We can find this out when the time comes, as one of the things that makes these kinds of posts hard to follow for everyone involved is jumping around from one thing to another without finding out some of the for sure answers.
Of course cleaning and checking postive and nevative connections can be done whenever you feel like doing it, and you may find you cleaned something that made a difference.
Find battery voltage.
See if it climbs when you rev it.
When you get a second or two note how many wires are connected to your alternator.
There is a real easy way to see if the alternator works without taking it off, but we'll get to that if we have to, so don't take it off just yet.