Little breakdown

[recman]

Went out for a spin earlier, stopped off at Tesco in Baldock for fuel but when I tried to set off I only got a couple of turns of the engine, then nothing.
Called the wife to come over with the jump leads but got no joy there either. Leads must be fucked.
Had no choice but to call the AA and fair play, they only took 15mins to arrive.
So he connects up his battery diagnostic/multimeter thingy and tells me all is well with the alternator but the battery has a bad cell.
His portable booster started the bike nicely so I was on my way again.

To be fair, the bike was starting to labour a bit when starting over the last few days but I didn't expect such a sudden failure.
Live and learn.

So does anyone think its worth connecting up my Ultimate or does having a bad cell mean its on its way to battery heaven?

Tl;dr - Went out, got stranded with a knackered battery, called AA, home now.

[P.addy]

Replace battery, however check the charging system. Triumphs have been known to chew their reg/recs...

[MattEMulsion]

Your battery is obviously knackered, don't bother trying to save it with an Optimate or such like, just get a new one.
____________________
Yamaha YZF-R6

[recman]

How do you go about checking the reg/recs?
Would a reg/rec failure cause the battery to have a bad cell?
I suspect its the original battery which is over four years old now so maybe its just given up.
As you say, time for a new one.

[recman]

[P.addy]

[recman]

[Pigeon]

[recman]

Quick update.
Since getting the bike home last Sunday, I haven't started it or put it on charge.
The only thing I've done is to put the alarm into the low drain winter mode.
I tried it just now, not expecting too much but it fired up like nothing was wrong.
I tested the battery to see if there was any kind of standing voltage drop or massive drop on turnover but had no problems with either.
Standing voltage was a constant 12.25v with a start up drop down to 10.5v.
So I did the reg/rec test according to Paddy's instructions which gave me the same results, a steady 14.35v.

[MC]

Bike obviously doesn't like you, I think you should give it to me
____________________
Yamaha MT-03 '08 (crashed)
Honda XR-125L '04

[Pete.]

Voltage isn't the only test of a battery. Capacity can be reduced near zero and still hold 12V plus.

Do a drop test. Drop it in the bin and buy a new one.
____________________
a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[recman]

[G]

Something like this:
https://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=34859
Can easily be carried on a bike and is generally useful to have (I do have various RC stuff I can use it in too, to be fair.)

The item linked will jump start my 2.2lt TD van when the battery won't turn it over at all (just a relay click). So for a bike, you shouldn't need nearly as big/expensive. (Not that it's very big as it is and for the money, offers a lot.)
You will need a charger, however a decent 'balance charger' is useful to have generally and start at around £15 - they can also be used to charge and test the capacity of lead acid batteries.

[MC]