GearHead

Folks

Is it safe to trickle charge the battery on the W211?

Couple years back, I had purchased a MB trickle charger. Consistently used it on my SLK since that car is used infrequently.

I was wondering whether I can safely trickle charge the main battery on the W211.

Any thoughts? Also, since the main battery is in the trunk area 'buried somewhere', are there areas in the engine compartment area I can attach the trickle charger to for charging the battery?

Many thanks in advance

SAguirre

I have been using a battery maintainer. A small charger that only puts out about 1.5 amps and shuts itself off when it needs too. I have NOT had any issues for the last 4 years. I have it hooked up to the rear battery and all has been well.

I have used these in all my cars for years.

Steve

starbrite

+1, It will charge/maintain the aux battery (under the hood) as well. I use the Ctek US 3300. Does a great job.

Grnhilndr-2

At recent visit to my MB dealer, I was told that my trunk battery was leaking. I took a look and found a few drops of acid (I tasted the drops) on top of the battery. The swervice man cleaned off the drops and now after a few weeks ...no indication of a leak. My question, does trickle charging the battery yields a leak or cause the battery to emit droplets of acid to thetop of the battery? Should appreciate your thoughts. By the way, the battery is an Interstate. and I have no problem (s) starting my car...2005 E500 4Matic.

Grnhilndr_2

starbrite

No, trickle charging doesn't cause a battery to leak. If you think about it, the charging rate is far lower than that of the alternator.

Is your Interstate the type of maintenance free battery that allows you to remove caps and add water ? If that's the case, there's your source of the acid.

GearHead

Thanks Steve

Is there anyway I can trickle charge the main battery (rear battery) w/o accessing the back. I was thinking of opening the hood and attach the crocodile clips to Positive and Negative Posts within the engine compartment to charge the battery.

starbrite

In an E class there are no poistive and negative posts in the engine compartment for charging.

GearHead

Rats .... ok , time to pull the trunk apart for the charging.

Thanks for the headsup

t-bone

I use the Battery Tender. It's hooked up in the trunk. It came with a quick connect that I leave one half connected to the battery and the other half plugged into the wall. So it is easy to reconnect whenever I need to.

NewShockerGuy

OLD thread but this is what I want to do but have to ask do you have to keep your trunk open the entire time? As soon as I pop the trunk it goes upright, unlike my STi or wife's Toyota where if I pop the trunk it's only opened a small inch or two. This makes it not practical at all when I have a car cover on it.


Thanks,
-Nigel

Cashwowud

I have a question which I was going to post on a new thread but is relevent to The Saints' post. I have not used my 2005 350 for a couple of months and when I started it I have the message "Convenience functions not available" which in the past has been cured after a short run. This didn't happen and so I connected a charger up overnight. I should have followed one of my mottos which is "if in doubt - read the instructions" because now I have the red message "Battery Visit Workshop". In the manual it states that this can happen if you connect a charger and so do you guys not get this when you connect a trickle charger?

cashwowud