Hi Guys, I have a Brabus SL K8, I have had it for around 2 months, the problem is that if I have not driven the car between 2 to 3 days i get a warning indicator displaying a battery symbol and "Consumables Off Line!" when this happens I have no control of several things such as stering wheel adjustment, seat adjustment ect, if I dont drive the car for say 5 days I get the same display message followed by another message (all in red) displaying a battery symbol on the left under the speedometer and a message displaying "visit workshop!"
I checked the history of the vehicle and it has had both batteries replaced during April of the year by the previous owner.
could somebody tell me if this is normal please.

Regards

Cliff

Brabus SL55 K8 : 2003
500SL : 1991
Grand Voyager : 2002
VW Transporter T5 Trendline : 2005

 

Your message says "CONSUMERS OFFLINE" meaning that the extra things that consume power don't have the correct voltage. Unnecessary things like the steering wheel adjustment, the seat memory etc. won't work until supplied with at least 12vdc

However the important things like the brakes will work fine and you can drive the car.

Mine has to sit a long time before I get that same warning, it takes longer than 5 days for it to give that message. As I'm sure you know the battery in the trunk controls the accessories, so that's the one that is low.

Just because it was replaced doesn't mean it's not suspect, it could be a bad new one!

It may be that battery has a dead cell, have it load tested and find out. Or if the battery shows it's OK once fully charged (IE: it holds a load), then something in the car is drawing power even when the car is shut off.

Good luck!,

J T

 

Hi J T thanks for your reply

I have taken my car to the main dealer and I am awaiting the results of there inspection, I should know later tomorrow, I just wanted to arm myself with some info as I don't trust any dealership!

P S I also get another display message something like "Brake power low, please start engne" this appears to be linked to my battery power issue!

Regards

Cliff

 

After you've determined their is no excessive drain and the battery is good, install a C-tec battery charger on the consumer battery when it sits. MB recommends this charger and sells it across the counter for $125., I bought them for all my cars from Jeggs for $70 a shot. Note, the starter battery feeds off the the consumer battery, so that remains at a full charge. Also you'll find the batteries will last allot longer. Got them on all my cars, best investment yet.

 

Thanks for your info 03SL500, I live in England and I am not sure if the C-tec battery charger is avalible here, I will check it out!

Can anybody also tell me how long a SL55 should be able to sit without use before the Aux battery is expected to to loose power enough for the "consumables off line" display to show?

Cliff

 

in my unheated garage during the colder months, it takes my 2003 SL 500 at least 3 weeks to display that message. Of course in warmer conditions the time would increase substantially.

So you are in 'ol Blighty eh? at times I wish I had my 1965 Sunbeam Minx ( not Hillman Minx I had one of them too ) they sure were a more simple to fix. Of course they are very pedestrian in nature but there's a lot to be said for SIMPLE. When the Sunbeam was built no one ever thought of the things we take for granted now on our Benz's. I have worked on everything British from the original Mini Coopers to Rolls Royce!

Cheers,

J T

 

Hi All,
I heard from my Mercedes Benz dealer today where my car is and they reported to me that after a complete computer check they could not find any issues with the Aux Battery or car charging system and that they would be contacting Mercedes Benz uk for technical help to find out how long the car should be able to stand without use before the "Consumables Off Line!" displays

what do I do now?

Cliff

 

then it must be something that's a bit out of the ordinary for sure. If I was still in the business and I was faced with that problem, I'd still be looking for a current draw when all systems are shut down.

This would involve temporarily putting an ammeter in line between your AUX battery and rest of the system ( IE: in the HOT lead to the car )

The problem is that most ammeter are calibrated in large increments like 0 to 60 amps, using one like this you wouldn't see a 1 amp drain. You need one that is meant to read LOW amperage like 0 to 5 amperes or maybe even 0 to 10 but no more. Finding one will be tough I'm betting.

But once you DO find it and insert it in the line DO NOT START THE CAR IT WILL FRY THE METER!!! Avoid any sparks near the battery, hydrogen is very explosive and you can blow the top off the battery. Best to put a wet rag over the cells when making the connections.

Read the meter and see if it shows any appreciable draw, if it does then start taking out fuses one by one and see what circuit stops the drain. This is time consuming and can be very frustrating to say the least. But it may work for you, if not let the dealer deal with it and keep a charger on the car in the meantime.

Sorry I can't be there to help you. I may be entirely off base with my diagnosis but it's a bit tough when you don't have the car in front of you.

If any of this is beyond your abilities then leave it to the experts, I don't want to create a situation where you get hurt or worse yet set fire to your baby.

Cheers,

J T

 

I have been dealing with the same problem for a while. installed some extra bling LED undercarriage lights and extra sub woofer, DVD/TV etc... they all draw power even when the car is off. Went through one set of new batteries (car was not startable after only 3 days) and then got that consumer line again... fet up. Had my car guy install a BMW type charger in the trunk with a plug. I got a pully type of extension cord installed in my garage and when I park, I just pull the extension cord into the trunk and voila! charge battery. I usually drive the car once a week, he said it will take a couple days to charge the battery full. The trunk lid is left slightly open and the light in the trunk shuts off after 10 min. So the short answer is, get a battery charger hooked up to the trunk aux battery if you don't drive it frequently. I also asked about the cigarette lighter charger... that one does not work on the aux battery in the trunk.

 

The normal problem for this fault is the battery converter module that sits in the right hand side of the trunk.

With a meter in series with the battery, the car locked and the SAT nav disc taken out the current consumption should drop down to around 50ma after the car has gone to sleep,roughly 25 mins,,if it is over 80ma then it could be the battery box as above or the Comand not going to sleep

 

Hey Guys, got my car back from the dealers on Thursday, they replaced the Aux battery as they said it was faulty, but they wanted to keep the car for another 3 days to do some further checks for current drain!, they said that the drain was currently 150ma.
The "Aux battery" was still under warranty so i did no have to pay for the replacement, but I am sure they wanted to "stripe me up" for investigation charge as they told me that even though the battery had a fault there was still a possibility that the "Aux battery" may go flat after a few days due to the possible current drain but the investigation costs to find the current drain would not be covered under warranty!
I told the to give me the car back and I will bring it back if this happens.
The reason for this, "I smelt a rat" because of the following reasons!

1, With all the technology for fault finding equipment avalible at a Mercedes Benz dealership why should it take so long for them to test a car battery and check the car fo an electrical drain, I had taken it to them 3 times and they had the car for a total of 6 days before they found a fault with the Aux Battery.

2, I informed the dealer a month ago that without the engine running the and the radio and the headlights on the aux battery will go flat in about 2 mins.

3, If parked up for at least 3 days I cannot get into the car via the "keyless go" as the "Aux battery" will be totally flat.

3, they had previously told me (3 weeks ago) that they had completely checked the charging system and both batteries and no problems were showing with the batteries or charging system.

4, after i had a forceful word with the service advisor, informing him on how to test the aux battery and that I was certain that the problem lies with the aux battery not holding the charge and that I had called out "Roadside Assistance" and they tested the battery and it was not holding the charge (I Lied) they then found a problem with the aux battery! Since I have had the car back (3 days), I have left the lights on (full beam), radio on, wipers on and more all without the engine running and even after 20 mins. all was still ok with no "consumers off line" display!
The only conclusion I can come to is that they were very busy and did not have a lot of time to spend on my car and when they did get round to it they realised that it was the "aux battery" but wanted to make some money out of me by charging me for fault finding seeing as the car was there for so long!