Wait! What? The OEM MB charger is worse than the Ctek? It looks just like a Ctek to me but I do see there are many version. I just ordered the MB charger. Which Ctek to get if not the MB charger?

 

I dropped off my SL this morning to replace a driver's seat plastic trim piece that was ordered back in August. A new service bulletin was issued by MBUSA to install the trickle charger in the trunk. I haven't had issues with the battery (even after leaving it in the garage, unlocked for over 2 weeks), but it is nice to have the trickle charger.

 

FYI according to my service invoice, the campaign number for the trickle charger is 20230500030.

 

Thanks for the " heads up" - I just checked with my service guy and yes, this is an " official" thing.

I have asked to get my money refunded, as I had one installed a few months ago. Let's see what they say.

This issue is really an embarrassment for MB.

This is how silly this is in my car. I enjoy washing the car myself - so in doing that I open and close the roof, leave the doors open to vacuum etc.

Without fail, after being done washing I get an error message that my battery is critical - this is just plain stupid.

I really sm not sure if this is just a software issue or not because the car never actually failed to start, but I rather not risk it, so I hook it up to the trickle charger.

 

Will be curious to hear from you if you get a refund on the installation of the trickle charger (does MB also supply the part?) I paid to have this installed in February just after I bought the car. Honestly, though, I think the time, effort, and aggravation to collect the refund won't be worth it.

 

I have been advised by my dealer's service department that I will get a refund on what I paid for the install. I had an older trickle charger which I used, so, I will not get money for the charger itself. I paid around $ 300 for the install and I will be ok if they just refund that to me.

 

Today I had my car detailed. The detailer left the key in the car. In the middle of detailing I get a message the battery is critical.
We try to open the car doors and the handles simply refuse to come out and we could not open the doors.
The car did not lock, but we simply could not open.
Luckily this happened at home and with the spare key we were able to get the door handles to pop out and open the doors.
Of course I immediately put the car on the trickle charger.

This is the second time exactly this scenario happened and I have to say this really is ridiculous !!

 

I know & I’m sorry to hear. It’s happened to me as well. Whenever I leave the car now, I ask that the key not be left in the car, explain the double-clicking procedure, and for detailing, service, etc., I leave a thick Mylar bag with the key. So far, so good. I’m guessing that a software upgrade may be coming as today I received a notice about two recalls on our SL63. Good luck.

 

That is really awful.
When I had PPF and ceramic coating done on my SL 55 I made sure my detailer had the car on the trickle charger the whole time.
Of course this should not be needed but I guess it is

 

Can you please explain how/where they installed the trickle charger?

Any photos of the install?

Did they run a wire all the way to the front of the car or hook it up to the cigarette lighter outlet in the trunk?

I already have a Mercedes trickle charger that I keep in the trunk and hook it up when needed.
What is the advantage of having it "installed"?

Thanks in advance for the information

 

I am in London for work this week so I can't take any pictures of my car. When I picked it up from my service appointment there was a box with the A0009822921 Mercedes trickle charger. The service advisor was surprised that it wasn't actually installed, but told me to cut off the cigarette lighter adapter (I don't have the 12V outlet in the trunk of my SL) and to install the leads to the battery terminals on the main battery. The main battery is easily accessible by lifting up the trunk floor cover via the tab. I purchased a 12 gauge in line fuse holder, crimping tool, and battery terminal connectors from Amazon. I will install the fuse holder on the red wire and then use terminal connectors on the red and black wires to secure them to the respective terminal screws on the battery posts. The other end of the harness will come up the truck floor cover for easy access to the trickle charger. If you have the 12V outlet in the truck, it is my understanding that you can plug the Mercedes trickle charger into the outlet and don't need to wire anything directly to the battery.

Fyi, I have not had my battery go flat. I don't lock my car at night. The Mercedes app talks to the car since I get periodic messages that the doors are unlocked. The night before I left for London, I made the mistake of leaving the keys in the cupholder overnight. I had no battery messages in the morning, and the car started up without any issues. Even though I don't have problems with my battery, when I get home this weekend, I will install the trickle charger. I am used to using a trickle charger on my Porsche Boxster (the original battery is 11 years old and still works), in my previous Maseratis and Aston Martins (my DB11 even had an external magnetic adapter from the factory for the trickle charger).

 

I'm back from London. I installed the trickle charger this afternoon. Here are some pictures.

 

The last two days have been eye opening. The Mercedes brand charger is questionable. I plugged it in after installing it. As others mentioned, the unit gets hot. It is also very slow. It started at the second light and took about 10 hours to get to green. The only time i got the critical battery message on the app was AFTER the car was connected to the charger. This morning I got a critical battery message even though the charger was still connected and fully charged. I dropped off my son at school today and drove for about any hour. When I got home, I connected the charger and it started at the second amber light. It stayed there when I took the car out again 2 hours later. I got another critical message and the low battery messages after driving the car. The car starts up right away. The frequency of the messages has gotten ridiculous since I started to use the charger. I ordered a battery tender brand 8 amp charger to see if the messages continue.

