question on charging

[codyo97123]

hey guys, suffice it to say that the last week has been interesting with my bike (88 kat 600). it kept cutting out and kept cutting out on me, seemingly at higher r's. i changed the cdi, and alt just to find out that it was a faulty kickstand switch. I at least got an extra alt and cdi out of the whole deal... new tank for $20 at the bone yard as well!
Question is this: what is the voltage supposed to read at the battery while idling? Mine is about 13.5 and when revved around 15. I thought this was a faulty regulator in my original alt heating everything up and shutting the bike down, but the 'new' one reads the same. Is this right or do they both have a bad voltage regulator? After I shut the bike down the voltage bleeds down to 12.3 or so at the new battery, so I know it's fine.
appreciate any answers on this issue, especially those that i want to hear!

[coolasice]

that sounds about right to me, but i'm not an expert

[Kfreak]

Alt. starts to output around 4000 rpm's. Headlight is always on so there is always a draw on the battery. If you smell sulfur and heat from the battery, then you worry.

[Mattaua]

that voltage sounds about right, I recently had regulator problems on my honda superhawk, but everything pointed to the reg/rec...I would check the coils and all the grounds as well.

[codyo97123]

thanks for the response guys, appreciate the input. good to know, i just wanted to double check it sounded about right... work is just slow and can't afford to fry my coils or anything right now! i have heard that these bikes will charge at idle, as opposed to most others so it makes sense it'd charge a little high.

[mammut89]

sounds about right. 14.4 is the theoretical optimum for charging a 12 volt battery. so at high rev it should be around 14.4 . 15 is actually a bit high but nothing id be worried about.