[davesxx01]

My display only shows one bar and when decelerating the lower display only goes up to 3 bars.
Dealer is stumped.
Anyone else ever have this happen?

Side note, car sat for a week and battery went dead. Took a cheage just fine and perfect since. (A week ago)

 

[RacingTiger03]

Interesting.. the '14 GT I drove did the same thing. Dealer said it was just because I mostly drove on the highway and didn't brake enough to recharge? hmmm

 

[davesxx01]

Ya, anytime you slow down it will regenerate, at least that's what's susposed to happen!

 

[RacingTiger03]

Yes, I know how it SHOULD work, but just like your symptoms is how the car I drove behaved.. and I spent a good 5 miles in downtown traffic to test it out *shrug*. Never move from one bar of "I-Eloop" or past 3 re-charging during braking. Seemed odd and a pointless waste of effort IMO. Couldn't even tell a difference in driving or accel except that the car was SIGNIFICANTLY heavier than my sport when turning

 

[puch96]

Mine does this under heavy load (ie. head lights on, and rear defrost on). Once the load decreases (rear defrost turns off), after a bit, it starts charging again...

 

[davesxx01]

Mine does this under heavy load (ie. head lights on, and rear defrost on). Once the load decreases (rear defrost turns off), after a bit, it starts charging again...

Agreed, it's not going to charge the capacitor when it senses a 50 amp load or higher per the shop manual.
Not my case though. I finally got the service dept to open a shop manual and verify my complaint (after I showed them a print out of it from the shop manual link I found elsewhere on this site!) and am now scheduled to have it looked at properly.

 

[davesxx01]

Update! Finally got a tech that actually believed me and helped diagnosed my issue. With their scan tool and my copy of the shop manual it turns out my system was in bypass mode due to the battery not being over 65% charged.
Cars with I-Eloop are strange critters!
The battery negative terminal has an extra "battery charge state" terminal/wire attached to it and these cars have quite the specific recharge rate that must be done.
Ya can't just hook up an automatic battery charger to them.

They have to pull the battery and put it in a tank of water and do a weird sequence to bring it back up to full charge.
I asked them how much the battery costs and they told me "you don't want to know".
Yikes!
Definitely am not keeping this car past warranty!

 

[tobroketobuildarealcar]

everything about the i eloop system is different than traditional 12v cars and is much more complex. even the battery is special and quite expensive too. the reason your display would not show the capacitor getting completely full is because the battery was so discharged once the battery is replenished everything will go back to normal

 

[davesxx01]

Final update!

Yes, these i-Eloop cars electrical system is very different than what we would call normal! The Mazda dealer has a special battery charger just for these systems!
Yes, my battery was not charging correctly. When my battery died over a week (cause still unknown) of non use, my hooking up a standard battery charger and charging it overnight may have brought it up enough to start and drive everyday but no where near a "full charge".
The dealer had to pull my battery and put it in a big vat of water, pull the caps, and charge it at a rate of 75 Amps for 5 straight hours! Yes, you read that right. 75 Amps for 5 hours! I pick up the car today and will try to get a pic of the charger they used.

If anyone has a i-Eloop car with a dead battery or a display that only goes to 3 bars (charging) and one bar (capacitor storage) you can not hook up a normal charger to it. You need to just jump the car (like normal) and drive it till it charges or have it towed to your local dealer for proper charging.

Some causes and symptoms for others having this problem:

Testing your battery with a standard battery tester (digital) my show your battery is charged, it may not be! Mine read good at the dealer with a regular tester. Only the Mazda OBD tester can test the "State of Charge". Mine was 16-18% but started and drove fine.

If your car load is over 50 Amps, you capacitor will not charge.

If the temp is below freezing it wont charge, not sure if that means capacitor temp or outside air temp.
EDIT! This car will in fact charge when below 32*!

Battery condition is less than 65%

Instrument cluster fault

DC-DC converter malfunction

Link to a portion of the shop manual we used to diagnose this:
http://nem6.com/2014wsm/workshopmanual/n6w13/html/id130301002300.html

Capacitor info:
https://www.mazdaserviceinfo.com/PDFs/Capacitor disposal manual.pdf

Battery info:
http://rts.i-car.com/collision-repair-news/mazda-i-eloop-overview.html

 

[davesxx01]

Final update!

