More trouble shooting.

I found a loose wire in the handle bar kill switch and re soldered it. That didn't fix the problem. I kept the trickle charger on which kept the battery around 14 volts. I found another loose connection on the coil wires. Tightening did nothing. I unplugged the rectifier and the engine ran great. Still it wasn't right. I checked the battery many times and kept charging it. Then I checked it and got 14 volts. That's not right either. I held the meter on the battery and turned the switch on. The voltage dropped to 7 volts. I tried the kill switch and it dropped more. I turned the lights on and the battery dropped to zero. I pushed the riding mower over and put jumper cables on the batteries. End of problem. I need a new battery.