2017~2024 Another CX-5 Battery question!

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CX-5 AWD, 2017
My second generation CX5 (2017) with istop has completed 3 years and I am getting worried about the life of the original battery. It is charged/topped up now and then using a C-Tek charger and I have recently topped up both the charge and the distill water in the battery. Winters are harsh here in Sweden and all the electronics plus stop start takes its toll on the battery. As I gather from reading at this site and other sources, our batteries are regular flooded lead acid optimised for start stop and made by Panasonic with about 540CCA. Now to my question.

1. Do I have to go to the dealer to replace the battery or can I use equivalent flooded battery and replace it my self as I have done in my other cars?

2. Is the battery management system (what ever it is called in Mazda language) going to cause problem (istop feature, power windows and other gremlins) with DIY battery replacement?

3. Does the new battery need to be registered/reprogrammed for optimal charging and other features (like my old BMW E90 did), making an expensive visit to the dealer mandatory.

4. How many of you with istop feature have done a DIY battery replacement without getting in to issues in your CX5? What battery did you use?

Finally, I found an article from a Russian site which is very detailed in information on our CX5 battery and its replacement. The only problem is the rather dodgy English translation in some parts. There are two things in that article that struck me as unusual, he suggests disconnecting the negative terminal sensor (I presume it is the little black box like thing on the cable going to the negative terminal) before disconnecting the negative terminal itself and the other fact that within i minute of disconnection of the battery the management system resets itself to charge a new replaced battery). I never heard of that anywhere else. Here is the link.


Grateful for comments and advice.
 
No one? Any one has any advice?
While waiting for your reply, I decided to buy the Foxwell BT100 battery analyser and check my three year old Mazda cx5 battery in situ. The car has done 40000km. I was totally surprised by the result. It showed charge of 12.6 volt, CCA of 580, SOC and SOH of more than 90 percent, "good battery" it said. If the CCA of a three year old battery is 580 then what was it when new? There is no figure CCA mentioned on the original battery itself ( not true. Removing the battery hold down bar revealed the figures of 65AH and 520 CCA, see the foto below in one of my posts). For now I can stop worrying about the battery dying on me soon.
 
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I‘ve read that changing your battery can cause electronics to lose their memory settings if you do not have a way to keep the system charged during the change. I don’t have a clue if this is true on the CX-5. It was supposed to incur problems on my 2003 Chevy Tahoe, but changing the battery caused zero problems. Same goes for my 2009 Honda Civic, except I had to re-enter a code in the nav unit/ radio. That’s all.

If your research fails to turn up any definitive answers and no one on this forum knows anything, take your car back to the dealer, a respected repair garage, or a place that sells batteries. Explain your concerns, and go from there. You may have to pay extra for the battery exchange, but it probably won’t be excessive.

I never replace batteries more often than every 5 yrs. I even had one in a 1981 Toyota Celica that went 20 yrs between batteries. I kept meticulous records on that car (owned it 32 yrs) and am sure of the timing. It had a Sears Die Hard in it, not some fancy high tech battery. But the last 5 of those years, it wasn’t driven much.
 
Thanks for your replies. The battery in my car looks the same as in any other cx5, a Panasonic with yellow label and unknown AH and CCA. As far as the disconnection of battery and losing the presets and auto window function did not happen to me when I had disconnected the battery while changing the speakers. I am more worried about the correct battery size and type and the possible premature battery wear and charging issues that may arise due to non registration of the new battery. Luckily the battery test showed that the battery is in terrific condition so no need for replacement.
 
Thanks for your replies. The battery in my car looks the same as in any other cx5, a Panasonic with yellow label and unknown AH and CCA.
No, you have a special Panasonic battery like this from factory:

4A1B045F-5C09-4B90-8BAF-F542543C6645.jpeg


But in the US we have this Panasonic battery from factory:

BBCC7DDC-F8D6-4B5F-B37C-C4199DA21D54.jpeg


As far as the disconnection of battery and losing the presets and auto window function did not happen to me when I had disconnected the battery while changing the speakers. I am more worried about the correct battery size and type and the possible premature battery wear and charging issues that may arise due to non registration of the new battery. Luckily the battery test showed that the battery is in terrific condition so no need for replacement.
For Mazda vehicles with i-ELOOP and / or i-stop, the OEM uses “Q85” replacement battery which seems to require re-programming or some sort. Some had used aftermarket NS60 battery instead of OEM Q85 battery and were having several malfunction warnings.

AGM battery

Warning signs after battery replacement
 
To OP:
yrwei52 is right.
Special battery is needed for vehicles with iStop and iEloop.
US models don't have iStop, but some model years of Mazda6 have iEloop.

I happen to own one. ('16 Mazda6 GT)
The battery went after about 3 yr (commute 20 miles one-way daily).
Warning/Error message started to show up on the dash.
(Battery System Malfunctioned. Inspection Required..) (to that effect)
No problem with the vehicle except that the iEloop no longer worked.
The superCap was not recharged to drive accessories.
Anyway, I digressed.

