wrong MX5 Battery from Battery World? (acid based?)

[AJ]

a calcium battery or gel battery is highly recommended for NA/NB MX5's, due to the fact it's mounted in the boot, i'd say you'd be better to change it over, sounds like it has a normal acid battery in it, which is probably venting nasty gases into the boot space & the potential to leak acid as well, giving you rust problems

[Alex]

you can use normal batteries but they must have proper venting, as in 2 tubes (the federal should have these)
your car should have come with a black rubber tube from the stock battery to an exterior vent, if not then mania should have one

but the calcium / sealed batteries are great and are supposed to hold better charge as well so get one if you can, just make sure it fits

[Alex]

I'm running a federal with the stock battery vent tubes in my NB8A

I don't think much could go wrong with proper venting but without venting the gases emitted from the battery fill the boot, they are corrosive so can lead to rust problems and are also flammable so if there was a spark then it could turn out badly

there was a thread here about someone who had found a good calcium battery and were running it in an NB but you would have to find it, it was about a year ago just after I got my battery

[Steampunk]

Go to Autobarn and get the SuperCharge Gold for around $99, includes a 2 year warranty.
Long story short, don't bother spending $250+ for Odyssey, Optima, Pulse etc. Not worth the hype as I had an Odyssey and lasted a paltry 5 years until it completely died without any warning.

I wouldn't go by part#'s by the way. Just measure the battery and find one that matches it closely.

[Steampunk]

I just double-checked the receipt. The brand they had was actually Motoline Gold, $109.99 with a 3 year warranty

The specific model may be called M43

[AJ]

. Not worth the hype as I had an Odyssey and lasted a paltry 5 years until it completely died without any warning.

just for the record.......5 years of life out of ANY battery in a daily driver isn't paltry, it's about par for the course.......you guys sometimes expect a bit much out of such things

consider this as an analogy...........just renewed the batteries in my Isuzu truck after 2.5 years, which is a FANTASTIC result...............bearing in mind that those batteries are just a doubled up version of the average battery in a mid size car, say, 2 batteries out of a Mazda6, which run in series to produce 24v, which doesn't increase or help the ampere situation, it's just 2 normal batteries hooked up to supply 24 volts.

why do i think 2.5 years out of these is fantastic??..............simple, on average, i deliver to 20+ places every day, & mostly the truck is shut down at each of those stops, which means it has to be restarted each time, add onto that the initial start each morning (let me tell ya, a 7.8 litre deisel takes some cranking when cold) & any other stop/starts i do in a day, safe to add another 5 restarts to be safe..................so.........average it out at 30 starts per day, 5 days a week, for 2.5 years:

30 x 5 x 130 = 23,400 times those 2 batteries have summoned on their depths to start that engine.

without taking into account all the other stuff that batteries run ALL the time during their life, including the stuff they are STILL running while you're tucked up in bed at night sleeping, just so things are just how you like them when you come out & hear that satisfying "TWEET TWEET" from the alarm that never sleeps & the clunk of your door locks & the clock is on the right time & your humungous power sucking stereo is still set where it was when you left it last night......& that's BEFORE you ask the battery to summon the strength to turn over a cold engine......& then "sh*t, i forgot my lunch" shut down & restart before you even get out the driveway..........

you pay for quality IMO, & i would have a top of the range battery every time, & bugger the cost.


my 10 bux worth, inc GST

[NMX516]

If you can top up the water in your MX5 battery, it is the wrong type.

What you need is a sealed battery.

[Steampunk]

I just double-checked the receipt. The brand they had was actually Motoline Gold, $109.99 with a 3 year warranty

The specific model may be called M43

Thanks!
btw - is that a direct fit or does it need the clamp/drip tray modded?:)

It's almost the same dimensions as the stock Panasonic, and fits well in the tray and bracket as it's only a few mm bigger in all dimensions.

AJ, I agree that 5 years is good for an "ordinary" battery, but Odyssey is not an ordinary battery and claims they should last AT LEAST 6 years.
I fully agree with the "you get what you pay for" motto, and I thought exactly that when I was splurging on an Odyssey as I was hoping it would last >7 years.

I stand by my Odyssey/over-priced/hype snipe cause the battery in my Festiva is an everyday Exide one, replaced by RACQ when it died in a car park and it has lasted 10 years and still strong as. The engine starts in 2-3 revolutions! Can't beat that.
For this reason, I will always choose Exide over any high-priced Yankee crap.

[AJ]

well, yes...........if you're one of those who \"must have\" the supposedly superior american version, you'll pay more for the same thing............personally, i buy australian..........at least i think i do.........the truck now has 2 high grunt Battery World batteries in it

[TieNN89]

well, yes...........if you're one of those who "must have" the supposedly superior american version, you'll pay more for the same thing............personally, i buy australian..........at least i think i do.........the truck now has 2 high grunt Battery World batteries in it

Come on people support Australian products (Don't you wanna keep your jobs)

[muzzy66]

When I first bought my previous car (KF Laser Ghia) just over three years ago, it had a 'typical' battery in there.

A couple of weeks after buying it, I got stuck 45 mins from home in a carpark with a dead battery for no apparent reason. Luckilly I was with a group of friends who gave me a hand to clutch-start it which got me home.

Not long later I ordered an Optima D34 and had it installed along with a high end, high current draw sound system.

Just over three years on, and the battery has never let me down. I've run at least two high power amplifiers (three in the last year or two) and have at times spent literally hours tuning in the car at home and on competition days with the engine off.

My entire time it only died on me once, and that was when I got too cocky and left the system running for about 4 hours with the ignition on reds.

Several times I've accidentally left my head lights / interior lights on overnight (probably 10 hours +) and the next morning it cranked straight over without a hint of hessitation.

At around $499rrp it's NOT a cheap battery, but given the highly taxing nature of it's use it's left me extremely impressed with it's perofrmance over the years. I'm now selling the Laser, and the battery has been moved into my parents EL Fairmont where it will hopefully serve another 3 years or more.

A dead battery has to be one of the biggest inconviences as far as car problems go, because it can pop up practically anytime out of nowhere, or from the simplest mistake (like leaving parking lights on overnight).

I paid jsut over $350 for the Optima and if the D51 is small enough to fit in the MX-5, I'll be buying one of those in the next couple of weeks.

My installer also previously used a D34 in comparably high powered system, which supposedly had lasted him for about 9 years before he eventually replaced it for a pair of Scoche ones.

In comparison, standard type batteries have typically lasted me for 2 years at a time and even then didn't perform stunningly reliably.

I have absolutely no problems recommending optima from my experiences.

[muzzy66]

P.s.

Does anyone know the dimensions of the original Panasonic battery? I'm trying to work out if I can fit a D51 in the 5 without dramas but am having trouble finding the standard battery dimensions.

[Steampunk]

H = 16cm
L = 23.5cm
W = 12.5cm

[Alex]

good practice to keep some jump leads in the boot as well, although I have never needed them for my car I have helped out others in carparks 2 times now and hope the karma will come back to me sometime

they fit perfectly in the NB boot as well, just wrap the leads around the spare tyre and place the clamps inside a pair of work gloves (also good to keep since hands near a hot engine don't go to well) to stop them rattling

[muzzy66]

H = 16cm
L = 23.5cm
W = 12.5cm

Cheers!