The keys worked fine, no resyncing needed. I asked the guys at the service if I would need to resync and one of them said that "unless something is wrong with your car, electronics or something, you shouldn't have to resync your keys unless your battery has died in your transmitter." I noticed he didn't mention AAM or anything else specific, just 'electronics or something'. I was really asking whether or not THEY need to do it but I guess he thought I meant the procedure outlined in the owner's manual.

When the battery was installed, the BAS/ESP light came on when I started. I turned the steering wheel all the way to the left and then all the way to the right and then back to center. The light went off. I have noticed no driving irregularities, either, yet I've seen in the past others talk about erratic shifting and such.

As for detecting the voltage at the fuse block lugs and not in any fuse slots, that one has me wondering. Does the ML have an anti feedback somewhere that detects a voltage load and prevents the load from draining other batteries, like the ECU/ECM? Does the ECU/ECM have a protected memory battery?

Yes, the beautiful wife left a light on above the baby's seat and it drained her down. I was reluctant to recharge an 8 year old battery and chance it, so a new one was, I figured, the wisest way to go. I am also reluctant to jump the ML, but a procedure was outlined in the owner's manual. I also, do not own a set of jumpers, tho probably need to get some. I was also unsure if the load down might have killed a cell, as well but I had no way of checking for a dead cell (the load tester I borrowed had this, at one time, but it quit working). I also had no way, at the time, of knowing for sure whether a light actually was left on but I strongly suspected it. When the new battery was installed, there it was (I installed it at 5:45 a.m., in the dark and pouring down rain!).

All's well that ends well, though. As I mentioned before about the voltage at the fuse block and not in any fuse slots, that's what was sending me in the wrong direction. Common sense was saying I should have voltage in a fuse slot if it's at the lugs. Whatever, it worked out.

As for the fully charged battery thing, all I can figure is that in my crossed eyed delirium, I was reading the wrong scale. I believe it was measuring 3 1/2 volts all the time. When you look at the scale above it, it shows nearly 14 volts! Classic NPA, on my part.