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Can we jump start the vehicle having 48v battery system?

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Old Jul 21, 2023 | 09:19 AM
  #1  
manbeing's Avatar
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2023 GLE 450
Can we jump start the vehicle having 48v battery system?

For example, 450 has mild hybrid 48v system. I assume the car startup is triggered by the 48v battery, not 12v battery?
If so, we cannot jump start the vehicle ? but why on my 450 manual, it still has the instruction on how to jump star the vehicle?
And I will leave for vacation for one week. Should I do something on my vehicle's battery?



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Old Jul 21, 2023 | 09:59 AM
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Battery questions

Originally Posted by manbeing
For example, 450 has mild hybrid 48v system. I assume the car startup is triggered by the 48v battery, not 12v battery?
If so, we cannot jump start the vehicle ? but why on my 450 manual, it still has the instruction on how to jump star the vehicle?
And I will leave for vacation for one week. Should I do something on my vehicle's battery?
Yes, you can jump start, as the manual says. Vacation depends on length. If 2 weeks or more I would hook up a battery maintainer (trickle charger).
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Old Jul 21, 2023 | 10:14 AM
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Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon
Yes, you can jump start, as the manual says. Vacation depends on length. If 2 weeks or more I would hook up a battery maintainer (trickle charger).
but why some people here said they cannot start the car when 48v system has the problem? even jump start didn't work.
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Old Jul 21, 2023 | 10:36 AM
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Originally Posted by manbeing
but why some people here said they cannot start the car when 48v system has the problem? even jump start didn't work.
If there is truly a problem with the 48v system, then that's different than just a low battery.
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Old Jul 21, 2023 | 10:40 AM
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Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon
If there is truly a problem with the 48v system, then that's different than just a low battery.
I think what I am confused about is if the cold startup is triggered by 12v battery? or its 48v battery?
If 48v battery does, then jumpstart is meaningless, right?
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Old Jul 21, 2023 | 10:47 AM
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Originally Posted by manbeing
I think what I am confused about is if the cold startup is triggered by 12v battery? or its 48v battery?
If 48v battery does, then jumpstart is meaningless, right?
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the 12V battery can provide charge to the 48V battery through an internal convertor using the "starting assistance" procedure described in the manual. The 48V battery provides the power to the Integrated Starter Generator (ISG) which starts the engine.
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Old Jul 21, 2023 | 11:30 AM
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Originally Posted by manbeing
but why some people here said they cannot start the car when 48v system has the problem? even jump start didn't work.
They must have had a failure.
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Old Jul 21, 2023 | 02:14 PM
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I believe the starter runs on the 48v system, meaning if there is issue with the 48v system, then car won't start.
Think of it this way. The 12v supplies power to the "normal" system (like older car). When you want to start the car, it send signal to the starter, which draws power from the 48v system. So both system need to be in working order for the car to start.
If either of the system is low, you should be able to recharge it (it has an internal converter) to charge both the 12v and 48v system. But if the system is faulty, then charging it won't help.
(I think that how the car works, but I could be wrong)
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Old Jul 21, 2023 | 03:04 PM
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I'm not sure of the actual mechanism, but there is a 12 volt DC to 48 volt DC converter, that must give a full shot of voltage to the ISG.

I believe @slk55er started a thread a while back, with his observations that the 48 volt battery's voltage varies substantially from 48v, seemingly showing that it charges / discharges pretty immediately.

I did the same rolling test, and only saw close to 48 volts during regenerative braking. FWIW.
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Old Jul 22, 2023 | 11:57 AM
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dc dc converter - How do I convert, lower, or raise voltage? - Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
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Old Jul 22, 2023 | 12:27 PM
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One guy said the 48v system on x5 is different. The 48v system is just used for traffic light stop/go, so it won't affect vehicle cold startup. Is that true ?
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Old Jul 22, 2023 | 06:35 PM
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Originally Posted by mikapen
I'm not sure of the actual mechanism, but there is a 12 volt DC to 48 volt DC converter, that must give a full shot of voltage to the ISG.

