Wireless Charging
Super Member
Joined: Sep 2002
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So after seeing the reports from fellow Android users on their success with those charging pads, I decided to do some additional testing. And what do you know? I found the root cause of my issues - NFC 
Apparently, these charging pads will refuse to charge any NFC-enabled device. I have my apartment key on NFC on all my phones, so naturally none of them charged in the car. Disabling NFC allowed them to resume charging immediately.
I hate MB's electronics engineers.
Apparently, these charging pads will refuse to charge any NFC-enabled device. I have my apartment key on NFC on all my phones, so naturally none of them charged in the car. Disabling NFC allowed them to resume charging immediately.
I hate MB's electronics engineers.
I have nfc enabled on my Samsung s22 ultra and it works perfectly.. not sure why it isn't for you...
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23 S580 Executive
I forgot to test her iphone phone yesterday, my bad. I did remember today. Tossed it on and it started charging without further fiddling. It was still charging about 20 minutes later when we checked it. Gained 1 percent; did not get hot. Maybe the poor performance was due to placement so we decided to throw it back in and couldn't get it to start charging for several minutes. Finally got a charge indication and gave it another 20 minutes; zero charge gained.
Gotta call that a fail.
Gotta call that a fail.
Super Member
Joined: Sep 2002
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I forgot to test her iphone phone yesterday, my bad. I did remember today. Tossed it on and it started charging without further fiddling. It was still charging about 20 minutes later when we checked it. Gained 1 percent; did not get hot. Maybe the poor performance was due to placement so we decided to throw it back in and couldn't get it to start charging for several minutes. Finally got a charge indication and gave it another 20 minutes; zero charge gained.
Gotta call that a fail.
Gotta call that a fail.
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
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From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
Slow charging is a clear sign of interference, either from a case or metal near the coils. 1% in 20 minutes as stated above is essentially pure interference. Wireless chargers are fundamentally much slower than wired chargers, other than propriety chargers such as the Apple Magsafe charger which can delivery up to 15W. Standard Qi wireless chargers deliver 5W and the faster versions 7.5W. On a typical 5W charger you should see about 10% over 10-15 minutes (if battery is low) and about 4 hours to charge an iPhone from 10% to 100%. 7.5W chargers cut it down to around 3 hours and about 20% in 30 minutes (with battery low). Charging gets slower as the battery reaches 80% and above. The last 20% take the longest. So put that in perspective. The MB charger I believe is a 5W charger.
So for those who say their iPhones charged in other cars, at what rate did they charge? Wireless charging in cars really makes most sense on long trips. Short trips just won't significantly charge the battery. The wireless chargers in cars are not even powerful enough to supply enough power and charge the phone when using wireless CarPlay at the same time. The phone basically eats up all the charger can deliver and there isn't much left to actually charge the battery, so if you wanna compare charging speeds, make sure you are not using the phone at the same time for things like CarPlay or AA. Also keep in mind that wireless charging gets interrupted if the phone gets too warm and continues once it has cooled down. This is more likely to happen if the phone is in use for CarPlay while charging.
So for those who say their iPhones charged in other cars, at what rate did they charge? Wireless charging in cars really makes most sense on long trips. Short trips just won't significantly charge the battery. The wireless chargers in cars are not even powerful enough to supply enough power and charge the phone when using wireless CarPlay at the same time. The phone basically eats up all the charger can deliver and there isn't much left to actually charge the battery, so if you wanna compare charging speeds, make sure you are not using the phone at the same time for things like CarPlay or AA. Also keep in mind that wireless charging gets interrupted if the phone gets too warm and continues once it has cooled down. This is more likely to happen if the phone is in use for CarPlay while charging.
Last edited by superswiss; May 10, 2023 at 07:30 PM.
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Joined: Mar 2021
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GLS 580
A software update for the wireless charging system was installed in my car this morning. The notice I got states "The update includes improvements to the wireless charging function for the Apple iPhone 12 and subsequent generations with MagSafe." I am anxious to see if the update fixed the charging problem.
