Mclaren Assist - yes!

[12pack]

Gone for 4 weeks with the car on trickle charge. Came back to a dead battery. Mclaren assist show up 2 hours after the call in to them (with updates on timing on the way) - access the battery directly to crank it up. Likely issue with the charger.

Are people still using this one? That’s the one that may have failed.

[MclaesLaren]

No not that unit. I am using the one recommended by ml. Looks similar.

[Streetbeat]

Just as a maybe, i had gone to mine one day and it was lifeless, although on charge. Mclaren said flat battery even though the charger said 2/3rds. After a lot of messing about i managed to open the frunk by the cable in the arch liner, put a multimetre on the battery and is was fine.

I thought i would take the earth off to see if it reset, loosened the clamp and the moment i twisted it to pull off the clamp the car whirred up, i think it was just a dry terminal, so put a little silicon grease on and been fine since.

[12pack]

So to finish off this story, after Mac Assist woke my flat battery (CTEK charger that the car was on while we were away had died) I did indeed just replace the charger with the same CTEK one (the one in my post above). But even after several days the battery remained stuck at 30%, causing me to book in for a battery reset.

But then I switched to an original Mac charger (I had ordered both) and after a day on it, the battery is at 100%.

Perhaps it was just the additional time on charge, but based on this experience feels like the Mac charger is the right one for the job (even if it is supposed to be just a re-badged CTEK).

Edited by 12pack on Sunday 9th October 13:08

[woodysnr]

Dare I say it have you tried the Lidl charger 5yr warranty £15 when in stock at this price always have a spare sitting around ...not a Mc owner put a Porsche man have a Ctek on one and Lidl on the other both in my mind do the same job been using them now for years as both get sorned over winter months .

[davek_964]

McLarens use lithium ion batteries. You can't charge with a conventional 12v charger.

[12pack]

woodysnr said:

Dare I say it have you tried the Lidl charger 5yr warranty £15 when in stock at this price always have a spare sitting around ...not a Mc owner put a Porsche man have a Ctek on one and Lidl on the other both in my mind do the same job been using them now for years as both get sorned over winter months .

Need to use a Li ion charger. The CTEK one I tried is just that.

BTW, I’ll add that the Mac Assist gent says that in all his experience with flat McLaren batteries he’s never actually had one fail to the extent that it needed to be replaced, They all recover - even if they perhaps need to be kept on tender.

[fridaypassion]

Some of the Cteks have an annoying thing where you have to choose a "mode" when you first plug them in or it just sits there not doing anything. Might be worth double checking its not just that!

[LotusJas]

12pack said:

BTW, I’ll add that the Mac Assist gent says that in all his experience with flat McLaren batteries he’s never actually had one fail to the extent that it needed to be replaced, They all recover - even if they perhaps need to be kept on tender.

McLaren batteries have a protection mode, where the battery shuts itself down if its voltage drops too low. That protects its from going so low that it becomes damaged. Hence they can normally be recovered.

[Aventador 700]

LotusJas said:

12pack said:

BTW, I’ll add that the Mac Assist gent says that in all his experience with flat McLaren batteries he’s never actually had one fail to the extent that it needed to be replaced, They all recover - even if they perhaps need to be kept on tender.

McLaren batteries have a protection mode, where the battery shuts itself down if its voltage drops too low. That protects its from going so low that it becomes damaged. Hence they can normally be recovered.

Thats very cool and good to know