Does anyone else find the wireless charging pad in the center console incredibly finicky? I place my iPhone in the wireless charging pad and it either wont respond or will decide to charge the phone for all of one or two seconds before disconnecting. I've been in situations where I will need to mess with the positioning of the phone for 5 minutes before it decides to keep a steady charge. Seems outrageous in a car with a sticker price over $120k.

 

Which iPhone do you have? Can't say I have had issues with my iPhone XS. I forgot who the supplier is of the charging pad, but I believe it's the same in all models. I had an S 500 loaner a couple of months back and used wireless CarPlay to navigate around congestion. I put the phone down like I do in my own car and it started charging right away. As with all charging pads, the device has to be roughly in the center and the larger phablet devices tend to have issues, because they are too big. Don't recall if they increased the size of the pad in the W223, but in my C63 I couldn't fit a larger phone and have it charge properly.

 

Android, toss it in the cubby, it charges, no issues.

 

No issues with my Samsung S23 ultra. There's plenty of issues with iphone using the wireless charger when I use my work iPhone 14 in the s580 and Audi RS7. Apple needs to get their stuff together.

 

There is a software patch available that fixes some issues, time to visit your local dealer. Protective cases can also cause problems.

 

I find the wireless chargers in this car very helpful. In those cold winter months. Doesn't charge my phone at all. But makes it nice and hot

 

Thanks all for the replies - My car is a 2023 and I am using an iPhone 14 Pro Max.

 

Hi. I have a C W206 and since the beginning wireless charging is very spotty. I believe it is the same hardware as in the new S class. I have an IPhone 13 Pro and according to the dealer it has to do with the magnets in the back of the newer model iPhones. It works perfectly with an iPhone XS. Mine has also been updated with the latest patches but it doesn’t make a difference. Apparently Mercedes Benz engineers cannot figure out what Alieexpress 3$ wireless chargers can do flawlessly 😆. Anyway I am using a cable 👍🏽

 

Yeah, it's kind of hilarious

In fairness though, most German car makers seem to struggle with their wireless charging pads. This is also found in BMWs and Audis.

 

I agree. Mine only worked 50% of the time no matter what phone I had or what car I had. Just like the others, I would lay it on the pad and it appeared to be charging but within a few minutes I would just happen to look at the status bar on the screen and it would not be charging. It sure did get hot though.

 

The great engineers at Mercedes-Benz know that the inductive charging pad in the W223 and every other Mercedes auto I know of does not work with iPhone models 12 and above. https://www.mercedes-benz-mobile.com...cksearch/?7808 The real question is why, knowing of their failure, they have not fixed it. They have no shame. Any other legitimate automobile manufacturer would have designed an inductive charger that works. Mercedes chose instead to publish an instruction stating that it will not work and let it go at that.

And here's another mystery. I bought a $19.00 Belkin wireless charging pad several years ago when I bought an iPhone 10. The 10 was the first iPhone with built in wireless charging. The Belkin device charged that phone perfectly. I then bought an iPhone 11 and still had perfect success with the Belkin device. I traded the 11 on an iPhone 14 Pro, brought it home and threw it on the old Belkin charger. It still charged the new iPhone perfectly. So the mystery is how Belkin could years ago design a $19 charging pad that is compatible with the latest iPhone when the master engineers of Germany appear to be unable to design a $130,000.00 plus charging pad that will perform as well as the $19.00 device made in China. I invite any Mercedes engineer who might be monitoring this forum to publicly explain the precise reason for their failure and to apologize to all of us.

 

I guess folks here are not electrical engineers. First off, Mercedes didn't engineer the wireless charger. It was engineered by a third-party supplier specializing in it. I'm trying to recall the name of the supplier. Secondly, I don't know who at Apple thought it was a good idea to place magnets near the wireless charging coils. This was bound to cause issues. If you understand anything about electricity then you know that magnetic fields and electrical fields will interfere with each other. Apple wants you to buy their Magsafe wireless charger, which perfectly places the phone over the charging coils and to make sure there is no interference with the magnets. A wireless charging pad on your desk that allows you to freely place the phone may also work, but it may not charge at full speed unless you perfectly place the phone to eliminate interference from the magnets. In a car, that's a bit of a different story. A car moves, so as you accelerate, slow down and turn, the phone likely moves around and is not in the ideal place for charging and the magnets will start to interfere. The tray design that's meant to keep the phone from flying around also limits free placement of the phone. Especially if you have one of the Max phones, then space is limited. I'm not saying they can't figure out how to make it work despite the magnets, but to be fair they didn't have to factor magnets into their design, because at the time nobody placed magnets near the coils in any phone, and still nobody does other than Apple. It's mostly coincidental that it works with an old Belkin charger and has a lot to do with placement of the phone and the fact that the phone won't move around on the wireless charger unless there's an earthquake.

 

The first iPhone released with MagSafe was the iPhone 12 back in 2020. My car is the w206 2022 model so the engineers at Mercedes had plenty of time to get their ducks in a row before releasing the car to the public. At least other car manufacturers have and they are facing the same challenges with wireless charging.

I’m an IT consultant and imagine my customer finding out that the server I just delivered to them will sometime run and sometime not run their business application. I’d be out of work very soon lol.

All I’m saying is there should be a proper fix from Mercedes instead of excuses or just plain ignoring customers.

 

I get that, but that's not how car development works. It takes 3-4 years for a car to be developed, so much of the tech in it is several years behind once it hits production. Software can be updated fairly easily, but when it comes to hardware then at some point one has to commit to whatever hardware is available at the time during the development cycle. The current wireless charging pad came out before there was a Magsafe iPhone. This stuff just comes out of the existing parts bin. They didn't develop a new charging pad just for the W223. It'll get updated at some point for sure. I believe there's actually a software update for the wireless charger, which is supposed to fix some of the issues. Worth checking out. In retrospect, I probably should have upgraded my iPhone before my warranty expired, so I could have lodged a complaint and have them update the software, but I rarely charge my phone in the car anyway.

