Modern Vespa

I didn't want to hijack the previous thread on batteries, but I've been thinking:

What have you used to jump start your Vespa? (or any bike, for that matter). A portable unit that either :

a- clamps to the battery, with jumper clamps. There are bunch of these on Amazon, https://a.co/d/bDBGkuc for example.

b- or somehow utilizes the Battery Tender lead I have (on both my bikes). A remote battery that I can just plug in and start the bike?

c- along the same lines, I have several portable tire inflators, for my bikes and cars. (see Airmoto at Scooterwest). Can somehow this be used to start the bike, if the battery is dead?
It has a charger lead to recharge the unit, USB C, I believe.

(I got these after having that weird flat back in October where my Citigrip popped off the rim.)

Also, if the battery is dead, how does one open the seat to get to the portable battery? Or the glove box, for that matter.

I don't think about my Monkey battery, with it's four speed clutch it's easy to bump start the bike.

Thanks!

I doubt that the battery tender leads could handle the current that the starter motor needs. If you allowed the good battery to charge up the dead one, it just might work.

There are jumpstart packs that are also air compressors so you can maintain your tire pressures.

Thanks. Too bad I have several of the air compressors now , so just looking for a way to give the battery a little bump with the stuff I already have.

I have a small jump starter that works, mostly.

I have needed it several times, both car and scooter, and it has started the vehicle almost every time.

Mine works connected to the battery terminals, so access is needed, relatively simple on Vespas and most cars.

One point, it must be almost fully charged to work, and it only gives one attempt without recharging.

I am sure that others have more power and can offer multiple attempts.

As for getting the seat to open with a dead battery, there is a lever to pull in the glove box.

Always simple on older Vespas.

I believe the keyless ignition must be turned on in the latest Vespas, so that might be a problem.

Bill

I probably have six of those portable lithium jumpstarters kicking around. I try to carry one in each car and scooter.

They are very effective and should give you at least 5-7 very robust attempts to start a car engine per charge, and dozens of scooter cranks. If that isn't enough to get the engine started, then the issue isn't the battery. For a car, it's important to recognize that the lithium packs are designed only for that purpose - standing in for a depleted battery. They don't have enough juice to withstand an afternoon of diagnostic cranking while you putter around with the many other things that might be preventing an engine from starting. With a scooter, you might be able to get more diagnostic action out of them.

The SAE connector that battery tenders use, and the associated thin wiring, will melt with the high current of even a quick crank if you wire on a lithium pack. I wouldn't put those anywhere near each other! But if you connect a true low-amp Battery Tender device for 15-20 minutes onto a weak battery, you can leave it connected when you crank to see if you've built up enough voltage to start the engine.

I don't have an answer for how you get to your lithium battery pack, or your battery terminals, if you have a dead battery and the only access to them is via an electronic latch. Maybe you need to run an SAE connector accessible somewhere that isn't latched…having to solve for which sort of defeats the convenience of the quick lithium jump. EDIT: it seems that scooters typically have a manual latch somewhere expressly for this purpose. My Scarabeo has a lever for this in the glove compartment, which can be opened without power.

I do not have any boosters, not for scooters or cars. They are meant to start with their starting-battery. Thats the name, even. I could need in cold but here is rare days to have even -35C so no need.

-16°C is about 3°F - brisk for a scooter ride, by anyone's standards!

I've ridden 25-mile round trips a few times in temperatures as low as 17°F (about -8°C), with completely clear and dry road conditions.

At that temperature there are plenty of comfort and equipment concerns, or at least things to keep an eye out for, but the battery wasn't one of them!