Modern Vespa

Don't batteries always suddenly die at the most inconvenient time possible? I monitor the battery level pretty much every other time I ride the MP3. It was showing a not too bad 12.4V a few days back. I ordered a new battery (Noco Lithium, thanks for the pointer, @pinhead) a few weeks back, since I figured it was 4 years old.

This morning at 5.30am, the battery starts like a champ, zero hesitation. I get to the gas station, gas up... then the bike doesn't even try to start. It shows 11.8V. It's early and dark...

I run home (2 miles), pick up the new, fully charged battery, get in the car, get to the gas station and install it (pretty straight forward, but I wonder why the MP3 requires like 3 different tools for different type screws for pretty much every menial job). Things look great... then the bike refuses to start with the new battery. The old man in charge of the gas station comes out, looks at me, and tells me to just wait a bit. In my head, I go "yeah right, grandpops, like you are a licensed MP3 mechanic" but I just nod and say "Guess there's nothing else I can do, I'll prolly need to call a truck to get it to the shop", he goes "Coffee's on me, come in while you wait" and gets me a pretty darn good double espresso.

It's still early, so considering to simply go back home and wait until later to call the truck... the station owner goes "Let's try again", and I reluctantly give it a shot... and it starts right away. I am like "Thanks, I am leaving" and he says "No, let it just run for a few minutes"... and at this stage, who am I to not follow his advice...

So instead of my usual gym routine, I got to walk-run 4 miles, and furthermore made a cool aquaintance...

Why the lithium battery? They're inferior to lead acid batteries for starting applications.
And quickly lose reserve power the colder it gets.

Glad it worked out with the new battery . I've no theories on why it needed to sit and wait, maybe the ECU was doing a reset or something?

When I got my Lithium battery I also got a trickle-charger of the same brand that I could use on the Moto and cars. First thing I did was use it to charge the Lithium battery up with its Lithium charge mode.

Mine has been in the bike a couple years now and has been running with zero issues in both cold (snow on ground) and heat wave.


For why Lithium? Its 10lbs lighter which isn't much but every bit counts when linked with other modifications. Its a good battery that holds its charge well in my own experience. The existing battery was really old and needed a swap, why not put something new, lighter, and reliable in there.

Have lots of experience with batteries. Lithium batteries are not made for sudden draw applications. They will work. Is definitely not optimal like a lead acid battery.
Let me know what you think of it four or five years down the road.

Have you tried one? Hundreds of reviews defy that opinion. But this is my first one.

But all I care about right now, is the old battery left me stranded without warning from one day to the next. That has never happened to me before. Batteries give warnings by getting a tad lazier.

I will share my experiences going forward either way.

I also got the same charger you suggested in the original post, but the battery was fully charged and the intelligent charger just took a few minute to establsh that.

Just research how lithium batteries act under load, they heat up extremely fast. They are not meant for extreme fast discharge. That is very hard on the battery.
Find a car manufacturer or for that motor motorcycle manufacturer that uses a lithium battery for starting.

Name a smartphone that doesn't...

A lot of stuff in technology is driven by long-term partnerships rather than constant improvement, which admittedly may be marginal at times.

The one thing against lithium batteries I have heard is when they are used to jumpstart several vehicles. Which is different from starting and riding.

The starting the engine process doesn't seem to faze the new lithium battery a bit... it stays in the 13.8V zone and then goes back to 14V as soon as you ride off.

If anything goes wrong, I'll update the forum. And the Noco gets rave reviews from owners. As do the ZeroGravity for cars, but those are $700+, so I am not sure the value proposition appeals to me...

Read up on lithium battery technology. It is not meant for high draw loads.

Rubbish. LiFePO4 (LFP) batteries can deliver high currents quite happily. Some of the LFP equivalents for a YTX-14BS have a CA rating of 400A.

Perhaps you're thinking of NMC batteries (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt) that are used in most EV cars at the moment.

I have been using a lith from anti gravity for 3 years now and am extremely happy with it. performed EXCELLENT on the cannonball in 21 and after sitting all winter and not on ANY type of charger the scoot cranked right up this spring no issues. then sat most of the summer and cranked right up this fall for our fall ride.

For what its worth, I have an EF EcoFlow DELTA 2 for an emergency power source. It uses LiFePO4 lithium batteries.

It was able to handle running the coffee maker AND the sudden and very high 1,200 Watt Microwave running for a minute simultaneously just fine. The Microwave is especially impressive because its a much larger load over a longer period of time than just starting a motorcycle. The worst that happened was the cooling fans for the inverter came on for a little bit and then it quieted down once the microwave was off. The coffee maker didn't spin up the fans past idle. The older Delta series 1 uses the NCM version of Lithium Battery and (while not as good as LifePO4) it also has plenty of reviews and stories of it handling refrigerators, microwaves, etc.

I've had the Noco on my bike for a couple years now. My bike is a weekender machine with occasional road trips so it has allot of idle time for the batteries to drain out. Never needed a trickle-charger, never had a bad start under all weather conditions. Super reliable and shaved a smidgen of weight too.

Well my experience with a Noco lithium on my Bmw bike was sadly short lived, it simply failed, but seemed great at the beginning, my experience with Antigravity on my Harley was amazing had it on 4 years never a single problem, but on the Mp3 sticking with Agm battery, no need to lose weight.

IF you're gonna go with a lithium battery, just be sure to turn on the highlight or full beam for a good 90 seconds before hitting the starter button when the temps get cold to avoid the battery shortcircuiting itself.

FWIW, I don't think the technology is not quite mature enough yet unless you're running a track bike where the weight factor definitely can be an advantage.

I'm sticking with Yuasa AGM batteries. They're very reliable and durable (compared to others) making them more economical to own in the long haul despite the initial higher purchase price as well as the need to acquire to dedicated charger that supports lithium type batts.

Here is a useful vid on the battery subject