Modern Vespa

Hey all, this morning I put up a walk through on how to fill a new motorcycle battery with acid, seal it, and charge it. The initial fill up, and initial charge, can be critical to a battery's long term life and performance, so while it isn't exactly rocket science, I thought it was worth sharing how things should be done.

Fast forward six hours and I hit the starter on my '09 Vespa S on my way to pickup some takeout, and I hear the usual hesitant carbureted Vespa startup sound. That's when it clicked that all of us on LX/S models will have to do this sooner or later if we service our own Vespas.

Figured I should probably share it here too.

Video: Article: https://www.youmotorcycle.com/how-to-fill-charge-replace-motorcycle-battery.html

Basic instructions:

1) Take out the acid pack, remove the cover but not the seals, flip it upside down, push firmly into battery to fill.

2) Once it's done filling, waiting 30 minutes AFTER filling is complete to let the air bubbles out.

3) Seal the battery and charge it with a motorcycle specific battery charger.

4) Remove old battery by disconnecting the negative terminal first.

5) Install new battery by connecting the positive terminal first.

I have full on instructions, with extra info (how to make the acid drain quickly, why you should wait 30 minutes after, how long charging will take, what kind of charger not to use, what not to do, etc.) in the video or article for those who are doing this or those who are just curious about it.

Hope this helps someone out there.

Cheers,

Adrian

Curious, why choose a battery that needs filling? why not use an Maintenance Free AGM type?

I think it is an AGM battery. If you buy it "dry", then you need to add the acid, seal up, and charge the battery before usage. (The dealer performs these same steps if you buy a new battery from them.)

think I just found my answer:

AGM can be EITHER Factory Activated (FA) or Bottle Supplied (BS)

https://www.yuasabatteries.com/resources/guides/how-to-activate-an-agm-battery/#:~:text=When%20filling%20your%20AGM%20battery,seals%20on%20the%20electrolyte%20container.

I recently purchased a Yuasa replacement for my 300 GTS and it also needed to be filled, sealed and charged. The original lasted a surprising 10 years.

Weird, I didn't get any emails about replies to this thread, but yes, sometimes the dealers will do the prepwork for you on these, sometimes you must do it yourself. Personally, unless you know the shop doing the work and that they're committed to doing it right, I prefer doing it myself over having a battery that's been already set up by a shop who knows how long ago.

Hope this clears it up!