does a old battery charge faster? on avg how long did your battery last?

Arzaam

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I have a 4-5 year old battery on my w203 non AGM but maintenance free variety of Hankook brand. so after sitting for 15 days not driven the battery would be at 12.3-12.4V and I would put it on CTEK and after 4-5 hours it would show as full, did this whole of 2017, now I have noticed when I get back to it after 10 days the battery is at 12.5-12.6V and only takes a hour to get to full, is this normal or sign the battery is on its way out as it charges so quickly? but it seems to hold that charge for 10 days or more as well. in 2016 when I first started using any sort of charger on it it used to be at 12.3-12.4V after a 10-15days but take 7 hours to charge, charging times seems to be reducing with age but same or better voltage is being maintained.

for comparison sake my BMW X5 v8 has a brand new battery from BMW and after a week it goes down to 12.4V. I don't want the Mercedes battery to suddenly to give up while I am somewhere and having to jump it nor I want to replace unless really necessary given early w203s history with rear sams and changing batteries. whats your experience thanks.
 

Botus

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5 years non agm
10 years agm
top up the agm and get a total of 15 years

modern cars eat battery power when left undriven,

2 weeks on a good battery you get away with it
3 week on 5 year old non agm and it won't want to start and kills the battery
 

John Laidlaw

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Sorry can’t help with the charging implications, sounds a bit weird and counter intuitive, every other thing I recharge takes longer when the battery is getting past its best.
Ok my policy is I change non AGM batteries at 5 years regardless. I know loads have 7,8 or sometimes older batteries which work fine but I don’t see the point in taking the chance. The other benefit in the proactive approach is not being taken by surprise and having to knee jerk react and pay over the odds...
 

LostKiwi

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'93 500SL-32, '01 W210 Estate E240 (RIP), 02 R230 SL500, 04 Smart Roadster Coupe, 11 R350CDi
The lower the voltage the more charge required so the longer it will take.
The lower the voltage over a given time the the worse the battery.
So one that drops from 12.6v to 12.3 volts in 10 days is in better condition than one that drops to 12.0v under the same conditions.
 

ajlsl600

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clk3202001,sl6002003 with everything regrettably sold ,A class 170cdi auto. NG/TF1800 ML250
i think ctek is whats called deep charge at v low rates and once charged properly it will top up the charge in less time ,someone can correct me. however i think i now have 5 of them and they deffo do my job ,tho one was changed under warranty as indicator lights gave up after about 8 months. my understanding would be that as time goes on it will be longer before the indicator lights show the battery as good to go. and eventually the indicator led would remain in the red zone . time to dump battery and wouldnt start anything anyway. i have also had batteries come good on ctek that would not charge on my old halfords regular battery charger ,dont know why ,but that it..is that not about the situation
 
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Arzaam

Arzaam

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Thank you for all the replies so it seems till it holds the charge it’s good if it gets near or under 12.2V after the same time period I’ll replace it or will have it swapped by the end of this year as 5 years non agm battery probably would be done judging from above replies

Any special precautions changing battery on this era Mercedes? Some say to connect a good spare battery across the jump points while changing to not upset the rear sam or radio etc( I have the original cassette one)
Others say simply swap it as with any other car and count your lucky stars
Would you connect a spare battery across jump points while changing or not?

Any one know if the w203 with the standard cassette audio play I think it’s audio 10 required radio codes? Never had the terminal off on my car so don’t know
Thanks again
 

LostKiwi

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Yes the Audio 10 may require codes - they can be turned off I believe.
 
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Arzaam

Arzaam

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Yes the Audio 10 may require codes - they can be turned off I believe.
Can be Turned off meaning?
My car I chose and imported from
Japan so local dealer probably wouldn’t be able to provide the code I think
 

LostKiwi

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Meaning a previous owner may have disabled it. You need the code to disable it.
 

ajlsl600

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clk3202001,sl6002003 with everything regrettably sold ,A class 170cdi auto. NG/TF1800 ML250
always sem to have to do audio 10, codes windows and sunroof anytime battery dissconected on w208, i think a 10 yard drive as well to get dash lights out .? maybe not.
 
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Arzaam

Arzaam

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always sem to have to do audio 10, codes windows and sunroof anytime battery dissconected on w208, i think a 10 yard drive as well to get dash lights out .? maybe not.

The only light to come on would the esp light I believe should go away turning the steering lock to lock couple of time
 
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Arzaam

Arzaam

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So it’s a negative on connecting a spare battery across the jump terminals right? And which battery would you prefer if you were to swap it
The dealer says EPC recccomends a wet cell acid battery that have which is NOT maintenance free for 320 or so quid a while back I checked
I can find non agm maintenance free ones online from Bosch ac delco, hankook, varta for 150 quid, AGM ones are available for 350 quid

Will switching to a AGM battery create problems for the canbus on this year? Especially as according to the dealer mine uses the most basic acid battery.
 

ajlsl600

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The only light to come on would the esp light I believe would should go away turning the steering lock to lock couple of time
xactly, could not remember which light, as said lock tolock normaly light goes out.
 

LostKiwi

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AGM batteries use a different charging regime to normal wet cell ones. Stick to a wet cell battery if that's what the car was designed to use.
 


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