James Nevin

Car had been locked at the condo for over two weeks and found out that the Mercedes Me wouldn't connect because of low(dead)battery and that the Smart key wouldn't unlock the door or extend the door handle.
The manual was of course in the glove box--Had the mechanical key but didn't know where to put it. Thankfully because it was outside hours of the dealer I found the SL's digital manual thanx to Google (and Mercedes for having it there)
I was able to get access to the mechanical lock UNDER the drivers door handle (read your manual) but my small lithium booster battery was in the trunk which of course wouldn't open.--I now store it under the passenger seat with elastic cord.
I read in the manual that even when the car is locked there is battery drain as it searches for a signal from Mercedes Me or Smart key. Manual says you can deactivate the Smart key by pushing the lock button on the Smart key twice in rapid succession. That saves battery life on the key but does it do the same for the car battery??

Waiting to hear.--BTW there is no access to power for a trickle charger.at the condo .Key question is how to stop the battery drain in the car when shut and locked. Pleased to find out
Thnx
JP
On a side note the manual says to deactivate your Smart key from accidental use when going thro a car wash! Pays to read the manual.

mgardner23665

I’m sorry to hear about your battery issues. I have the same battery issues. It’s terrible for such a luxurious and expensive car. My wife and I have been loyal MBZ owners for over 45 years. We presently have four. My SL63 is 6 weeks old and it has been to the dealer four times now for a battery drain and components not working. One time the dealer left the key in the car overnight and it drained the battery so that they could not get into the car. Then I had to drive the 25 miles with the other key so that the car could be unlocked. The tech told me that when the battery begins to drain, the software begins to shut down features in order to conserve battery power. The car has been in for the trunk, HUD not working, then the car would not raise or lower, then yesterday it went in because the parking sensors would not “beep” ! The tech tried to tell me that they do not “beep” so we got inside a new SL63 on their lot and the parking sensors did in fact “beep”. I did read somewhere on another thread about keeping the key 20 feet away from the car or in a Mylar bag. At home now, I do keep my keys in Mylar bags and the battery charge issue has subsided at least for not driving the car for four days. I do check the Mercedes Me app daily and click on the “service” picture to check the battery charge.

Streamliner

This is especially a problem with cars like SL’s that are sometimes 3rd, 4th or 10th cars for folks and may rarely be driven, especially in the winter months. My 2019 SL450 will be four years old this May and it has only 3,700 miles on it. Happily, the battery does just fine as long as I take it for a spin every few weeks. This battery issue with the R232’s is going to drive many folks crazy. MB needs to fix this NOW!

EZ2020

Just to let you know, I have delt with this issue since the purchase in September. They did replace an amp that was drawing power and its better but can still occur. I've noticed that double clicking the key at locking is helpful so the car isnt always looking for the key and vice versa. Also, the more you check your connect app, it will drain the battery because it wakes the car up to check everything. My dealer installed a trickle charger connection for free and gave me the Mercedes charger which is a lower version than Ctek, which I already had.

Streamliner

I much prefer cars that I don’t need to “wake up.”

California John

Indeed, double clicking the key seems to work well for me also. And I don't then have to have the key too far away from the car worrying that the proximity is such an issue. The way to tell if your double click has been successful is at some point later on have the key in your hand or pocket and walk into the garage where the car is. If the car door handles do not open, then you know that the car is not paying any attention to the key and the battery drain is quite minimal.

brh972

2023 SL63 battery is always dying. MB Plano Texas says that’s just the way these cars are. Stephen service director told me that. I’m getting rid of mine after 6 months

Streamliner

Sorry to hear of your problems, but thank goodness the service director told you the TRUTH! How refreshing to hear! Too bad nobody told you this BEFORE you bought the car. My 2022 S580 has been at the dealer for two weeks now. I’m driving down the highway when a red warning message comes up. Before I could pull to the side of the road the car just COMPLETELY shut down. Even the emergency flashers wouldn’t work. MB has some catching up to do in the electrical gremlins department.

EZ2020

Now THAT is crazy! What a potential disaster if this is occurring while driving! What is the problem and more importantly, the fix???

