2006 SL350 R230 Setting the Time

[Danny_Labrador]

Hi I just wanted to make sure that what I have been reading elsewhere is correct - that you cannot correctly set the time on these cars ? seems incredible.

So the car has SatNav (which works well) and therefore according to the manual the time has to be set via the Comand module not the steering wheel.

The facility is there in the Comand module BUT will only allow the minutes to be set in 30 minutes intervals - this is something to do with GPS - (I assume the idea was that the clock would take its minutes timing from data that GPS provided).

Is that it ?? there is no solution? That the clock in this old but prestigious car just cannot be set ?? I'm just gob smacked.

 

[Blobcat]

@Botus

 

[s5tuart]

I turned my command on and the time altered accordingly

 

[Botus]

R230 has NTG2.5 - the issue is likely the same one afflicting car's where the automatic time signal is derived from satellites - they all moved in April 2019 in a WNRO Event - but the car didn't - Mercs view was they are old we don't care - a few much later cars can be updated with a small patch that resets the car's brain to understand the strange time keeping of elderly satellites

No cars of this type should cope - they might well make changes but usually on the wrong dates or not lining up for the correct time - the quickest check is to take a look at the year the car thinks it is....

On some models they have a manual clock option - and you can switch via cluster menus or secret settings via dealer kit to revert to manual setting - and thus set the time and date yourself (every 6 months)

If you look and find the year is correct - its likely the battery has not been disconnected and its kept it volts OK - but its a temporary bit of luck - and not going to help the car keep time correctly

I presume its a hard drive system - if so a PC nerd, could likely apply the same patched file the W221 uses having removed the drive.... its 177kb called Sta2051.GP7 sitting in a Vespucci folder - et voila

 

[rifiki]

I turned my command on and the time altered accordingly

It use to change automatically on my CLk but not in the last few years.
I just remember it's an hour out.

 

[Blobcat]

It use to change automatically on my CLk but not in the last few years.
I just remember it's an hour out.

Can you change the timezone in the Comand screen?

 

[00slk]

My SL is old, my clock is old, I'm old, but the clock resets itself every 6 months as if by magic. The Wife has to do her SLK manually, I can't remember what the Money Pit does, but then again, I'm old

 

[Malcolm Johnson]

The Time I've noticed on the SL does change incorrectly. I change by altering within the system which you access on the screen menu. It gets confused when clocks change.

 

[s5tuart]

My SL is old, my clock is old, I'm old, but the clock resets itself every 6 months as if by magic. The Wife has to do her SLK manually, I can't remember what the Money Pit does, but then again, I'm old

Yup. My 2003 does it all on its own once I turn Command on. It's never usually on so I have to make effort!!

 

[Botus]

they are ALL broken - My patched 221 knows the time and date..... yours won't. The issue that riled most 221 owners was the analogue clock ran behind time and or ran at a different time to the digital one

The GPS week number rollover is a phenomenon that happens every 1,024 weeks, which is about 19.6 years. The Global Positioning System (GPS) broadcasts a date, including a week number counter that is stored in only ten binary digits, whose range is therefore 0–1,023. After 1,023, an integer overflow causes the internal value to roll over, changing to zero again. Software that is not coded to anticipate the rollover to zero may stop working or could be moved back in time by 20 or 40 years.

1999 occurrence

The first rollover took place midnight (UTC) August 21 to 22, 1999. NavCen issued an advisory prior to the rollover stating that some devices would not tolerate the rollover. Because of the relatively limited use of GPS during the 1999 rollover, disruption was minor.

2019 occurrence

The second rollover occurred on the night of April 6 to 7, 2019, when GPS Week 2,047, represented as 1,023 in the counter, advanced and rolled over to 0 within the counter. The United States Department of Homeland Security, the International Civil Aviation Organization, and others issued a warning about this event.

2038 occurrence

The third rollover will occur between November 20 and 21, 2038. This is unrelated to the Year 2038 problem, which will occur in January of that year.


Later cars - have a service menu where the current epoch can be selected....

 

[LostKiwi]

Can you change the timezone in the Comand screen?

Exactly what I do on the 230.

 

[sonic]

My SL is old, my clock is old, I'm old, but the clock resets itself every 6 months as if by magic. The Wife has to do her SLK manually, I can't remember what the Money Pit does, but then again, I'm old

Strange we have had a 2004 & 2010 SLK, they both changed automatically.

 

[rifiki]

Can you change the timezone in the Comand screen?

Yes with Comand, with plenty of button pushing

 

[00slk]

Strange we have had a 2004 & 2010 SLK, they both changed automatically.

Our old 09 SLK changed automatically.
We don't have Comand in the 14 plate SLK, so this could be the reason she has to do it manually?

 

[Botus]

Can you change the timezone in the Comand screen?

changing the time zone in an attempt to bodge about the GPS roll over issue is not such a great solution

-the service assist brain works via the correct date (you no longer have)
-the time of arrival on the GPS is confused - and depending upon which point of the year we are in, which country you bodged it with, and which country you are going to - the time of arrival is a movable feast - and if crossing time zones its a real mind game trying to understand it
- on the 221 the time couldn't maintain, so without its Satellite kick back into step each drive, it became more wild - and you'd have to wait till 10 seconds to midnight or midday and do a battery reset (along with the windows and sunroof)
- the 221 can't have manual time adjustment even via fiddling in Xentry developer mode


making a simple update disc for the NTG2.5 (which seems to be a modernised NTG3.0 in reality) will be entertaining to include the patched 'how to tell the time Sta2051.GP7 file', as to reduce piracy and fiddely fingers - they splintered the software in to crap .net style gibberish and recompile as its loaded - hence with the drive on the bench one can probably drag and drop the new one in and all is good...

If anyone has a disc image of the NTG2.5 or a drive they removed from a working comand unit - it would be good to rummage about.... as the last offical update of the NTG2.5 gets 7 digt postcodes they never bothered to load on the NTG3.0 units - and I'm wondering if its just a later better list....
Its really stupid if you update the maps - once you manually load an address it can show an address' 7 digit postcode - but the ONLY list you can select from to enter postcodes in the first place is an old one they never update !!!

TomTom's you can edit / replace the postcode list with later updated iterations via USB...

 

[Botus]

as you all seem to think I'm making it up

- FYI this doc is to use the old incorrect update disc - not the one I fixed as Merc have no idea what they are doing - mine means lots of cars from mid 2007 actually accept the patch too....

 

[sonic]

Our old 09 SLK changed automatically.
We don't have Comand in the 14 plate SLK, so this could be the reason she has to do it manually?

No Command in either of our SLK's.

 

[00slk]

No Command in either of our SLK's.

Maybe MB listened to some of their customers re command unit and gave us an option to use another system?