OEM Battery

[bmchi]

Hey Guys

I have a OEM Panasonic battery bought from the Mazda dealership.

Can anyone confirm if it is a Gel type or if it is a AGM battery?

I've been looking around on the internet and some are saying it is a gel type and others are saying it is a AGM.

I am trying to trickle charge it as my mrses left the door open and caused the interior light to stay on and run down the battery overnight, the charger has two settings normal (include for gel type batteries) and AGM. The AGM setting charges at a higher voltage which is recommended for that type of battery but if you use this function on a gel type you could damage it.

[Mr Morlock]

I always thought they were AGM but... I also believed that the oem battery was only to be charged on low current chargers which seems opposite to what you said. I often have the trickle charge on my car with gem battery and its 750m ah and no probs . PS I switch off the internal light permanently - its useless anyway - then door open no problem

[bmchi]

I've heard this too, the trickle charger still delivers a low current but when setting the charger for an AGM battery it just delivers a higher voltage.

Apparently AGM's respond better to higher voltage charging than other batteries.

[RS2000]

I have an OEM Panasonic S46A24L(S)-MF. The battery is now over 11 years old, & I've been charging it using the AGM setting (ctek charger) for the past 4 years.

The 4 amp Ctek's max charging voltage is 14.7V for agm, & 14.4V for all other types of car batteries.

[93_Clubman]

OEM Mazda MX-5 Owner's Manual (the glove box one) states:
'Your vehicle has a Maintenance-Free (MF) calcium-based battery'.
'When using a normal-type battery charger (constant current or semiconstant voltage charger), recharge the battery for 12 hours with electric current equal to 1/10 of the battery capacity'.
'When using a rapid-type battery charger, recharge in the same way as a regular battery.'
'...make sure you do not overcharge the battery'.

[RS2000]

The factory workshop manual for NB8A says the battery charge at idle should read 13 to 15 volts.
My guess is any setting on charger below 15V is ok ??

[Mr Morlock]

I have 2 trickle chargers and they dont have any settings.

[hks_kansei]

Most chargers (well, cheaper ones anyway) tend to just operate at about the same voltage as the cars alternator does.

Amps just tend to be lower, hence why they usually take so much longer.


If a battery can last 10 years with an alternator charging it at 14ish volts, then an external charger doing the same should be no problem.

[manga_blue]

I use a CTEK XS0.8 charger. They're about $70 on ebay, etc. It's a magic little charger for battery conditionng and maintenance. It has saved a couple of my old AGM batteries and kept them going for an extra few years when I thought they were gone.

CTEK program.jpg

[KevGoat]

+1 on the XS0.8 ... I've used these for years on my MX's and our Holden Rodeo camper that sits for months. I've also used them to revive what I thought were three completely dead batteries that I had lying around!

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