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#1
03-11-2018, 08:59 PM
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WHICH battery should I charge?
I don't drive my 2007 SL550 very frequently, especially in wet weather. When we get nice dry weather I frequently cannot lower the hard convertible top until I drive it for a few miles to charge the battery as it has been drained by sitting.
Which battery should I put a charge on - the small one under the hood or the large one in the trunk?
__________________
'76 240D-Sold '78 240D-Sold '85 300 SD, 165K-Sold '88 300 TE, 165K-Sold '64 Porsche 356C Cabriolet- under restoration '86 560SL 124K Miles-Sold '94 320E Wagon, 74K Miles-128K Miles JUNKED '06 E350 Wagon, 84K Miles 07 SL550, 14K Miles 
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#2
03-11-2018, 10:32 PM
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Charge the one in the trunk, the front is the "starter" battery , but if it gets too low it will get help from trunk battery, if the trunk battery was low the battery control module dosent allow you non essential consumers to work until it sees the main battery has been charged back up usually about 5 to 10 minutes of run time then cycle key and your top should operate again
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#3
03-12-2018, 02:28 AM
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Exactly the good advice I needed. Many thanks!
__________________
'76 240D-Sold '78 240D-Sold '85 300 SD, 165K-Sold '88 300 TE, 165K-Sold '64 Porsche 356C Cabriolet- under restoration '86 560SL 124K Miles-Sold '94 320E Wagon, 74K Miles-128K Miles JUNKED '06 E350 Wagon, 84K Miles 07 SL550, 14K Miles
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#4
03-13-2018, 02:47 PM
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I sounds like you need a maintainer, rather than a charger.
A maintainer is designed to keep the battery fully charged on an infrequently driven vehicle. It's designed to be plugged in and left on at all times, and has on-board circuitry to prevent over-charging. A charger is designed to rapidly charge up a dead or low battery. It is not meant to be used continuously, but rather as a one-time event. "Battery Tender" and "BatteryMINDer" are two popular brands of maintainers.
__________________
1998 E300 turbodiesel America's Rights and Freedoms Are Not The Enemy!
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#5
03-13-2018, 04:10 PM
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Unfortunately my lovely SL is parked in the driveway with a cover over it as my garage is utterly full of tools. That makes it difficult to keep a maintainer installed and powered so I have to rely on a charger occasionally. Here is California it will be permanent top down weather next month so it will be daily driven and I won't have to worry about it until November.
__________________
'76 240D-Sold '78 240D-Sold '85 300 SD, 165K-Sold '88 300 TE, 165K-Sold '64 Porsche 356C Cabriolet- under restoration '86 560SL 124K Miles-Sold '94 320E Wagon, 74K Miles-128K Miles JUNKED '06 E350 Wagon, 84K Miles 07 SL550, 14K Miles
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#7
03-15-2018, 04:04 AM
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There are actually small solar cell chargers with smart inverters which do this job for a quite reasonable cost.
You can mount the small solar array on the roof of the car port and run the wires down to the live points under the hood. Very effective.
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#8
03-15-2018, 12:05 PM
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Ron,
You may already know this... the car charging system was not designed to perform depth charging of the car battery. If the battery has been severely drained, the application of a trickle charger is needed. If you are using a wet cell, you may want to inspect the cells to determine if the plates are clean and sulfate clear. A slow charge is healthiest and allows for the reversal process to occur, i.e. restoring sulfate to acid.
__________________
-- raymond~ 47º 34'N 122º 18'W
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