I had a warning on  the keyfob battery being low. Timsons declined to change it so I went to my local Skoda dealer and they changed it free of charge on the spot and in front of me.

The warning has appeared again after 2 months , so as I had a card of Panasonic CR2025 cells, I decided to diy.

Went well and I first watched the YouTube video as a refresher.

Anyone else had such premature failures?

IIRC my Mk2 Octavia fob did not need a new battery until 4/5 year old. And then around every 3 years.

 

Had the spare key fob show as low charge  when I bought the car privately. Put new batteries in both to be to be sure. But what I did notice is it showed on  an obd eleven scan as an error to be cleared when I first got the obd eleven and connected it 2 weeks later. That and the new new map upgrade I put on also showed. Happy days  that was all the faults. The previous owner had mentioned about changing batteries  in The key fob and he hadnt had the car more than a couple of years. It is the keyless model so maybe the batteries take more of a caning. luckily I have a blister card of those batteries.

Edited 15 February, 20188 yr by maul

I get about 14 to 18 months out of mine before they need changing. Like you I have a card of batteries bought at a '$2 shop' so no expense and little effort.

If you test the removed batteries voltage there is still quite a lot of life in them so the system is being over cautious.

Got 6 years out of the mk2 fobs.

Sounds like the dealers put some very old batteries in yours.

I bunged a 2032 into mine the other day - They're thicker than the 2025, so it's a squeeze to get the cover back on.

 

There has to be an awful lot of old-stock 2025 batteries around for them to be failing so fast... One of the keys on my Fabia RS is still on it's original battery after 12 years of daily driving.

My old stock reference was related to the instance of OP's battery lasting a mere 2 months after replacement by the dealer.

The deterioration in general use life between mk2 and mk3 key fobs must be due to the differing tech/requirements of the later generation.

Albeit relatively small, this is just another symptom of our wasteful society :(

Edited 16 February, 20188 yr by Gerrycan

There's already a topic for this...

 

 

I also get around 18 months from my batteries with the Kessy key.

I guess the standard remote key fob without kessy should last a lot longer.

 

If the dealer changed the battery for you for free this explains why it doesnt last long.

They probably have a box of batteries from the poundshop which are already 10 years old before they are sold.

It was a well known branded battery and they did give me one for the spare key. But I lost it somehow- so can't comment on the shelf life. The Panasonic CR2025 cells I got from Amazon have a 10 year sell by date.

The battery in the fob is a CR 2025 - but the thicker CR 2032 fits and as it is thicker, it might have a longer life.

They can be bought in bulk off the web.

 

John

I had the same problem, replaced mine with a Duracell replacement and five weeks later the dash is saying to replace battery. Will replace again 

I was advised to change the battery in the spare fob as well. No idea why. Done it anyway.

Was the battery changed in the other key fob? I did mine and all is fine but when the wife uses her key it flags up replace battery, hers was not renewed!

I eventually  changed the battery in both fobs with long dated Panasonics. Easy if you follow the video. No warning messages since.

If you bring the almost flat battery spare key near the car it will set an error code that will stay on the memory  for a while that's probably  why they advise changing the bat in the spare key.

If you have  an obd2 reader  you will see the error code for that and can clear it if you want.

I have been told that kind of error will eventually clear itself if it doesn't reoccur for a while.

Had the low key battery warning from few days and decided to change it today. I bought 2032 which is ticker and doesn't stay in place until you put the key cover back on. Maybe I will go with CR 2025 size next time.

 

The original battery was Energizer and the locksmith shop from which I bought the new one had the same brand only. Cost €2.

Forgot to say 'thank you' for the video  

Just replaced mine. Original was a Panasonic 2025. Bought a card of the same but some unknown manufacturer and worked a treat. Took all of 2 minutes to swap the battery. Car came with 3 sets of keys unusually, so will probably do them as well.

So - just it depends on whether you have KESSY or no KESSY.  On KESSY system, you will have to replace the batteries every 6 months maximum.  Its a pain....

On Non-KESSY systems, depending on how many times you open or close the car, you can get away with 12-18 months. The cyphers are more complex (uses more battery/compute power) and the TX/RX power levels could be higher on the MK3.

 

The other thing I would recommend - is making sure that you keep your KESSY keys away from each other (ie not on the same bunch of keys).  This will run down the batteries quicker (because the keys check every couple of seconds if they are near the car and if there are lots of transmitting keys on the same keyring, they will interfere with each other).  The KESSY system using proximety and constant radio telemetry to report they are in the car and this will also utilise additional power usage.

On 07/03/2018 at 20:42, johnbkidd said:

The battery in the fob is a CR 2025 - but the thicker CR 2032 fits and as it is thicker, it might have a longer life.

They can be bought in bulk off the web.

 

John

 

On 16/02/2018 at 10:26, Alfashark said:

I bunged a 2032 into mine the other day - They're thicker than the 2025, so it's a squeeze to get the cover back on.

 

There has to be an awful lot of old-stock 2025 batteries around for them to be failing so fast... One of the keys on my Fabia RS is still on it's original battery after 12 years of daily driving.

 

On 07/03/2018 at 20:42, johnbkidd said:

The battery in the fob is a CR 2025 - but the thicker CR 2032 fits and as it is thicker, it might have a longer life.

They can be bought in bulk off the web.

 

John

 

Thanks guys. I never seemed to get good life out of the 2025 batteries, and I suspect that's because either what I get are either really old or fakes. The 2032s work great. Would have never thought to try them if it weren't for chancing upon this thread.

So keyless entry eats batteries and allows thieves to quietly walk off with your car....

 

Shame they don't have an option on all specs to not have keyless entry

Hello all , 

 

Mines keyless and had to change mine how ever this then stopped the drivers side door from opening keyless. Now have to open with the button on my key no issue... So went Skoda as it's under warranty they said I needed new door handle I did ask them to check the battery as I changed it on my own. And he said was all fine. So god knows on that bit but