Thanks, Duke, Gordon, and Rod for the info.  That thread on the rectifier was very enlightening and there is a lot to digest from it for sure.  At the moment my non-Tourer ACE is not setup to power anything beyond the stock lights (although my tail/brake light is actually not stock; when I bought the bike it had a pretty teardrop taillight from a 1939 Ford pickup installed but while changing the bulb I dropped the glass lens and it shattered so I replaced it with an LED unit from Speedway Motors in Iowa which had a plug on it to tie directly in place of an 1157 bulb; nice and bright, btw).  I might have to try out the trick of hooking up a voltmeter while driving just to check out what my charging system is doing but I am definitely going to be shopping for a new battery tomorrow.  I've currently got my backup ride (my 250cc scooter) up for sale and if it goes I'm on foot so gotta do something very soon. 

So, from my reading it looks like an AGM/maintenance free battery is preferred?  I would prefer not to have to order one so will check around locally to see what I find.  I'll post something as follow up.  Thanks again!!