 

What you are describing goes well beyond what others have observed with regards to messages. To get a message whilst the charger is connected and after driving the car extensively is truly unacceptable. With regards the glacier speed with which the the trickle charger does its job is pretty much par for the course. It gets really, really hot in the first two stages and then calms down.

I hate to say it, but I would keep copious notes and photos with time and date and a trip to your dealer with a serious heart to heart may be in order here.

 

I went into my garage a few minutes ago. It has been 2 hours since I drove the car, returned home, and connected it to the MB charger. The charger went from the 2nd stage to the 3rd stage. The battery was fully charged this morning and the car was driven. There is no way the battery isn't at full charge despite what the charger says. The Mercedes Me Connect app says the battery is charged. I stopped getting messages on the app that the battery was critical. Now I receive the typical, periodic messages telling me that the car is unlocked.

 

I spoke too soon. The MB charger went from 3 lights, down to 2 lights about 2 1/2 hours after I connected it to the charger (I have never had any trickle charger go backwards especially since the battery should already be fully charged). About 2 1/2 hours later, while the car was still connected to the MB charger, I received an email saying "Charge Status Critical". The charger is back up to 3 lights about an hour after I received the Critical message. I have pics of the status changes and took a screen shot of the Critical Status email.

Unfortunately, the new charger I ordered won't arrive until Thursday and I will be out of town again. I will experiment with the new charger when I get back to see if it makes a difference compared to the MB branded charger (which is really a CTEK charger). I am not too worried about the battery going completely flat since I have not had any issues with the battery before I connected the MB charger.

 

That sounds like a faulty charger. It does look like a cheap piece of ... to me. But mine is consistent. I ran some errands today just to have an excuse to drive the car. 2x30 mins or so. Prior that it was sitting for 2 days off the charger. It went to the 2nd LED on the charger and just after a few minutes to the 3rd. You would think a roughly 1h drive would charge it up more.

Has anyone here tried to measure the drain like they do here? I never work on my cars, but I think I will try this. I happen to have a Klein tool. I just have no idea how to use it but the video shows this.

 

I left the car disconnected from the charger for 5 days, the last 3 of which it sat at the airport parking lot. I received no messages from the app while it was disconnected from the charger. Tonight I got back to town. The engine started up at the airport without any problem. I connected the new Battery Tender brand charger when I got home. I left the car connected at home while we went out for dinner. When I got home, the indicator light on the new charger was green. Although fully charged, I got the Charge Status Critical message by text and email from the Mercedes app. The new charger seems to operate better than the MB charger as far as detecting the actual state of charge. The Mercedes app seems to get confused about the state of charge when I connect a charger to the battery.

 

I bought a different charger. One that measures the voltage and the charge percentage. I did not drive the car for 4 days. Prior to that it was fully charged and then I drove it for 30 mins. When I connected the new charger it measured 55%. I do not know if the car charges the battery to 100% necessarily. Maybe it does not. But if it does, 45% loss in 4 days is a lot. Even 20% would be a lot. Something is definitely draining it. MB needs to find what it is.

Btw I did not get the low battery warning and the car started up just fine.

 

I was wondering why there were so many low milage SL 63 AMGs for sale. I dropped my car at the dealer because the screen froze in the up position and I could not open the roof. I have only had the car three weeks and have already had 3 low battery warnings. Just figured that it had been sitting on the dealers lot and had drained down as it sat. I opened my trunk after I brought it home and low and behold there was a box with a trickler charger in it. No one at the dealer told me about it. I looked at the service record and the last page said "1064 campaign perform campaign 2023050003, put trickle charger in trunk as stated. Tech 891." One might have thought they would have attached it for me and explained to me why Mercedes thought it was necessary as a recall item that they give me a trickle charger. But no, nothing was mentioned. The double clicking of my key seems to be helping. I am leaving town for a week so I will be interested to see if the car starts when I return. Unfortunately I live in a high rise and there is no place around my assigned parking spot to plug in the trickle charger. I am wondering if it is the motion detector inside the car and motion alarm for outside the car that is draining the battery. Any thoughts? I believe they can both be turned off and because my car is in a gated parking garage they don't need to be running. I am guessing somewhere in the settings it will allow me to turn off the two alarms, any chance I am right? Love the car but if this problem can't be solved there is no way I am going to keep it. Life is too short to have to continually deal with a dead battery. I also own a 2016 s 65 AMG coupe and I have never had any problem with it. It has been a joy to own and drive. Figured the SL 63 AMG would be too. If Mercedes idea of having a satisfied customer is to have them continually having to use a trickle charger they can go ....... themselves. As word of this problem makes the rounds they are going to have a lot of new and used cars sitting on their lots. Let's hope they have enough sense to find a permanent fix for this problem. Responses welcomed.

