C350 AMG Sports battery fails twice

[Clare]

I got this car 4 years ago, but do not do a high mileage, currently the C350 has only done 16,500 miles, I only do around 3,000 miles a year.
Last year in August 2013 the car would not start, I have extended Warranty with Mercedes, so they took the car to Chichester and replaced the battery. Everything has been great since then and it is the best Mercedes (out of 5 previous Mercedes) that I have had, but on Sunday 9th Feb 2014 it would not start. It displayed a message "Restraint System Malfunction" then went dead, the wing mirrors wouldn't even pull in. So I called Mercedes, they tested the battery, it failed on their test, so they took the car away again to Chichester, who are today charging the battery and will inform me later today what they find.
But my question is, as this is a Gell Solution battery, is this going to keep on happening?. I understand you cannot trickle charge one of these batteries, it has to be done by a Dealership.
My wife has a Mini Cooper, which also does a low mileage, but the Mini displays a message "battery low", which then allows you to trickle charge, we also now have a solar trickle charger on all the time. so it always starts.
So what can I do in the future?, or is there a fault in the car?, can anyone help?.

 

[television]

You do need to charge the battery on this car, at that mileage a modern MB will only go a couple of weeks. I do not know who told you that you cannot charge this car, you could ask MB to fit a charging point for you, there will be nothing wrong with the car.

 

[Clare]

Charging a C350 battery

Thanks for the response, I have just heard from Mercedes who say that I don't use the car enough and I will have to use a trickle charger, can you recommend one for my car, Mercedes cannot recommend a trickle charger due to EU restrictions, so I have been told. Presumably I can just connect the charger via the points under the bonnet.

 

[television]

Many of us use the one sold be Lydl and Aldi, at £14 a great charger.

Not sure where the charging points if any are on your car, MB should be able to fit a charging point for you, but again you may have one. My CL has one under the bonnet.

 

[Clare]

Thanks again, I have been recommended a CTEK MXS 5.0 charger. It is quite expensive but the battery I believe is 95Amphrs. Do you think it is worth the investment?.
Would appreciate your comments before I decide.

 

[television]

The C tec is a good one, and one of the best out there

 

[Lexman8]

I have been recommended a CTEK MXS 5.0 charger.

I use one of those for trickle charging the battery in my CL occasionally. I connect the charger leads to the battery without disconnecting it from the car and it works flawlessly. In fact, it's doing that right now.

If you leave it connected for an extended period (say whilst away on holiday) it will stop trickle charging after a while and it'll then simply monitor the battery state and only top it up when necessary.

 

[Clare]

Thanks have bought one from Euro Batts, good price, no postage and next day delivered, will be trying it out today. Thanks for helping me.

 

[television]

Any time Clare, you know where we are