forget to turn the switch off before killing the bike, or accidentally turn it on before the main ignition switch.)
If you don't do that, you will be ok for short runs (provided 15v or so is the max it gets to), but as you ride longer, the battery will get hotter and hotter and electrolyte will boil over faster. Then you must let the battery cool completely before going again.
EDIT I saw MH's post after posting: See motorheads post above for possible damage if the voltage exceeds 14.5 by several volts.