2003 E320CDi, flat battery issues

[topless_mx5]

My dads merc would not start this morning after not being driven for almost 2 weeks. Tried jump leads but this did not work.

So we figured the battery must be totally flat, and hooked a charger up to it. After more than an hour of charging tried again with the jump leads and it still wont start. The charger is going to be left on all day now.

However, when putting the ignition on there is a battery warning on the speedo. When trying to start the car there is no ignition sound or anything, no sound of the engine trying to turn over. The lights flash on and then go off. Is it possible that it could be something other than a flat battery?

Hopefully time will tell and it will start later on this evening after a decent charge. Just thought I'd check on here if anyone else has had any similar issues?

[Hooli]

i dont know the cars, but is it possible the flat battery has caused an alarm problem so it wont disable the imobiliser or something?

[marc.l]

I would say the battery has lost a cell, it dosnt take long for a battery to give up the ghost in this cold weather. If a cell drops it could be down to 10.5 volts and it could be enougth to trigger a low voltage shut down.

marc

[mercedes tech]

there is a battery control unit in the boot, unplug this then plug in again after charging battery, sounds like a duff cell though to me,