I believe @slk55er started a thread a while back, with his observations that the 48 volt battery's voltage varies substantially from 48v, seemingly showing that it charges / discharges pretty immediately.
Well, not exactly. From my testing, I concluded that the 48v battery only gets charged when the ignition is on and engine running. Charging the 12v with a standard battery charger does not end up adding charge to the 48v battery. By charging the 12v with, say a trickle charger while the vehicle is parked for an extended time allows all off the energy from the 48v ISG to go to charing the 48v battery. The charge LEVEL on the 48v battery varies considerably and one can check the % charge with the procedure posted here:

https://mbworld.org/forums/gle63s-gl...g-service.html
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Old Jul 22, 2023 | 10:52 PM
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Originally Posted by slk55er
Well, not exactly. From my testing, I concluded that the 48v battery only gets charged when the ignition is on and engine running. Charging the 12v with a standard battery charger does not end up adding charge to the 48v battery. By charging the 12v with, say a trickle charger while the vehicle is parked for an extended time allows all off the energy from the 48v ISG to go to charing the 48v battery. The charge LEVEL on the 48v battery varies considerably and one can check the % charge with the procedure posted here:

https://mbworld.org/forums/gle63s-gl...g-service.html
Thanks for jumping in.

After trying that procedure and driving around for a while, I kind of became convinced that the 48 volt battery performs more like a capacitor than a battery.

Nevertheless, what you couldn't see with the ignition off, was whether or not there was 48v charging going on, when you had your trickle charger hooked up (assuming it's a smart charger).

Or where, internally, that charge might be applied if the 48-volt battery becomes discharged, both with the key off and during start conditions.

I'm 95% certain that there are two DC to DC converters, a 48 to 12v, and a 12v to 48v.

So I'm surmising that the jump starting function as mentioned in the manual, must send a lot of current directly to the full 48 volt System to start the car.

If not, why is there a 12v to 48v converter, and why would the manual show the jump start procedure?

Also, what voltage is required to spin the ISG? 46 volts? 12?

Last edited by mikapen; Jul 23, 2023 at 02:06 PM.
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Old Jun 2, 2024 | 07:11 PM
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I used to keep my 2017 GLE in the garage for up to 4 weeks during vacation with no issues (without tricke charge). Can I do the same for the 2024 version?
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Old Jun 3, 2024 | 09:57 AM
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Originally Posted by freiwill01
I used to keep my 2017 GLE in the garage for up to 4 weeks during vacation with no issues (without tricke charge). Can I do the same for the 2024 version?
The answer is "it depends" we only have anecdotes. I've seen a number of people ask about storing their car for multiple weeks without a charger but most don't report back their results. With good batteries (12v and 48v) I can't see how it should be a problem. The 48v battery is the "starter" battery and the 12v battery powers all the modules. There is DC -> DC conversion happening between the two but MB doesn't publish exactly how it all works together.
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Old Jul 1, 2024 | 05:09 PM
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Originally Posted by slk55er
Well, not exactly. From my testing, I concluded that the 48v battery only gets charged when the ignition is on and engine running. Charging the 12v with a standard battery charger does not end up adding charge to the 48v battery.
Just for reference I can confirm that our 2021 GLS 580 does indeed charge the 48v battery with a 12v charger. I checked the 48v SOC via the workshop menu this morning and it was at 32% (lots of engine off/ignition on activity in the last couple days). Since I was going to be doing some detailing, I put my 10A 12v charger/maintainer on it. When I checked again this evening the 48v SOC was 70%. Based on what I observe while driving I believe this is the target "full charge" SOC. Regen braking will push it above 70% while driving but then I usually see a significant electric boost to bring it back down to ~70%. The highest I've ever seen was 83% and that was quickly blead off during the next few acceleration events.
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