Hey. 

 

Ive got a 2013 fabia. 

 

About a year ago it popped up on the Maxidot to Renew Keyfob battery.. so i did. 

 

Its popped up again so i changed it again  last week (panasonic batteries) but its still flagging up occassionally with ‘renew keyfob battery’ 

 

any ideas? Ive never had a car use so many keyfob batteries? Ive also had a T5 for 6 years, used daily and thats never been replaced. 

 

Anybody else had this problem? Could it be anything else other than the battery? 

 

Cheers

Had it flash up.

Never changed the battery.

Still alive

 

31 minutes ago, hutchysrs50 said:

 

Still alive

 

 

How about the car? 

1 hour ago, hutchysrs50 said:

Had it flash up.

Never changed the battery.

Still alive

 

 

Im wondering whether thats the way forward tbh   

 

just didnt wanna end up miles away from home n it wont unlock  

Well you’ve always got the option of putting the key in the door and opening it (that’s a friendly reminder to check it works, they go unused for 10 years until you need it and it’s seized)

 

The battery’s usually last around 5 or 6 years really going off brand new cars I’ve owned. I’ve bought a replacement battery for mine just haven’t swapped it over yet and that was a good 6 month.

 

I don’t know how it detects the battery’s low, possibly in a timed cycle? Or if you unlock it from far away it detects the signals weak perhaps?

1 hour ago, hutchysrs50 said:

Well you’ve always got the option of putting the key in the door and opening it (that’s a friendly reminder to check it works, they go unused for 10 years until you need it and it’s seized)

 

The battery’s usually last around 5 or 6 years really going off brand new cars I’ve owned. I’ve bought a replacement battery for mine just haven’t swapped it over yet and that was a good 6 month.

 

I don’t know how it detects the battery’s low, possibly in a timed cycle? Or if you unlock it from far away it detects the signals weak perhaps?

 

Thats true . Doesnt need a battery for the immobilier chip to work, surely? 

 

Its defo not low after a week, ive only driven it once   

 

ive wondered that? Not sure how it tells? 

 

They should put a small voltage through the key blade when its in the ignition to charge a rechargable battery. Off to dragons den i go...

No, immobiliser is passive, a transponder chip.

 

Any VW Group cars I've had did have a Sony battery(s) in them, changed the main driver's key battery after maybe 8 years, just in case, on both these cars, the second driver's key still worked okay after 13 years!

 

Checking the door lock cylinder once in a while is never a bad thing.

My spare key that i keep in my van does that when its very cold? Never bothered changing it

Replaced mine with duracell batteries about a month ago and its saying to renew it again already. Was a solution ever found for this?

Just a thought but if after a certain time, the car tells you to change the key battery, it must base this on time/duration or something. Perhaps something in the owners manual states how to change the battery and turn off the indication that it needs swapping. It might be a little like the service check light/indicator. 

Otherwise, remove the main battery for a while and hope the stupid thing forgets how long it has been on the road!

5 minutes ago, mrgf said:

it must base this on time/duration or something

I'd think that something would most likely be the voltage on the cell? It's not that tricky for it to check that every time it's woken up by a button being pressed. If it's below a certain threshold it communicates the fact to the car?

All guesswork on my part, but that's how I'd design it, if I designed car stuff.

 

12 hours ago, AmusedMussel said:

Replaced mine with duracell batteries about a month ago and its saying to renew it again already. Was a solution ever found for this?

Have a read of this thread.

 

Read it. Already did all that (i work with electronics anyway for my day job so changing batteries is definitely no fuss for me.

 

Its a 2032 battery too, so I was confused till the very end of the thread.

 

**** knows whats wrong with it then