Battery charging problem Alternator Rotor?

Well what do you know. I decided to charge my battery last night and upon putting it on I looked at the 4 main wires to the battery and noticed that they looked oxidized. I could've sworn I cleaned those babies up but apparently I didn't. So I took some sand paper to it and started going to town getting it as shiny as I possibly could. Hooked up the battery, turned on the bike and when I revved it up to about 3000rpms I was getting nearly a full on charging spec at 14.8volts!!!! Hellelujah! Could this have been my problem the WHOLE TIME!! I went through that bike with a fine tooth comb and never once considered the battery leads! The two main arteries to the whole electric system???? I'm an idiot. Unfortunately I'm still idling low at around 12.3 volts at 1500rpms. But hey, baby steps.

 

That's about normal at idle. As soon as you bring the rpm up, the charge voltage goes up. Mine does the same thing

 

As for measuring charging voltage it could contribute to lower voltages, but it depends on exactly where you are measuring. If the meter leads are placed on the battery terminals then any losses from a poor connection will lower the voltage. If the meter leads were placed on the battery cables then any voltage loss from a poor connection between the battery and battery cables would not be detected. You can apply the opposite of that when starting the bike. For example, you might see 11.o volts or so at the battery terminal when cranking the bike, but perhaps see a substantially lower voltage at the battery cable terminals if a poor connection exists between the battery and the battery cable. Additionally, the difference between starter current and charging current is significant, so typically you would detect a poor connection at the battery when the starter is engaged. Note also that in reference to charging voltage that the output of the Rect/Reg is connected to the battery through the main fuse and a single spade connector along with some additional wiring. Consequently, any losses from those connections would also show up as a lower charging voltage.

I would suspect this is the main reason for the higher voltages.