TOPIC:

11.38 both sides 

move your red probe to the white wire at the fuse block connector


 

I have the battery box out with everything hooked back up except the rectifier. is it possible that my problem could be in the ignition switch  ?  I can't thank you enough for making this so much easier than the manual and for spending so much time with me. 

the problem could almost be anywhere.
you are looking for the point 11v turns to 6v.
that will be where your issue lies.
the white wire supplies most of the
voltage for the bike minus the starter. 
check the ignition switch connector.
should be behind the headlight.
red probe all of the wires with key on
voltages?

 

Cut off again lol. I'm heading home now but can come back tomorrow if you are not tired of me yet. Let me know if you want to play some more tomorrow. once again thank you for your time and help. Jon

All of the voltages at the key are 6.57 or less. I was checking ohms on some of the wires and am getting 175.0 on the posts in the picture. Not sure what that means lol. Could this  starter relay be an issue. Just  a side note,  while checking wires the battery went from 11.38 to 4.35. I was working the key switch intermittently on/off. I'm so lost. I hate to keep throwing parts at it. The previous owner and my buff always said IT'S SOMETHING STUPID lol 

The ignition switch contact board could be the weak point for your huge voltage drop.
Sometimes heat or mechanical stress on the power wire can made you a bad day(s)!!!

 

Where were your probes exactly when the battery went to 4 volts??


The starter solenoid is a different circuit. Also,  you don't want to use resistance to troubleshoot this. Voltage drop testing is a better method.
If all of the wires at the starter switch connector(blue box) are reading 6.57 volts, then you need to trace that white wire back to the battery. If the key switch was bad, you would have 11 volts on the white wire and 6 volts on the other wires. Since you have 6 volts on all of those wires that means you have an issue on the white wire between the key switch connector and the fuse that I had you check earlier that had 11volts(fuse with white wire on one side... Red/white on the other side).
When you checked that fuse did you put the probe on the fuse or the wire terminal that holds the fuse? For that white wire in the fuse holder you need to put your probe on the terminal not the fuse. This way you can see if the terminal is bad. If you put the probe on the fuse for the white wire side, you could see 11volts on the fuse but the terminal could be loose or corroded. Which would only pass 6 volts instead of the full 11volts. Also check the voltage on the white wire connector near the battery.(another smaller blue box).
Reconnect your regulator/rectifier just to make sure everything is joined together circuit-wise.



 

key on
ignition switch on
DC V
black probe on negative battery post
red probe on positive battery post
what is the voltage?
The key and ignition must be on when you take this voltage as the circuits need to be loaded.

move red probe to the 6 volt area/ ignition switch connector in the headlight bucket.
leave connector connected
backprobe the white wire on both sides of the connector.
what are the voltages?

move red probe to the fuse block again.
open the fuse block lid and measure the white wire terminal.
what is the voltage?

turn off the bike

If your voltage at the 6 volt connector is still 6 volts and the 11 volt area is still 11 volts.
Then your issue lies along the white wire marked with the red line in the photo.




 

OK Friends, Had a small surgery last week and another tomorrow but had some time today to try what you all suggested. Key on voltage at the battery was 6.50 volts. Key off battery was 11.50 but drops pretty quickly when the key is on. Same at the fuse terminals (not the fuse ends). I checked the 6 wires at the ignition pIug and had the same 6.50 volts. Disconnected the 6 wire plug at the ignition (inside the headlight) and had battery voltage on the white and orange wires. I took the ignition apart and cleaned all the wires and tried the above again with the same result. I'm assuming that the wires from the battery are good until the 6 wire plug is connected to the ignition. (It's probably a bad assumption lol). While I had the ignition disconnected I rechecked the fuse terminals and had battery voltage. I hopes this helps and I'll try the rest of what you suggested next week after I recover. Thank everyone again for putting up with my electrical ignorance. Stay tuned for more jibberish lol.
 

Your battery may be toast.
Take it out and have it tested.
Key on voltage should not drop 5 volts.

Hoping for a speedy recovery Jon!

Battery isn't 6 months old. I have a load tester so I'll test it. it charges but as soon as you turn the key on it slowly drops. Thank you for the well wishes,  it's much appreciated.