Yes, these i-Eloop cars electrical system is very different than what we would call normal! The Mazda dealer has a special battery charger just for these systems!
Yes, my battery was not charging correctly. When my battery died over a week (cause still unknown) of non use, my hooking up a standard battery charger and charging it overnight may have brought it up enough to start and drive everyday but no where near a "full charge".
The dealer had to pull my battery and put it in a big vat of water, pull the caps, and charge it at a rate of 75 Amps for 5 straight hours! Yes, you read that right. 75 Amps for 5 hours! I pick up the car today and will try to get a pic of the charger they used.

If anyone has a i-Eloop car with a dead battery or a display that only goes to 3 bars (charging) and one bar (capacitor storage) you can not hook up a normal charger to it. You need to just jump the car (like normal) and drive it till it charges or have it towed to your local dealer for proper charging.

Some causes and symptoms for others having this problem:

Testing your battery with a standard battery tester (digital) my show your battery is charged, it may not be! Mine read good at the dealer with a regular tester. Only the Mazda OBD tester can test the "State of Charge". Mine was 16-18% but started and drove fine.

If your car load is over 50 Amps, you capacitor will not charge.

If the temp is below freezing it wont charge, not sure if that means capacitor temp or outside air temp.

Battery condition is less than 65%

Instrument cluster fault

DC-DC converter malfunction

Link to a portion of the shop manual we used to diagnose this:
No.3 i-ELOOP-RELATED GAUGE IN LCD DOES NOT MOVE [i-ELOOP]

Capacitor info:
https://www.mazdaserviceinfo.com/PDFs/Capacitor disposal manual.pdf

Battery info:
Mazda I-ELOOP Overview

A standard battery for a "6" is about $100 bucks,,,, battery for i-Eloop is $490 bucks!
Capacitor is $745

 

[gerapau]

If the temp is below freezing it wont charge, not sure if that means capacitor temp or outside air temp.

Man, it is below freezing half the year around here!

 

[tobroketobuildarealcar]

the plates in a q85 ieloop battery are stacked much closer than traditional batteries. this is why they are so much heavier and more expensive. and they should not be charged with a regular battery charger because they will create a surface charge in excess of 19 volts and can damage modules in the car. the battery charger/tester the dealer uses is called midtronics GR8 charging station. if you put a volt meter on your battery and watch the voltage while the car is running you will see the alternator does not run all the time and does not always feed the battery directly. most of the time the alt feeds the capacitor at 25volts then the voltage regulator under the drivers seat makes the 25v into 12v and feeds the battery when the pcm determines it in needing charge.

 

[solar365]

This makes me not feel so guilty about my Braille lightweight racing battery that also needs special recharging (if it ever gets overly drained) and costs $200.

 

[davesxx01]

Link to pdf explaining the Q85 battery:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rx8club.com%2Fattachments%2Fgeneral-automotive-49%2F193508d1362869611-s-k-y-bulletins-battery-used-i-stop-system.pdf&ei=hSJJVMrfOZe3yAS3h4GgDw&usg=AFQjCNGeZjeWSMNiXFbvsFTrgyQ2ILueBQ&sig2=1AczU_xOw1cTxZ8E4Tc9iA&bvm=bv.77880786,d.aWw

 

[gerapau]

That's the battery used with the i-stop system which we don't get in north America. Are you sure it is used in our i-eloop cars? Makes sense with I-stop.

 

[davesxx01]

Yes, the Q85 battery is in North American cars that have i-Eloop.
The battery tag has "For Stop And Start" on it.
Regular 6's do not.

 

[gerapau]

Seems like it would be a waste without i-stop. Wonder how it will act in very cold weather compared to the regular battery. I guess I'll soon see.

Don't look forward to having to change it though.

 

[tobroketobuildarealcar]

It will not operate properly in a traditional 12v dc system they can not charge like a regular battery

 

[Daknight]

My display only shows one bar and when decelerating the lower display only goes up to 3 bars.
Dealer is stumped.
Anyone else ever have this happen?

Side note, car sat for a week and battery went dead. Took a cheage just fine and perfect since. (A week ago)

I took my 6 for a good run up the motorway with no electronics turned on after a couple of ignition cycles working like normal