California John

Totally bizarre. Haven’t heard of this before. Dangerous. Please keep us informed.

places

This is concerning, I would have thought they fixed the battery fiasco on the 23's but apparently not. If MB can't get this sorted, especially at this price point car, it's a failure.

xtdoc777

From my understanding, no 2023 SL's have been released yet in the USA so I am guessing the OP's SL63 is really a 2022 build, purchased in 2023. I have a 2023 SL55 currently in production and and I am certainly hoping they fix the battery drain issue on the new cars

wem

I don’t think the battery drain affects all of the 2022 SLs. I have not done anything special with mine and the battery is fine. I don’t lock the doors in the garage. In fact I left both open and unlocked this week to allow the leather protectant to dry. The only battery alerts on the app are when I have the car in accessory setting for a prolonged time with the fans or electronics on. A quick start of the engine is enough to stop the messages.

drgek

Not to defend this, but to put it in perspective:

992 Porsches with lithium ion batteries pretty much need to be kept on chargers if not driven for several days. They are notorious for going dead. Rennlist has innumerable examples of cars being bricked.
Ferraris have had this issue for years

Cost has nothing to do with it. My guess is that Hondas and Toyotas don't have this problem. The more tech you throw in these cars nowadays, the worse these battery issues are.

However, Streamliner's story is entirely different. Driving the car should absolutely protect the battery. That sounds like a car that needs to be bought back by MB.

mgardner23665

Driving from the SF Bay Area to Morro Bay, Ca. for an AMG Private Lounge event two weeks ago, with our NorCal group in my new 2022 AMG SL63, when I slowed down and had to stop on highway 101, the car would not restart and was unresponsive. It just stopped & the screen went blank, the sound system stopped and more. Then I pressed the start stop button and the car started up again. However the screen was blank, black, and the sound system did not work for about an hour or more. After driving for a time, the screen came back on and the icons began appearing, then the sound system began working again. The car has spent too much time at the dealer, more time basically than I have had it, seven weeks last time. Since picking it up on December 26, 2022 the car only has 1053 miles on it.

drgek

The irony of that happening while on your way to an AMG Private Lounge event is staggering.
I can rationalize away battery drain while the car is parked, but not this. This is horrible. Does it meet California lemon law criteria?

mgardner23665

————

I surely hope so ! The GM of our dealer had me call MBZ USA and file a Lemon Law Buy-back claim. We’re in the fifth week since my contact with MBZ. However, I’d still buy another SL63 in the same color combination as the one we have now that “does not work”.

nasir83

My 10/2022 sl63 has never shown any of the above mentioned issues.. german delivery though.. maybe Europe and Usa have some differences in the set-up ot build.. even in the German r232 forum have not.come across this issue i believe

mmmamg

I have 2023 M8 with Li-Io battery and drive car about 1h/week for 20 miles. Total now 4000 miles. Never put on charger, never had battery alerts or problem. Something BMW engineered better...

drgek

The other problem that Porsche created with their lithium ion battery was putting the battery management module in the battery itself, meaning no non-OEM replacements are available. That created shortages as people were waiting for a new battery for weeks to months, while Porsche was denying claims under warranty.

Streamliner

I’m sure we have all seen the videos over the years, showing a new MB being driven in frozen, subzero, blizzard conditions, then in sub-Saharan Africa in blistering heat, through torrential rains, etc.., driving home the unbelievably great lengths MB goes to in testing their new models. Perhaps a good test would be to drive their new vehicle to the airport, park it in the long term lot, go on vacation for two weeks and see if the car starts when they return.

MurrayG

I know this is an old thread, but my car has been sitting in the garage for 6 days. When I parked it, the battery was fully charged (as I had just taken off the charger before driving it).

Now, six days later, my app is telling me the battery is low. I am not sure how "low" low is, since I am not home now, but will put a meter on it when I get home and then charge it.

The doors are locked, and the key is about 15 feet away. I will try the double lock trick or move the key farther away to see if either help.

My question is - is six days of the car being parked without a charger enough to trigger the low warning on the app for the rest of you?

Many thanks!

xtdoc777

Not for me.

wem

Two weeks ago, I was doing work on the car that required lengthy periods of time with the accessory setting on without the engine running. Not surprisingly I started to get the dire low battery warnings on the app and on the car’s dashboard. Once I finished the work, the engine started without a problem. I took it for a 20 minute drive. When I got home and the next morning I still received the low battery messages. I used the car during the day to run errands. The messages stopped.

Early the next morning, we left for vacation to Vancouver. The car sat at home for a week. I had no problems starting it up when I got home.

California John

I think this really sums up the experience that most of us have. Occasionally we will get one of these messages after some period of time but the car never fails to start. Perhaps that has happened in one or two cases, but the car has always started for me - irrespective.