Problem with Battery Not Charging

Year: 2005.
Problem: Got stuck at a group ride a few months ago with a dead battery & was forced to get a jump from an auto (yes, I know, that was a bad idea). Since then have continued to have battery charging problems. Bike runs for hrs as long as I don't shut it off. Otherwise I get a few restarts, then it goes dead.
Attempts at correction to date:So far I have replaced the battery & the regulator, traced ground cable to check for corrosion, etc, checked main wires for shorts (what I can see)
Questions: 1)How to test if the alternator is functioning correctly?
2)Any other thoughts on what else to check?
No- I do not have an extended warranty or deep pockets- need to do this one myself.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

You sure it's a dead battery and not the dreaded "faulty ignition switch"? 8)

Welcome to the Forum!

Have someone help you with this, First, start your bike without the seat on. Turn on ALL your accessories, keep the idle of the bike at around 2000 rpms, and check the voltage across your battery. Then turn any accessories you can OFF and test the voltage again. Any voltmeter should work, just make sure you have it to test direct current DC, not alternating current AC!
To "charge" the battery your alt will need to output 13.5 volts or more. Actually you really need it to read 14 or over.

If you read less than 13.5 volts, you have somekind of alternator fault like a broken winding or bad wire maybe?

Good Luck and please UPDATE us on the outcome!

Still dawdling on this one.

One last ditch effort before breaking down and getting a new alternator/stator, the manual electrical diagram shows a fuse #11 that lives between the pos. terminal of the battery and before the wires split off to the alternator & rectifier. Would there be a remote possibility that this fuse is the problem? Would the bike run at all if this fuse were bad? I just don't know how to read wiring diagrams enough to determine if this fuse is required only in the recharging portion of the system. Also, I can't find the **** thing on the bike. The wire leading from the battery disappears into the harness U& then who knows where???

get yourself a PC625 battery and don't worry about it.
IF it goes dead or refuses to start with the pc625,
THEN look at tearing your ignition switch apart and resoldering it.
My 2 cents.

Do you have your ignition switch relocated? The ignition switches have been known to bug out and they seem to go quicker if it's relocated down under the fuel tank and behind the engine. I think the cause (besides faulty design) is a combination of the excess heat and horizontal position of the relocated switch and vibration. I installed a keyless ignition because I had to resolder mine and didn't want to worry again about a breakdown on some back road somewhere. Do the voltage check, that will tell you if you have a charging system problem. If that checks out OK, check the ignition switch. If it's still in it's OEM location just move the wires around a little to see if you can reproduce your problem. If that checks out OK then I don't know what else to suggest to you. When this is all over get the Odyssey PC625 battery, it's way better than the OEM battery. And if it is the ignition switch, see if your dealer will help you out on a new one, of course you will have to change out all your key locks to match your new switch. You could also get a keyless ignition..........future ignition system problems solved!

if that fuse is blown then there is most likely a problem with the charging cct anyway, do the voltage check.