 

Thanks for the very articulate response, Superswiss. But here are the facts:
1. Neither Mercedes nor any other vendor of a product assembled with components manufactured by others can blame the component manufacturer. It is a Mercedes, every last nut and bolt of it. Whether the component was manufactured in Poland or Vietnam, Mercedes is responsible for it and must issue a fix or recall it if it malfunctions.
2, It is not by happenstance that my Belkin $19.00 charging pad bought from Best Buy about five years ago charges my iPhone 14 Pro. It is solid engineering, and certainly does not require that I make multiple efforts placing it just right to make it do its job. I pretty much just throw the iPhone on the pad and it charges right up. What would cause an intelligent Mercedes engineer to adopt some method of charging that differed from that adopted by a company like Belkin that manufactures its products in China and sells on the cheap.
3. All that you said notwithstanding, there is still absolutely no excuse for Mercedes' failure to issue a fix. Apple has an incredible percentage of the smartphone market, and you would think that it would be a matter of pride for Mercedes to make its product work with the most advanced Apple iPhone. Instead all the Mercedes engineers do is sit idly by with their thumbs up their ---ears--- and blame someone else for what is an inexcusable failure in the most expensive sedan you can buy without getting into a Bentley or Rolls Royce.

We should, each and every one of us, write Mercedes about this engineering failure until it fixes it in our very expensive cars. And while we are at it, we should also let the engineers know how badly they missed the mark in providing in vehicle WiFi through T-Mobile. I had in vehicle WiFi in a 2018 GMC Denali HD pickup, so I am not in the mood to hear excuses about whey it is not Mercedes' fault because someone else provided the component. This company needs to step up to the plate and make the systems work in their cars just the way such systems work in a Ford. And if Mercedes can't do that, they need to issue a very public apology and send each of us some money back for features bought and paid for that do not work.

 

Wireless charges in cars don't work well especially iphones for the reason Superswiss had explained. it's the same in all cars. Besides iphone would be charging so slow it would not be worth it unless you use Megasafe, Samsung is different. What's wrong with T-mobile? BMW is switching too as it is partly own by German company and the provide services for them in Europe too.
It's working beautifully in mine.

 

By the way, most of the Android phones I have owned also DID NOT work with MB's charger. Samsungs, in particular, never worked. I've tried Note 20, S21, S22, S23. Varying sizes. None worked.

And these phones don't have any magnets in them.

This is just ridiculous.

 

Interesting! My S23 Ultra works perfect every time. Are you using a thick phone cover? I am using a thin one by Spigen and its fine.. Not sure if its the car wireless charger thats also an issue base on some of the complaints?

 

I'm using the regular S23 now, no case, no skin, just a bare back. I also tried larger samsungs like S21 Ultra and Note 20 Ultra. Nope, both wouldn't charge...

 

My Fold 2 worked, X-Fold works, Pixel 7 works. No fiddling, toss them in and they charge. You've got me curious now, I'm going to see if my wife's iPhone charges next time we're out.

 

I have used an S20 and an S21, with a thick case and without a case and absolutely no issues with the 223 wireless charging pad. Samsungs work for others at the forum, if not for you, I would not blame MB except if you pad is somehow broken (does not charge any phone). You definitely cannot say the MB pad does not work with most Androids.

The iPhone case is a bit more complicated (without knowing the details). Apple is known about its own decisions (for good and for bad) like not supporting NFC, not supporting bluetooth SAP, not supporting bluetooth DUN, not supporting full phone book download as visitor cards etc. etc. They don't care about legacy, cars built before BT PAN was specified and only work on DUN. One cannot expect the owner to sell his old car because a new phone does not do what the old phone did in his old car!

On wireless charging I'd stress that there are rules (specs) on how to build the charging pad and how to build the device to be charged. Apple cannot test every pad on the market to be sure their phone works with all of them, specifically not those that have been release after the phone was built. Still all of the pads should work even with an old iPhone if both sides were following the specs. Obviously it should work the other way too, if/when the charging pad in the car was built according to the specs, charging should work with every phone (that physically fits to the car).

Now if some iPhone does not work (well), I'm afraid it is obvious which side was bending the rules (specifications). Still I would blame MB a bit too if this iPhone was available at the time of the charging pad part acceptance. MB as any manufacturer should also do some interworking tests with popular products like iPhones and adapt to their bent rules if possible to make everyone happy. Without access to inside info, it is not possible to say if MB did what they should have done.

 

Ok then, in that case, I guess I've just been unlucky - both my front and rear charging pads apparently have broken. For no apparent reason...

 

I just took possession of a new 2023 GLC300. I have a iPhone 14 in a case with a built in screen guard, so it’s thick and on the heavy side. The phone charges every time it goes on the pad. Biggest problem is that the pad is sort of blocked by the cup hold. A little hard to place and take out.

The interesting thing is that I gave 2 wireless chargers in my home and with both I have to move the phone around multiple times to get it to charge. No so with the car just place it on the pad and it charges until I take it off

 

The Fold charged slowly, it was the same in the house due to the letter case. The X-Fold has a thin TPU case and it charges at about the same speed as it does inside although it should be said the house chargers are older, weaker chargers. I'm going to buy the Pixel Fold when it comes out; not sure if it will even fit in there but we'll see how it goes. Testing on the iPhone will go down later today. I almost hope it doesn't work because I enjoy ribbing the good professor about her "drinking the cool-aid" device.

 

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.