dbldpr

Bought batteries in 2017. since then car was driven maybe 300 miles. Put car in garage in November and Wife and I got sick. Finally went out to start car up and it was dead. Put charger on for 30 minutes and car started right up. Drove in outside for several hours. Parked it back in garage will check to see if it starts again next month. Never had a battery last as long as this one. Usually I only get about 3 years. If it is dead next month I will try and find same type of battery.

kajtek1

Do you have smart charging and ECO stop?
In this case by not driving the car - you did battery a favor.
It is constant charging/discharging the features do what is shortening battery life.
In older MB (no smart charging) we had batteries lasting up to 13 years.
Spend 10 bucks on battery maintainer.

Ivanerrol

"Double lock" the car with the key fob before you leave the car if you are not going to use it for an extended period.
Make sure the 'Keys" are quite a distance away from the car.
The ECU is normally constantly "searching" for the key fobs. Double locking stops the searching - any MB remote key will trigger the car ECU search normally

I left my W212 in a garage for six months - not really planned however before I went away connect a Noco smart charger across the main battery.
When I came back to the car, the main battery was charged but the auxiliary battery was flat and ruined (had to buy a replacement - MB cost $200+, battery store $29.00)
Also the air suspension had settled down to minimum.

dbldpr

Thanks

KEY08

I knew someone that connected an ah-oo-gah horn in his Mercedes that drained the battery. Good thing you don’t have one of those. 😳

Now, the elephant in the room; 300 miles in 5 years??! Are you always driving the Bentley?

dbldpr

Car was bought for vacation. Wife never liked the car because of the factory gadgets it came with. For about 3 years after we bought it we used it for vacations. Then she said we were to old to go on vacation. so, the car mostly sits in a heated garage with a cover over it. I stopped adding gadgets ( Ahooga horn etc.). I try and drive it every other month but we both caught covid (the 3rd time). It usually lasts about 5 days this omnicrom lasted 5 weeks. Started with an ear ach then went into covid. Well, I waited too long to start car and battery went dead. I do the oil changes and anything else it says I should do. But yes, car is barely driven. I love the car. When it is about 20 years old it will have about 15,000 miles on it. But well maintained. I live in Illinois and car has never been driven in the snow. Sad story but true. On vacation we got 36 mpg going and coming back from myrtle Beach. Best car I have ever driven for vacations.

Gazwould

Is this a story about battery neglect ?

I've 24/7 connected on a laid up vehicle .




Another more recent buy .




For occasional use on another .


Definitely have helped to prolong a 11 year old original battery since this poor reading a year ago .




Still going

kajtek1

There is lot of fale advertising in battery chargers, so for this purpose, check if it is having maintaining mode or float circuit keeping the battery at 13.5V
So -called "Smart" chargers suppose to have desulfating mode, what can extend battery life, but don't use it while the battery is hook up to the car. The mode runs high voltage who can fry your computer.

ghlkal

OK, this actually made me LOL



OP, what brand and type battery do you have?

BenzV12

Thanks for posting some useful tips
I have never seen a Mercedes-Benz in such a less driven condition

dbldpr

still looks and drives like new.

dbldpr

Bosch platinum series agm battery group from pep boys Part # 48-720bagm

kajtek1

There is a member on benzworld, who had minimal miles on his W210 and for long years he claimed the car has never see the rain.
Thank on 1 of the drive the car was rear ended, what was very sad story.
Will W212 become classic? Not likely, but then you never know.
I have seen pristine, low mileage W210 selling for more than W212 with the same mileage.

Left Coast Geek

you should not use desulfating cycles on AGM batteries at all.

Left Coast Geek

Bosch branded batteries sold in the USA are made by Exide,
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-r...-Pep-Boys.html

Exide is the most polluting and crooked company in the battery industry. last big round of lawsuits they lost, they declared bankruptcy and were taken over by holding companies.

re Exide:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exide_lead_contamination

BenzV12

Hmmm, interesting I didn't know that

pierrejoliat

Well, to be fair, Exide ran these plants built in the 1920's for a hundred years, they got us through WW2 and until the late 70's there were not many environmental laws to follow. that said, they have had many environmental issues they did not deal with in good faith.

kajtek1

One more reason to do your homework before charger purchase.
Lot of "smart chargers" will go to desulfating mode automatically, when it sense low voltage.
The only indication will be long charging time.
I have older Schumacher charger, who will display voltage, or charge % and found the meter giving me false data during charging process. Go figure.

cetialpha5

The OEM battery is a Varta which was made by JCI/Clarios. Pepboys now sells the Champion AGM battery and that is also made by JCI/Clarios. They stopped carrying the Bosch battery. Exide is known as one of the worst battery makers out there but that isn't really saying much, there's only about 3 major ones out there, JCI/Clarious, East Penn and Exide. East Penn and JCI/Clarios is considered a good battery maker.

Left Coast Geek

I have had good results from East Penn's group 48 batteries, both the plain flooded cells for my older euro cars, and the AGMs for newer. Their own brands are Deka and Intimidator, but they also make some house brand batteries, like I believe they make (or at least made) the "Duracell" branded group 48/49's sold by Batteries Plus.

While Costco batteries are 'Interstate" branded, they are Interstate's lower performance versions and not the premium ones. And I've read that while Interstate's used to be exclusively Johnson Controls (now Brookfield (Quatar) dba Clarios), they are now selling a lot of Exide batts, too.

cetialpha5

Interstate is a battery distributor so their batteries can come from any maker. I would get the Champion battery if I was in the market for one. They offer a 4 year warranty on their AGM battery, most other places just do 3 years on an AGM.