Went to my dealer and they asked for $530 including programming... (whatever that meaned).
I pleaded my case (own 3 Mazdas in my garage, all bought here), blah blah blah...
The service manager (the top guy in the office) invited me into his office and called someone...
They decided to use a *special fund* (whatever that is) to cover the cost.
I left with a new battery installed/programmed, free of charge.

Loyalty does pay sometimes. :)

Unlike regular vehicles, if you hard-swap the battery, there is a high probability that you will see errors/lights afterward. Someone post a procedure to mitigate that, but please proceed at your own risk.
 
Thank you both for pointing it out to me. Indeed my battery is the "high power" type as shown in the first photo, still with the unknown CCA and AH (not so unknown,see next post) Now to the question of battery replacement in future, I will have to rely on the mercy of the Mazda dealer due to battery registration issue. By the way I think I have the istop without ieloop and there is no ieloop capacitor box on the front left or right corner of engine compartment. I do not see the ieloop performance in my screen. One less electronic thing to worry about and besides Mazda itself thinks now that ieloop did not save that much on energy. Thanks to erwei52 and ceric once more for the correct information.
 
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Just removed the transverse battery hold down bar and lo and behold the battery AH and CCA for my istop cx5 (no ieloop), revealed itself. It is a 65AH 520CCA start stop battery. So how can a battery with CCA of 520 show CCA of 580 after 3 years? Should I thank my CTec mx 5.0 battery charger with reconditioning mode that I use regularly every few months?
20210530_113320_HDR.jpg
 
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Just removed the transverse battery hold down bar and lo and behold the battery AH and CCA for my istop cx5 (no ieloop), revealed itself. It is a 65AH 520CCA start stop battery. So how can a battery with CCA of 520 show CCA of 580 after 3 years? Should I thank my CTec mx 5.0 battery charger with reconditioning mode that I use regularly every few months?
View attachment 299165
"CCA (Cold Cranking Amperes) is the most popular industry rating and is a measurement of the current a fully charged battery can deliver for 30 seconds and maintain a voltage of 7.2 volts (12 volt battery) at a temperature of -18°C."

I'm going to guess that you were measuring the 580 CCA at a slightly warmer temperature!
 
Yes and it asked me if the temp was under 0 deg C or above and obviously it was above so that was taken in to consideration by the battery analyser. But I understand your reasoning and that is valid.
 
the foxwell doesnt take into account the temp variations even though it asks (once and then never asks again). Also its very important to enter the correct battery type in the menu. In the case of Mazda oem panasonic batteries I think its the JIS standard. Plus it has to be tested when the car (or battery itself) is at full rest with all doors closed.
I think after about 20 mins the car electronics go to rest and you can test and get good results.
What is mentioned above is very true. rated CCA is at -18c.

Charging frequently with the ctek does help prolong the battery life as well.
You can check the fluid level if you want, dont have to open the caps as there should be an opening in the side cover that exposes the battery level and markings. Use a flashlight through the battery.
but it seems your battery is ok overall. As long as there is sufficient fluid and the battery is kept at 90%+ charge it should last more than 3yrs.
What kills them is keeping them undercharged for long periods and/or lost fluid in the battery which exposes the plates.

p.s. for IStop -as it was mentioned there is a procedure (with the istop button) for resetting the battery if you have to change it. Dont have to go to the dealer.
but we dont have Istop in US so not many people have tried it due to lack of this functionality. drawback is that the Istop battery is much more expensive. Some people had good experience with putting a real tppl deep cycle AGMs instead of the oem for istop.
The oems battrty that comes on those cars with Istop outside US is usually Panasonic or Yuasa.
 
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Thank you cz5gt for your reply and suggestions. Even if the battery is a JIS standard, it does mention the AH and the A (CCA) on a label on top of that Panasonic battery and it is 65AH and 520A. I did that measurement with the Foxwell analyser two days after recharging it with the cTek mx5.0 charger and topping up with the distilled water, both two days before, so as not to measure surface charge from recent charging. Panasonic must be under quoting it's battery capacity or there is the temp correction which is not there or is in correct. The idea of using the flash light to check the acid level is great and I have done it in other batteries that did not have covers on the sides. Did not know that you could remove the cover partially. Thanks. I was wondering if you had a link to the new battery coding procedure, just for future reference.
 
Just removed the transverse battery hold down bar and lo and behold the battery AH and CCA for my istop cx5 (no ieloop), revealed itself. It is a 65AH 520CCA start stop battery. So how can a battery with CCA of 520 show CCA of 580 after 3 years? Should I thank my CTec mx 5.0 battery charger with reconditioning mode that I use regularly every few months?
View attachment 299165
Thanks for finding the specs on your factory Panasonic battery for CX-5’s with i-stop. It’s interesting to know D23 is the battery size and post location under JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards), which is similar to our “Group 35” battery size / type in the US.

battery controversy

The 580 CCA rating measured by your Foxwell analyzer which is higher than 520 CCA spec could be just the difference between each battery from factory. One thing for sure is your factory Panasonic battery should be still in good shape.
 
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