New battery for my MX5

Ron Oliver · Post by **Ron Oliver** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 2:14 pm

Hi guys

Does anybody know if its possible to obtain a genuine MX5 replacement battery
in NZ, other than by going to an authorised Mazda dealer? I have just been
quoted $300 which seems exhorbitant!

I live in the Nelson area and have a 2000 model Millenium edition MX5.

Any help would be much appreciated as we want to go on the Nelson chapter
outing next Sunday and have a duff battery at the moment.

Best regards
Ron Oliver

03 540 3466

lou Girardin · Post by **lou Girardin** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 3:25 pm

$300 is better than the $400 I was quoted. Try specialist battery outlets.
lou

Simon Lord · Post by **Simon Lord** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 3:37 pm

I bought one from Mazda North Shore in Auckland a few months ago - think it
was $280. None of the specialist places I visited stocked them because of the
breather pipe connections.

Simon
97 SR Ltd

PS Having driven the supercharged Jaguar a couple of weeks ago, I got my hands
on a Mercedes 230 SLK last Friday. Like a very refined MX5 - ie, doesn't have
the zoom-zoom factor - but you can't beat that folding roof for attracting
attention!

John Forsyth · Post by **John Forsyth** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 3:51 pm

John Andrews Mazda/Ford, Great North Rd, Auckland Genuine battery
$213.13 incl GST with member discount

__________________
JohnForsyth BCG191

Michael & Kate Cooper · Post by **Michael & Kate Cooper** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 4:23 pm

You guys should be in the South Island - just bought one from the Mazda dealer
here in Dunedin $194.70 with members discount(of 10%). My bet would be to
query Mazda on the price - why the difference throughout the country?

regards
Michael

lou Girardin · Post by **lou Girardin** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 4:50 pm

Everything costs more for jafas, because we're all so rich.
Lou

Chic & Morven · Post by **Chic & Morven** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 7:48 pm

Ron,
Are you sure that your battery is no good. They usually last much longer than
yours has. Have you tried a trickle charge for several days? In my experience,
if the battery is fully drained then, a few hours or even an overnight charge
are no use, but if you leave it charging for a few days, you can rescue them.

Cheers
Chic

--
Chic & Morven, us@lynchz.com on 10/11/2003
On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 14:14:20 +1300, Ron Oliver wrote:

Hi guys

Does anybody know if its possible to obtain a genuine MX5 replacement battery
in
NZ, other than by going to an authorised Mazda dealer? I have just been
quoted
$300 which seems exhorbitant!

I live in the Nelson area and have a 2000 model Millenium edition MX5.

Any help would be much appreciated as we want to go on the Nelson chapter
outing
next Sunday and have a duff battery at the moment.

Best regards
Ron Oliver

03 540 3466

nmr · Post by **nmr** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 10:17 pm

Are you sure that your battery is no good. They usually last much
longer than yours has. Have you tried a trickle charge for several
days? In my experience, if the battery is fully drained then, a few
hours or even an overnight charge are no use, but if you leave it
charging for a few days, you can rescue them.

Yep, get a charger with a low level charge, do not use the high level charge, leave it
on for yonks, do it from time to time. Your battery will stagger along for lots longer
until you have saved up for a replacement.

biff · Post by **biff** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 12:09 am

I did mine in when I left the park lights on...for a weekend!
I have a charger I got from Repco, it has 3 settings, auto, and 2 manual
settings, simply high and low.
I stuck it on auto for a day and nothing happened, then on manual/high for a
day and still zip, then tried it on manual/low, and to tell the truth I
forgot about it and took to the Honda 750, I couldn't afford a new $400
battery.
I came back to it about a week later when I came home one night and saw the
charge light flicking on and off on the charger when I parked the bike, I
figured "what the hell" stuck it back in the boot, and it started first
kick, its been fine ever since, so I'd say invest $30 odd and give it a go,
or if your in ChCh you can stick it on my charger for a while.
Best of luck,
Biff

ZOOM1N

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 7:44 am

Did a bit of research on the MX5 battery when I bought my car. The battery
is a special sealed gel type (especially designed and made by Panasonic, I
think) rather than the normal sealed low maintenance wet type that other
cars have. If flattened, the battery must be recharged over a number of days
at a very low rate (as Biff discovered). The battery, often as not, will
recover and be ok after this long slow charge.
There is quite a bit of information on the English MX5 sites.
The battery appears to have a quite high self discharge as well, so if the
car is not used, the battery could be quite flat next time you go to use it.
My car (1992) had a standard sealed type installed before I bought it and I
have had no trouble with that at all.
Hope to see you on the Nelson run this weekend. We're trying to get a few of
the Marlborough members to head over to Nelson to join you all.
Grant.

Simon Lord · Post by **Simon Lord** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 8:33 am

My experience is that my battery regularly goes flat if I haven't used the
car for a week or so. Interesting to hear Grant's comment about a high
self-discharge - I understand that part of my problem may be that the alarm
which is fitted takes a constant charge to the siren back-up battery, which
therefore depletes the car battery even faster.