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S450 4Matic
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23 S580 Executive
lol, I suppose you've got your workaround but that's not an answer. I really don't know. I'm thinking about telling them my iphone isn't charging correctly (even though I don't have one) to get the latest firmware update. It's not a stretch as Mrs Crab would like to be able to drop her phone in there if need be, and right now that appears to be a waste of time.
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Might also have to do with Samsung pay and Google play enabled at the same time when nfc is enabled? I think Google pay is by default on even if your screen is off so you can make payments without unlocking the phone I think that is what I read.
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
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From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
There's absolutely something to this. Don't know about Android, but I did have to turn off NFC in the car, because almost every time I placed my iPhone on the wireless charger Apple Pay would come up as I moved it passed the NFC reader. The NFC readers in the phones are now pretty much always active to read NFC tags and trigger the mobile wallets, so you don't have to open the wallet manually first. If you have transit cards in the wallet and set them up for express payment, then they work w/o unlocking the phone, so when you place the phone on the wireless charger and NFC is enabled then it tries to interpret the NFC signal and do something with it, which could ultimately interfere with charging.
MBWorld God!
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There's absolutely something to this. Don't know about Android, but I did have to turn off NFC in the car, because almost every time I placed my iPhone on the wireless charger Apple Pay would come up as I moved it passed the NFC reader. The NFC readers in the phones are now pretty much always active to read NFC tags and trigger the mobile wallets, so you don't have to open the wallet manually first. If you have transit cards in the wallet and set them up for express payment, then they work w/o unlocking the phone, so when you place the phone on the wireless charger and NFC is enabled then it tries to interpret the NFC signal and do something with it, which could ultimately interfere with charging.
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23 S580 Executive
There's still something there, I've got NFC on with Google Wallet and no issues going on charge. That's Android but rw is on android. Doesn't mean that's not it though; maybe Chinese localization?
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
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From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
I think it also depends on what you have in the wallet and what you use NFC for otherwise. As I said if you have express type cards in the wallet such as transit cards, they are active even if the phone is locked, so you can just tap the phone at the turnstile w/o unlocking it first. I also have NFC tags around my smart home. For example I can tap my phone to the NFC tag I put next to my doors to unlock the house, so basically my phone is always listening for an NFC signal to trigger automations.
Last edited by superswiss; May 16, 2023 at 03:53 PM.
Junior Member
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GLS 580
I am pleased to offer my final report on the W223 wireless charging issue. As stated, I got an over-the-air update this morning. This afternoon, I drove for 54 minutes, with one 15-minute stop at the grocery after about 47 minutes, a total of 31.6 miles. During this driving session, my iPhone 14 Pro increased its charge from 66 to 83%. I accept that. In fact, I am delighted with that result. The phone will charge fully on a long trip, whcih is when I need a charger, and the charge rate is comparable to what I observed on Mercedes' charge pads before iPhone 12s and in GM products. So Mercedes has fixed the problem. My compliments to them for finally sitting down and solving the problem. If you do not get the update automatically, demand it, as it finally makes at least the iPhone 14 Pro charge on the wireless pad. I can't prove it because it did not have the opportunity to try all of the others, but I suspect that the update also works with all other iPhones 12 and above. Now if we could just get Mercedes to look at and address the WiFi issue with T-Mobile........
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2023 S580 (current), 2019 Range Rover HSE V6 (current),2021 S580, 2018 S560 4Matic, 2015 S550 4Matic
I am pleased to offer my final report on the W223 wireless charging issue. As stated, I got an over-the-air update this morning. This afternoon, I drove for 54 minutes, with one 15-minute stop at the grocery after about 47 minutes, a total of 31.6 miles. During this driving session, my iPhone 14 Pro increased its charge from 66 to 83%. I accept that. In fact, I am delighted with that result. The phone will charge fully on a long trip, whcih is when I need a charger, and the charge rate is comparable to what I observed on Mercedes' charge pads before iPhone 12s and in GM products. So Mercedes has fixed the problem. My compliments to them for finally sitting down and solving the problem. If you do not get the update automatically, demand it, as it finally makes at least the iPhone 14 Pro charge on the wireless pad. I can't prove it because it did not have the opportunity to try all of the others, but I suspect that the update also works with all other iPhones 12 and above. Now if we could just get Mercedes to look at and address the WiFi issue with T-Mobile........
