Had the same issue. Parked it on my drive last winter. Parked it in my mother inlaws garden in October and went on holiday for a month and came back to find moisture and mould inside. I used a fabric type cover this time but have subsequently left the cover off and it seems better. Theres a chap round the corner who parks his up for the winter and has a leather type well fitted cover. If I ever see him - its a sort of communal parking area and I dont know what house he lives in - I’ll ask him if its any good.
Had a simliar battery problem and dropped part of the bracket - thats on another post - but had to get the car going as it had a superchips remap last Thursday. Jacked the car up yesterday, took the undertray off and managed to remove the offending item.
The trouble with car batteries is that non of them last as long as we are led to believe!! Even new full size cars can kill a battery in 3 or 4 weeks left unattended. And the MX5 has a rather small battery, presumably to keep the weight down.
I have killed a perfectly good only 2 year old Mazda original battery when I left it in the garage whilst I went abroad for a month. If the standing voltage drops below about 5 volts it probably won’t ever recover.
I’d recommend leaving the ctek connected as others have suggested but also fit a cheap disconnect switch (less than a tenner) Might make the car a little less tempting to thieves as well !
interesting contris and issues, again my experience would be based on the continued use of electronics within vehicles over the last few decades… in my youth i worked and lived in London and had a year old Toledo . i travelled back and forward by air every 8/10 weeks and left the car at Heathrow for days at a time, never had any issue even when i became Ill and had a fortnight recovery, the car started up without issue… come forward 40years and you’ll see a guy and his van running around many domestic airport long stay areas who starts vehicles for stuck travellers, more recently i have a friend who ran a W engined Bentley coupe and he hooked up a charger timed to keep the animal ready to drive as he didnt use her daily…there are bits you can source to disconnect the battery leads for periods when car isn’t in use, and just simply screw them up tight again ,it may or not upset fancy alarms that require voltage… and the damp that builds needs a window cracked a couple of mm, and a container of moisture soaking element left as someone else has suggested…my NA has sat through all the weather since late autumn , uncovered this year but now has a hardtop fitted, dry inside except moisture inside the underside of the roof. and the boot lid totally like a moisture trap on the underside which i chamois out mid weekly…she starts first time every time, then i did refit her with a 12mm new red power lead from the battery to the starter as part of my full restoration… cost me 45 quid !!! but it has no issues carrying current… will
In this current cold snap antibacterial wipes will freeze your fingers very quickly if they’re against bare skin (and it’s quite painful after a while!).
But definitely dettol wipes (little odour and doesn’t damage trim) are great when your mx-5 gets mould inside, though sometimes they’re somewhat over damp so wrap one in kitchen paper so you’re not dribbling dettol everywhere.
Also remember you need to let the surface dry, and to keep the stuff away from animals since it’s toxic.
I also wouldn’t recommend febreeze to remove any odours that remain in the car after cleaning it, I found mould loves the stuff when applied to car seats.
Hi, I took delivery of one of these last week, seems to be a great piece of kit.
Mazda UK would not comment on which charger to get for a MX5 ND and Ctek wouldn’t guarantee that it was suitable for Battery Management Sysyem/iStop/Start Stop etc. on my ND. They didn’t say it wasn’t suitable though.
However, there are a number of posts on here, under the electrics section, from members who have used them successfully for a while without problems.
I have used a ctec charger for several years. Great bit of kit.
My mk 3 would drain the battery in a couple of weeks of no use owing to the alarm being armed in cold weather.
The batteries are rather small. Having it plugged in permanently helps big time. No start-up worries.
Batteries these days do well to last more than 4 to 6 years.
Mine had a period outside whilst my garage was rebuilt, i bought a cover from mx5 parts for about £100 fitted very well, did not harm the paint work, and kept the weather off as well as building dust.
Never had a problem with mould, so maybe lucky.
Good luck with yours
The cheaper Aldi/Lidl ones work fine with the ND2, used one for over 3 years without any issues.
I think the problem would be if you needed to charge from flat. The amps required for these ND2 batteries to charge effectively is very high and requires specific continuous voltages as well, so special chargers are recommended.
For just keeping them topped up I think any of the ‘smart’ chargers will do the job but I personally do NOT leave the charger on all the time but prefer to do a top up every other week.
From one Tony to Another , Simplest solution to the damp problem with the soft tops. Proof of the effectiveness is the speed at which the crystals dissolve. Get ours at Home Bargains. Probably one company in China makes them for every store. Cheers Tony.
