Mystery Battery Drain in my 2018 AMG E43
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Joined: Mar 2020
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E300 coupe AMG line
Artery drain - puzzle solved
Time to own up. I have egg on my face. My mysterious battery drain puzzle has been solved after two admissions into Mercedes Salisbury. First inspection drew a blank so battery replaced. Second,presumably more intense, inspection embarrassingly revealed the problem was Nextbase front dashcam. I had assumed that switching ignition off would kill the cam. Not so. Apparently only Merc-approved dashcam will prevent this. The solution is to switch off camera at the end of the ride. All well since. Just have to devote time to understanding how the display screen and other electronic miracles work.
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Joined: Nov 2019
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AMG E43
Trickle Charger
Since I started this thread, I wanted to provide one more update. My dealer was offering a coupon for $150 off service if I spent $300 or more. I needed a cargo liner and license plate frames for my 2020 GLE450 (ordered in July of 2019 and finally arrived in July of 2020). I decided to buy a Mercedes-branded trickle charger as part of my spend. I know it would have cost far less to buy a CTEK charger, but by using my coupon I saved some money. I also figured if I used the Mercedes trickle charger for both my 2020 GLE and 2018 AMG E43 (dealer said it would work great for either vehicle) it wouldn't void my warranties for either car. The charger works great and I've had no battery issues with either car. I keep them both locked in my garage when not in use and turn to the trickle charger if I feel my batteries might be running low. Like many of you, I'm not driving much these days. I've owned our GLE450 for 6 months and just broke the 1000 mile mark a few days ago.
Last edited by bcrounse; Dec 18, 2020 at 03:44 PM. Reason: typo
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Joined: Oct 2019
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E43
E43 battery drain
AMG Community. I've owned my E43 for about 18 months. I love the car and have had very few issues since my purchase of the new vehicle. Within the last few weeks, I've been getting the message (with Battery Icon on main dash) "Start Engine. See Operator's Manual" every morning before I start the engine. I believe this started after driving in a very bad rainstorm a few days earlier. I did some freeway driving to recharge the battery. The pre-start warning went away for that day, but was back again the next morning. Yesterday, I took my car to my AMG-certified dealership. They told me my problem was "not driving the car enough to keep the battery charged". They said both the main battery and accessory battery were in good shape, although the main battery was low and they charged it up. My driving habits have been pretty consistent since buying the car; frequent short trips around town and some free way driving. It seems to me this is a new problem. The technician suggested I keep the car locked when in my garage to limit possible drain on the battery when the car isn't in use. He also suggested I buy a trickle charger. I've been researching this issue on the web and find that mysterious battery drain has been an issue in many, recent Mercedes models. I've seen "water penetration" as a cause of some problems. Others relate to Command Module issues and other phantom reasons for battery drain. I'm reaching out to the AMG community for advice on this. I'm not sure I believe the tech who told me the problem is due to my driving habits. Thanks for any advice the community may be able to offer.
Cheers Vin
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Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 43
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AMG E43
E43 Battery Drain
Having the same problem on my E43 2018, there is no "standby" mode in vehicle settings as suggested. This may be able to be switched on by the dealer I dunno. The only thing you can do from what I can see is to turn off the interior, and tow away, alarms from the Vehicle Settings menu. Smacks as these were rushed out with a crap version of MBUX. If you do disable the two alarms you have to do this every time you want to lay up the car as they are automatically turned back on as the MBUX boots. As other folk suggest the CTEK 0.8 is an a excellent battery optimiser if you do want to lay it up.
Cheers Vin
Cheers Vin
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2019 E300
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Oct 2015
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2019 E300
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