Key eating batteries

[Dempsek]

I have had to change the battery on one of my keys and the new Duracell batteries only last a couple of months. Both keys have been with the dealer and they say nothing wrong.

 

I am currently using the spare that has been in my wife;s hand bag since i got the car- for nearly two years.

 

My keys are usually, at home on a shelf, in the car or on my desk at work and on occasion in my pocket if needed.

 

Anybody had this before and got any ideas.

 

 

[Maybach]

My Octavia warned last week about low key's battery.

This advice was produced only 15.000 km / 11 months after used for the very first time.

I guess that KESSY system is the responsible of this, in my opinion, excessive battery consumption.

Regards.

[FluffyEyeball]

If you have KESSY it does go through a lot of batteries, as the car and key are pretty much always communicating when they're within range of each other.

[Dempsek]

Thanks for the replies, forgot to say in my post I don't have Kessy.

[pipsyp]

Key without KESSY should last ages. That aint right. Im no expert but is there anything the keys are left near that could be causing battery drain at all?

[iriches]

Where are you getting your batteries from?  If from the likes of ebay etc. there's a reasonable chance they're fake.

[Neily03]

Where are you getting your batteries from?  If from the likes of ebay etc. there's a reasonable chance they're fake.

 

Just what I was going to say!

[aki78]

My first battery died at ~90k kms/18 months with KESSY.

I replaced the original CR2025 with CR2032.

A little bit tricky to install, but possible.

Hopefully will last longer.

Edited 10 December, 2015 by aki78

[baxlobs]

I don't know if the MkII uses the same type of key/battery but our Octy keys are now 9 years old and never needed a battery change yet.

[Gabbo]

My first battery died at ~90k kms/18 months with KESSY.

I replaced the original CR2025 with CR2032.

A little bit tricky to install, but possible.

Hopefully will last longer.

 

Same for me, both keys lasted about 18 months with KESSY.

[Dempsek]

All the batteries have come from either Sainsburys or Skoda. Duracell and Sony (Skoda supplied) CR2025 last 2 weeks then tried the CR3032 that has lasted 2 months.

[iriches]

Well...if it's happening with one key and not the other it suggests very strongly a fault with the key.  If your dealer is unwilling to replace, and you can cope with one key for a while, could you convince them to try:

 

• Sticking a new CR2025 battery in the "faulty" key.
• Keeping it in a safe place in the dealership to rule out any possibility of "mis-use" by you in their minds
• You carry on using functioning wife's key
• Come back to dealer in (say) three weeks and see if it still works
• If it doesn't, they can't really deny you a new one.  
• If it does work you could always leave it another week.  If it still works after four weeks in a draw at the dealers, then it is possible that something weird in your environment is the issue - but that could be tricky to track down.

[philhoward]

Such are the plethora of wireless devices now, anything could be "waking up" they key.  I have 2 phones with me at all times (work and personal) - if I wake the screen up on the works phone (to check for messages) and put it back in my pocket within 20 seconds, my personal phone thinks it's near a Contactless payment device (and wants to make an Apple Pay payment to it..).  It could be anything waking the key up - unconnected bluetooth device (phone/ipod etc) looking for something to talk to?

[Dempsek]

Thanks for the replies. My problems have only happened since changing the battery.

The car is booked in with dealer between Christmas and new year and as suggested I plan to leave the problem key with them.

[pipsyp]

Such are the plethora of wireless devices now, anything could be "waking up" they key. I have 2 phones with me at all times (work and personal) - if I wake the screen up on the works phone (to check for messages) and put it back in my pocket within 20 seconds, my personal phone thinks it's near a Contactless payment device (and wants to make an Apple Pay payment to it..). It could be anything waking the key up - unconnected bluetooth device (phone/ipod etc) looking for something to talk to?

Off subject but perhaps disable NFC on the works phone if this gets annoying?

[adambrownb]

You aren't depressing one of the buttons by mistake if it's in a tight pocket on a regular basis are you? Or leaving it in a tight place in a bag etc... That could cause battery drain. If not then there's definitely an issue there.

[Dempsek]

Thanks for the suggestions, my Iphone does not have NCF and my key is usually in either the car, blazer pocket, either on my desk at work or on a shelf at home.

 

My car is booked in at the dealers between Christmass and new year and I am looking to leave the problem key with the dealer first with a new CR2025 in it.

[Greg R]

I had the same kessy system in my Passat and the key battery lasted for 3 years before needing to be replaced.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Dempsek]

After the dealer having the key for 3 months and leaving the car with the dealer today, I am the owner of a brand new key.

[Jassi]

Might be silli question, same issue with me and mk3 with kessy. Question- Does car needs to be in warranty before dealer replaces it free of charge? Mine is 2014 now nearly end of 2022, i am getting these issues. I live in finland.

[littleade]

I've had similar problems with my mkIII Octy keys packing up for no reason. It happened this week when I gave SWMBO my spare key so she could get into the car to get her golf clubs out as we were teeing off at different times. Despite testing the key successfully before I gave it to her when she went to open the car there was no red light on the remote when she pushed the button. Long story short someone came out to find me and took my keys back to her.

 

Once I got home I changed the batteries for new Duracell ones all of which were 3v when I tested them with my multimeter. 2 of the 3 remotes then refused to work. Today some Panasonic ones I ordered off evilbay arrived, I changed the batteries in all 3 remotes and all 3 worked straight away. I've had problems with Duracell before- my Monimoto tracker doesn't like them either and although it works ok it doesn't flag up when it has a low battery. Changing to a different brand recommended by Monimoto solved this so I won't be using Duracell again for these applications.