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GLS 580
No sir. It just appeared like magic on the MBUX. True story; I pulled up in the church parking lot this morning like I do for Bible study every Tuesday at 6:15 a.m. and shut the car down. The MBUX upon shutdown announced the existence of the update like I reported. It said that it would install the update as soon as I left and locked the car, but when we adjourned at 7:30 the update was not installed. When I got home a few minutes later, I went to “software updates” on the MBUX and there it was. It took me through a number of prompts and then said that I and all other mammalians and large insects needed to leave the car immediately, lock it and leave it alone for 15 minutes. I did that and the update installed perfectly, with the reported results. If you did not get the automatic update, maybe you need to begin an early-morning Bible study at a local church or synagogue <g>.
MBWorld God!
Joined: Dec 2019
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I am pleased to offer my final report on the W223 wireless charging issue. As stated, I got an over-the-air update this morning. This afternoon, I drove for 54 minutes, with one 15-minute stop at the grocery after about 47 minutes, a total of 31.6 miles. During this driving session, my iPhone 14 Pro increased its charge from 66 to 83%. I accept that. In fact, I am delighted with that result. The phone will charge fully on a long trip, whcih is when I need a charger, and the charge rate is comparable to what I observed on Mercedes' charge pads before iPhone 12s and in GM products. So Mercedes has fixed the problem. My compliments to them for finally sitting down and solving the problem. If you do not get the update automatically, demand it, as it finally makes at least the iPhone 14 Pro charge on the wireless pad. I can't prove it because it did not have the opportunity to try all of the others, but I suspect that the update also works with all other iPhones 12 and above. Now if we could just get Mercedes to look at and address the WiFi issue with T-Mobile........
No sir. It just appeared like magic on the MBUX. True story; I pulled up in the church parking lot this morning like I do for Bible study every Tuesday at 6:15 a.m. and shut the car down. The MBUX upon shutdown announced the existence of the update like I reported. It said that it would install the update as soon as I left and locked the car, but when we adjourned at 7:30 the update was not installed. When I got home a few minutes later, I went to “software updates” on the MBUX and there it was. It took me through a number of prompts and then said that I and all other mammalians and large insects needed to leave the car immediately, lock it and leave it alone for 15 minutes. I did that and the update installed perfectly, with the reported results. If you did not get the automatic update, maybe you need to begin an early-morning Bible study at a local church or synagogue <g>.
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S500
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GLC300 C254
Old thread but was reading it when the wireless charger didn’t work on my C254. Totally busted and finicky. Almost never worked. Connected then disconnected all the time. Never maintained a charging connection for more than a few seconds - figured it was a combo of a bad design and an iPhone 15 pro magnets, based on the comments here.
I didn’t bother with it until I had a GLE and A class loaner from them while they messed around with other new car glitches and those chargers were perfect, so I started to hassle them about it.
Anyway, the dealer did try some updates, etc and it didn’t work except on the androids they had on hand. They ended up replacing the whole charging system and now it’s perfect. Works basically anywhere you throw the phone in. Common manufacturing fault I guess.
I didn’t bother with it until I had a GLE and A class loaner from them while they messed around with other new car glitches and those chargers were perfect, so I started to hassle them about it.
Anyway, the dealer did try some updates, etc and it didn’t work except on the androids they had on hand. They ended up replacing the whole charging system and now it’s perfect. Works basically anywhere you throw the phone in. Common manufacturing fault I guess.
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