The engine I installed in the 1200 is out of an '85 Limited which means it was an FI version. I removed all that hardware and converted it to carbs, runs fine and starts at the first bump of the start button. The Limited engine has a higher output alternator, a 490 watt unit as opposed to the '84 Std. original 360 watt output. At first I thought that was the cause of me reading a charging voltage of 15.30+ across the battery posts, much too high and would eventually ruin either my new AGM battery or the regulator....or both. I posed the question on the NGW board and two things were suggested. First, try a good ground from the regulator body to the neg. post on the battery. Tried it....no change. Next was something referred to as the "sensor" wire, a black wire coming off the regulator and senses voltage levels, thereby causing the regulator to either ramp up the charge or bleed off the excess which causes a drop in charging....i.e., a fully charged battery. If the connections located in the main harness for that wire happen to be the least bit corroded or dirty, anything to impede, then the wire senses a lower voltage and ramps up the output of the regulator. The fix is simple, pull the wire out of the connector on the reg. and run a temporary jumper to the positive post. If that was the problem, the charge will drop accordingly.
You could have knocked me over with a feather. I had replaced that rather large connector on the reg. and polished/cleaned all the pins before ass'y. But when I pulled the wire out and ran a jumper over to the battery positive post and cranked up the bike, the charging voltage was now 14.25+/-. Right where I needed it. Whoever figured that out saved me some $$ for either a new regulator or a second new battery....or both. Apparently there is a bad connection elsewhere in the harness the wire was sensing, so by doing the jumper it merely isolated it from the system. So, today I went to school....clear as mud, right?