I haven't yet got round to disposing of the old car battery which I replaced
a few months ago because the AA told me it was stuffed, so I'll try trickle
charging it and see what happens.

Simon
97 SR Ltd

EricW · Post by **EricW** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 8:39 am

The basic problem with sealed acid gel batteries is that they have an
unusual resistance curve.
When they are fully charged, like any other battery, they have a high
resistance to any further charge. However they also have a similar
resistance when they are fully discharged.

When they get below 1 volt per cell their internal resistance is higher than
that across a fully charged battery. (I can explain the scientific reason
for this, but it is a bit long to do here). The battery charger simply
cannot tell which is which and will not charge the battery.

A long slow charge gradually reduces this resistance, by gradually
increasing the charge level, and this allows the battery charger to then
charge the battery at an increased rate.

This is the opposite of what a battery charger normally wants to do, which
is to charge at high rate and then cut back. This is also true of the cars
alternator, it will charge at the highest possible rate. So get yourself a
slow charger and you should be able to recover the battery. Once it is
recovered, it will charge at normal rate, unless it gets too flat again.

hope this helps

Eric

lou Girardin · Post by **lou Girardin** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 8:44 am

If your battery is going flat in a week you have a.problem. Get a sparky to do
a current draw test. A correctly installed alarm only draws 20 to 40
milliamps, not enough to flatten a healthy battery for weeks.
Lou

DBM58 · Post by **DBM58** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 9:16 am

Please can someone point out the features of a genuine MX5 battery compared to a standard model bought off-the-shelf from, for example, Repco.
Thanks

David Moughtin

Michael & Kate Cooper · Post by **Michael & Kate Cooper** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 10:13 am

Any of the more knowledgeable folks, feel free to correct me if I get
something wrong.

Since the MX5 car battery is housed in the boot, a normal lead-acid wet-cell
battery is not preferable, as if it leaks, it will contaminate your
groceries/travel luggage/new laptop. Therefore a dry-cell battery is used,
as it is not prone to leakage. Also as a result of being in the boot, the
MX5 battery is ventilated, to prevent a build-up of noxious/flammable gases
in the boot, which could ignite or maybe contaminate groceries?? Some MX5
owners have fitted normal off-the-shelf batteries to their MX5's, with no
reported problems. However, the normal MX5 battery, whilst being more
pricey, it should last about 10 years, which is a lot longer than a standard
car battery. We replaced the battery on our 1990 a month ago, and we
believe this was the first time it had been replaced.

Kate Cooper

Keith · Post by **Keith** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:03 pm

My car came from AKL with a normal battery sitting (and I use the term advisedly 'cos there was no hold-down clamp). It seemed to work OK but I was always conscious of the possibility of an acid spill or Hydrogen build-up. I was pleased when Mazda NZ put the correct batteries out on discount to members. I see I finally got mine in June 02 at a cost of $107.50. P'raps the club should prod them into another special offer?!
(Of course my 1963 Mini Minor, like all Minis has an ordinary battery with no attempt at venting sitting in the boot. Perhaps manufacturing standards are supposed to take care of any venting?)

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 6:20 pm

This URL has some interesting information on the Panasonic battery for the
MX5.

http://www.miata.net/garage/battery.html#orig

For anyone interested in having the standing current drain of their MX5
battery checked at the Nelson outing on Sunday, I will try to remember to
have my DC clamp meter with me. Only takes a few seconds to check whether
there is a higher standing drain than there should be. Not too accurate at
low currents, but will be a good guide.
I just checked my Isuzu Bighorn. The standing current was about 20mA and
120mA with the fron door open and the interior light on, plus a small one on
each front door. This vehicle has four radio telephones in it, plus a Sony
single CD player radio. All have soft start controls so will be drawing a
small current. The 20mA seems ok to me in this case. I'll check my MX5 when
my daughter brings it back home!

Grant.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 6:46 pm

OOPS
Missed a zero
1200mA with the Isuzu door open.

Grant.

lou Girardin · Post by **lou Girardin** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 8:17 am

I'd seriously doubt that you'd have insurance problems because you fitted a
non - standard battery.
Lou

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 11:14 pm

Just measured the current on my MX5. Should say I tried to, but my clamp
meter has a resolution of 10mA and my car didn't register on it so it is
less than about 10mA. With the two interior lights on, the current was
770mA. So don't leave the lights on!!

Grant.

Gary Morrison · Post by **Gary Morrison** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 4:02 pm

For more info, this article is very thorough...

http://www.sandiegomiataclub.org/SDMC/G ... ttery.html

Gary

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 09:16:06 +1300, David Moughtin wrote:

Please can someone point out the features of a genuine MX5 battery compared to
a standard model bought off-the-shelf from, for example, Repco.
Thanks

David Moughtin

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