Just a quickie! J

 

After 12 years the battery died in the key fob of our lovely old 2002-registered Octy (must be record - I don’t remember ever changing it).

 

Replaced it - central locking worked fine for a week or so - then nothing, no red light, no top lock-y/unlock-y action.

 

Though it might have been  a duff battery so replaced it again with a better quality one - got a week or two out of that one, then same again; nothing.

 

Note: I don’t have to any kind of resetting or anything - changing the battery just operated the central locking straightaway.

 

I can only think that I’ve been unlucky with batteries or that something I’ve done wrong in the battery change means that the fob is consuming power - for whatever reason.

   

Any suggestions?

 

(At the end of the day we’re not too bothered since the key still opens the car and starts the engine, but I’m curious as to how the original battery lasted so long and the new ones haven’t...)  

 

Don't panic yet Mr. Mainwearing!

 

It's probably just something simple - check the obvious stuff first!

 

Pull the fob apart again. Look at the contacts that, er, contact the battery.

 

It's a very low-power, low current battery - so it needs scrupulously clean connections. So, give them a little clean with something sharp like a scalpel or kraft knife - just gently rub the contact faces with the sharp side of the blade. Then get a bit of electrical contact cleaner and polish them off using a coton bud.

 

Then make sure that they're 'sprung' nicely against the battery. If they are barely touching, it won't work. So, if needs be, gently bend them so that when you replace the battery, you have a bit of resistance, so that once the battery is in, the contacts are pushing hard against the metal of the battery.

 

Hopefully should be a goodun.

I thought I'd done all that but I'll have one last go...

Then it's over to the spare key (and its 12-yr-old battery...)

Another thing I have thought of....where did you buy the new battery?

 

I've bought replacement lithium batteries like these, and the smaller ones for watches, from ebay before, and once from a bit of a back street shop selling mobile phones and chargers and bits like that.

 

Despite coming in packaging that looks exactly like genuine packaging with branding (Sony, Maxell, Duracell etc.) they've been total crap and lasted five minutes.

 

I can only conclude that they are fakes.

 

I only buy replacement batteries from reputable shops on the high street now.