Alternator problem on Honda Ascot?

84 VT500 was running fine, didn't ride it for a month or so. Tried to start it other day, battery dead. Jumped it with my Honda Civic (is that bad?) Started, drove it for a while, cut it off, battery dead still. Jumped it again with friend old mercedes, ran fine until I unhooked the jumper cable, then dash lights flickered and it ran bad. Put jumper cable back on, ran good. Took cable off again, ran bad. I have just bought charger and 1.5 amp charged the battery (which parts store said is still good, just dead), going to see how long the bike runs before anything may happen. Any ideas? Did I fry my alternator?

After you get your battery charged take it to a shop and have them load test it, bottom line is that you have to have a good battery no matter what, be prepared to replace it.
After you have the bike up and running again put a digital voltmeter accross the battery, at idle speed and high idle speed you should have 13.5 to 15 volts, if you do you are fine.

while you have it running, take your hot battery termanal off.
if it dies out, your alternator is shot. if it stays running your alt. is good. could be your batt. or something else.

Wrongo, Bob.

Instally fully charged battery.
Follow troubleshootuing tree in service manual.

Run your car on idle and rev it up to 2500 rpm. Then have someone measure the voltage across your battery terminals using a multimeter.

If you measure below 13.5 volts, your alternator has gone bad and may be unable to recharge your battery sufficiently. Replace your alternator.

Good luck!

First off, check the battery terminals and make sure they aren't corroded. NEVER disconnect a battery cable on an alternator equiped machine. That trick worked when generators were all the rage (pre-1962-63). The resulting voltage spike will likely fry expensive electrical components that you don't want to be replacing.