 

I'm sure your S65 is a joy to drive, congratulations on owning THAT car. As for the SL63, welcome to the world of MB's post 2020. It's not just the new SL's, it's the new S Class, new GLC and pretty much every new MB vehicle brought to market as a 2021 or newer model. I would immediately request that the dealer take the car back for a full refund. If they refuse, I'd ask MBUSA the same. If they refuse, I would absolutely not jump through any hoops to keep this car running. I'd treat it like any other new car and every time it goes dead, I'd call the dealer and have them come and get it. When the magic number of days and/or repair attempts had been reached, and in your state the car is deemed a "Lemon," I'd once again ask MBUSA to buy the car back. If they still refuse, I'd hire a Lemon Law attorney. I am astonished at how people are altering their lives, just so these new MB's won't die on them. Sheesh! We should not have to do this.

The last great MB's were made in the 2020 model year, in my humble opinion.

 

My SL63 also gives me low battery warnings after some time sitting. Like you, this is a new experience for me - even after owning 20 MBs. FWIW - in my experience with these warnings, I tend to find that it warns early, it warns often, and the warnings get more and more dire as time goes on. But even so, I have never come back to a dead battery even after a few weeks of sitting. So for the most part, I have chalked this up to "too much information". None of my other MBs support Mercedes Me, and so they don't constantly whine as their battery state depletes (which it certainly does - it is true for all cars).

Having said that, I absolutely believe that this car likely uses more electrical power at rest that older models - given its features. But as I say, despite the eventual warnings that seem to indicate I'll be coming back to a completely dead battery, the car shows no negative effect after sitting even for a couple weeks or more.

I can't say what happens after 3 weeks because when I leave my cars for more than 2-3 weeks I put them on the charger. So I cannot say how much earlier the SL63 depletes its battery than my other cars.

Frankly, I think they should just tone down the warnings and (at least the way I use the car) there would be no problem.

 

I am not sure why I feel compelled to reply to this, but I do.

I have had my '22 SL55 since February of this year. Although I have gotten the random "battery low" warnings on my phone (such as when it was having PPF and ceramic coating applied,) it has never failed to start. I only keep it on a charger if I know I won't be driving it for a week or so. I am used to having to do this, having owned Ferraris and a '22 911 Carrera S Cabriolet with a lithium battery that was a nightmare. I had an Audi e-Tron that required a visit from roadside assistance to jump the 12 volt starter battery that went dead for no reason whatsoever. The 911 also required a jump because the battery was completely dead AFTER I placed it on a trickle charger per the instructions in the owners' manual.

I have never considered double pressing my key as having to jump through hoops and I certainly doubt this would qualify for Lemon Law protection in Illinois, although I can't speak to California. The car is a joy to drive. I don't think the softness of the market has anything to do with battery issues. I understand those that want to compare them to prior generations of Mercedes autos will find the current cars more finicky, but that is (I believe) a function of the advanced systems and that plagues ALL high end cars, not just MB.

Drive the car and enjoy it. IMHO it really is special.

YMMV

 

I have to completely agree. So - ditto!

I am not sure about the number of used SL63s for sale as I have only seen one in our area. So that has not been an issue here. It did, in fact, take time for MB to get the 2022 SL63s off the lot here in Vancouver BC, but that was because our lovely country imposed a massive luxury tax which brings total sales tax to almost 25%. Additionally, MB delivered all the 2022 SL63s to the dealerships here in one big swoop, and pretty late in the model year. So with the 2023s coming in soon and the big supply of 2022s, they were providing good discounts on the 2022s.

But in terms of the car, I am in love with it - and I have had lots to compare it to. It has a few things I don't love (like the new touch buttons), but this car is amazing, the sound is amazing, and the driving experience is remarkable. As my daily driver, I cannot think of any other car that can put a huge smile on my face each time I start it up, but also keep me just as smiley after 6 hours on imperfect city roads. My GTS, which I love, makes me want to give it away after too many hours on crappy roads (but is a beast and beauty on the right roads - so I will likely never sell it).

And fortunately for MB I don't seem to be alone. The new SL seems to have a lot of fans if you believe the 20+ reviews I have seen of the car.

Of course this is me, and you are you. I hope your car does not end up giving you any significant trouble other than the usual teething issues. And aside from that, I hope you fall in love with it as I have with mine. But if not, I am sure you will find the car that floats your boat in just the right way.

All the best -

 

I live in a condo and face the same problem. A high end car dealer lives there and he uses a portable charging device to run the trickle chargers attached to his two Ferraris. He uses the portable Anker Solix F2000 for sale on Amazon at $1399. It takes about 1 to 2 hours to charge it and as far as I can tell he can go a very long time charging his cars without recharging the portable charger. I haven't called Anker yet but they have a phone number on the internet where you can ask these kinds of questions. Might be worth it if you haven't found a solution yet. Though since you posted on February 8th I sure hope you have found a solution by now.