[psclarkie]

Has anyone experienced the battery going flat whilst driving. I was recently 4.5/5 miles into a drive when i received 3 messages of i-charging problems looming.
1. I-Stop malfunction,
2. Engine malfunction
3. Charging system malfunction
then within seconds the engine cut out, the dash displays vanished, next to no steering or braking, all whilst traveling at 30 miles an hour, then when i finally stopped, no hand brake, .
Mazda assist attended within 20 mins, bless them. to discover the battery completely flat, they even questioned how i had got to where i was, with a dead battery.

 

[dd18]

batteries have reserve capacity and a group 35 battery can run the 3 for like 90 minutes (if reserve times are to be believed).
your battery isn't being charged by the alternator, so get the alternator tested as well as the battery

 

[psclarkie]

batteries have reserve capacity and a group 35 battery can run the 3 for like 90 minutes (if reserve times are to be believed).
your battery isn't being charged by the alternator, so get the alternator tested as well as the battery

When Mazda Assist checked the vehicle over they found hundreds of vow voltage faults or associated faults, they then reset the cars system modules then re-ran their full diagnostic software and every thing was OK, including battery condition and charging system. They did mention that it may have been something to do with the 'Smart Alternator'. 3 weeks later the battery was flat again....They then suggested I always drive with lights on, to fool the 'smart alternator'.

 

[Mike C]

When Mazda Assist checked the vehicle over they found hundreds of vow voltage faults or associated faults, they then reset the cars system modules then re-ran their full diagnostic software and every thing was OK, including battery condition and charging system. They did mention that it may have been something to do with the 'Smart Alternator'. 3 weeks later the battery was flat again....They then suggested I always drive with lights on, to fool the 'smart alternator'.

The smart alternator will start backing off recharging the battery early in the charging cycle to save power and increase mpg- I don't like the philosophy but it seems to be a fact with modern car design.
But the charging system should still provide a usable charge level to your battery for normal operation.
I also have an Isuzu Dmax truck where it's possible to get the charging controller modified to fully charge the battery as fast as possible- to keep the auxilliary camping batteries topped up. If you're stuck maybe something similar can be done to your Mazda, rather than running around with the lights on.

 

[cllpm4u]

They then suggested I always drive with lights on, to fool the 'smart alternator'.

That's a lame answer. You shouldn't have to drive with the lights on to "fool" anything. There is probably something wrong with the alternator. Tell them to replace it.

 

[HCCI]

When Mazda Assist checked the vehicle over they found hundreds of vow voltage faults or associated faults, they then reset the cars system modules then re-ran their full diagnostic software and every thing was OK, including battery condition and charging system. They did mention that it may have been something to do with the 'Smart Alternator'. 3 weeks later the battery was flat again....They then suggested I always drive with lights on, to fool the 'smart alternator'.

You have the M-Hybrid system. 24V Integrated Starter Generator (ISG) is the one feeding all electricity to your systems, regenerating some portion of the energy and boosting your internal combustion engine during accelerations. Apart from it, there is no additional alternator. When it is charging, it basically charges the 24V battery and supplies electricity to heated seats if they are on (which are 24V heaters obviously). For the rest of the 12V systems, there is a DC/DC converter converting 24V to 12V (actually 13.5V to be accurate) which then powers the rest of the vehicle, including the charging up of the 12V battery. ISG does not need to be feeding electric power as long as you have enough charge level on your 24V battery (except for the heated seats as explained).

It may be a very silly question from my side, but before the breakdown, were you able to check the charging status of the 24V M-Hybrid battery from you energy flow monitor? Was that flat as well?

One more question, were you at that time using window defrosters etc. which drew somewhat higher currents (which shall not be an issue during normal driving to use those but it is only out of my curiosity)?

 

[malcolm.alexander101]

Has anyone experienced the battery going flat whilst driving. I was recently 4.5/5 miles into a drive when i received 3 messages of i-charging problems looming.
1. I-Stop malfunction,
2. Engine malfunction
3. Charging system malfunction
then within seconds the engine cut out, the dash displays vanished, next to no steering or braking, all whilst traveling at 30 miles an hour, then when i finally stopped, no hand brake, .
Mazda assist attended within 20 mins, bless them. to discover the battery completely flat, they even questioned how i had got to where i was, with a dead battery.

Mazda Assist called out twice in two weeks for this problem. Advised that there is a batch of cars that have a software problem as one component is draining the battery. I have just had the software upgraded to solve this problem - I hope. The garage did not question the fact that there is a fault, just upgraded the software. Go to your dealer and get the update.