Bollox - The dreaded Speedtriple ‘Click,

[Mickly]

After fitting the heated gloves last week, I’ve eventually got round to trying them on the road, only to get a click when trying to start the bike, now before I go down a rabbit hole of duff battery & dodgy connections, I tried to start it with the Optimate attached, should this have given it enough ooomph to start or not coz it’s only a trickle charge? 

[Fiddlesticks]

I wouldn't have thought so.  Mine has had an Optimate attached for the winter.  I'd leave it on for a few hours and check to see if all the lights are green to indicate a full charge.  Then disconnect it and try to start the bike.

[Mickly]

6 minutes ago, Fiddlesticks said:

I wouldn't have thought so.  Mine has had an Optimate attached for the winter.  I'd leave it on for a few hours and check to see if all the lights are green to indicate a full charge.  Then disconnect it and try to start the bike.

Ta, Funny enough the light went green minutes after fitting it, but still just a click, I’ve disconnected everything except the charger & I’ll have a go in the morning.

[Stu]

No where near enough from the optimate they only put out 0.8 amps you would need around 200 amps to start it 

 

If it's gone green within 30 minutes then I suspect something is wrong as a flat battery would take a few hours to go green on an optimate 

[Mickly]

I’ll try jumping it off the campers leisure battery tomorrow without the battery connected & see if that does it.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

Sometimes a bad battery can fool a charger. They show the indicator that they are charged but the battery fails as soon as any load is applied. 

 

If you put a 12v bulb across the battery see how the voltage shows then. I had one do just the same as you describe but with just single bulb you could see the voltage dropping. 

[Fleck]

Make sure the battery clamps are tight

[Mickly]

Tried the camper battery & all it would do is cough once then stop every time I hit the start button, it also did the same using the battery on the Disco

[Mickly]

Used the campers vehicle battery & started its engine, the bike has now started - so I think the battery is the culprit, it is 7 years old !! 

[Stu]

Another good check is to stick a multimeter on the battery and hit the starter and see what the voltage drops to 

[Mickly]

It’s gotta be the battery.

This morning I did as suggested by @Stu

i.e. Attached a multimeter to the battery, at first it read 12•85V, I switched the ignition on which lights up the dash, driving lights & primes the fuel system… it dropped to 11•35V, then I hit the start button and it span over once and stopped ( Instead of just whirring ) & it dropped to 8•65V.

On reflection the heated gloves probably did for a dying battery.

Thinking about why the car batteries wouldn’t start it without the engine running, I reckon when it was 1st tried and failed it probably stopped at the point where it needed the most power so needed more grunt to overcome that.

Fingers crossed that the Sprag clutch hasn’t been damaged.

Picking up a new battery tomorrow 

[Stu]

Definitely sounds like a duff battery to me 

[Mickly]

New battery fitted, all is good  

Good job as it’s going to Suttons in Tamworth to have a service item completed that should have been done 2 years ago, a part wasn’t included in the service kit from Triumph so they said they’d get in touch when it arrived & we all forgot
They’re having a refit and found the part in their stores area with my details on it, gave me a call & asked me why

As it’s the hub nut for the single sided swinging arm they obviously didn’t grease the hub as the nut has to be replaced when it’s done.

FairPlay to Suttons, got it booked in foc with no argument.

Edited February 18, 2023 by Mickly