78 KZ1000 Charging hel!!

got my kz running from a 4 year sit in june got a friend deal on a battery (junk) the supposed new battery wouldnt stay charged so checking it with a shop tester @4000 rpm it shows about 14.5 volts drop it by a bike guy he says its not charging all the time probably loose wire oor bad voltage reg at another budies house he says unplug voltage reg if it shoots up to 17 or so its the regulator sure enough unplug it its charginging off the scale my scale only goes to 16 volts. buy a reg off ebay been nearly a month put it on and plugged in its still charging off the scale (i'm thinking a real bad reg) he says since the battery was dead dead it will level out with a charged battery. Sounds logical so I take the battery charge it load test it and sure enough the buddy deal battery is junk> Put a NEW 220 CCA 14AH AGM sealed ready to go 100.00 battery in it today put it on the tender yesterday when I picked up the new battery bike runs better than ever but... put voltage tester on it it's still charging off the scale he says same thing the battery has sat on a shelf for x number of months it will level out I am questioning his logic and dont want to fry this new battery any help would be appreciated sorry took so long to get to point

Several things to look at:

1.All grounds clean and tight (Kawasaki uses the Black with Yellow strip as grounds along with the one from the battery Negative(-) post to the engine mounting bolt).

2.Does your regulator/rectifier have a small Brown wire in the electrical connector, and is it mated(connected) to a matching brown wire going to the harness? This is part of the sensing circuit to control the charging rate, if disconnected, the charging system will act this way, overcharging the battery.

www.electrosport.com has a good PDF for troubleshooting.

will double check grounds in the morning thanks. i am sure the regulator bullet end wire is plugged in but not so sure about tight engine ground thanks for all your help

thanks that site is amazing

There's good troubleshooting advise from several members here too. As a group, we will figure out what's happening or not working.