KESSY keyfob - anyone know what the indicator light actually signifies?

[TrinityJay]

I have two keys, the one I was using as the main (Key 1 henceforth) has mysteriously died overnight as it wouldn't open the car this morning. The indicator light is not illuminating when buttons are pushed. No warnings at all about a low battery, so I thought maybe it had become un-synced but performing the resync process as per the manual has not changed anything.

 

I popped the battery out of Key 1, Sony CR2025, no signs of damage and it reads 2.975V loaded which still seems healthy enough to me. I reinserted it, went out to car with both keys and placed Key 2 on top of the spoiler and Key 1 inside the car. As expected, pressing Start/Stop gave an error about key not being detected.

 

My question is this- does the indicator light simply indicate that a button is being pressed? That the car is acknowledging a communication? Something else?

 

Seems odd that Key 1 would just die without any warning from the car. And yes the battery is inserted correctly, no it hasn't been through the wash! 

[puhleese]

Had exactly the same problem a while ago. It was the battery. Changing the battery from my functioning key to the dead one didn't fix the problem.

I thought it was a faulty keyfob so went to the dealer. They put in a new battery and all was good again. Skoda dealer had no idea why a battery worked fine in one fob but not the other.

Just because a battery tests as having a 'good' voltage doesn't mean it is healthy. Get yourself a new good quality battery and it will most likely work fine again.

The red light that shows when pressed simply shows that the fob is working and sending a signal. If there is no light when pressed then there is no signal and so not working.

From my knowledge you don't get any warning for a battery in a keyfob deteriorating. I guess that's why they also put a key in it 🙂

[TrinityJay]

I replaced the battery in Key 1 today (new one tested at 3.188V under the same load for those playing at home), all good again 👍

 

6 hours ago, puhleese said:

From my knowledge you don't get any warning for a battery in a keyfob deteriorating.

 

According to the manual it's supposed to! 😞 Pg54 under Malfunctions-

 

Quote

Low voltage of the key battery

If the voltage of the key battery is too low, a message appears in the display of the instrument cluster referring to the need to replace the battery. Replace the battery » page 195.

 

 

6 hours ago, puhleese said:

The red light that shows when pressed simply shows that the fob is working and sending a signal.

 

Seems there's more to it than this! When testing today I noticed that the indicator light flashes a few times when locking/unlocking via KESSY. If both keys are there, they both flash. It's a different flashing sequence than occurs when using the buttons as well. I wonder if it's intentional, or a side effect of whatever authentication programming is in place.

[Lulubelle]

My Karoq this morning refused to open my doors on either key fob. It’s a 2 yr old Karoq.  AA on the way to do something with the door handle - Skoda dealer said it’s fiddly to do with an inner clip???  I’ll be watching the AA guy with an eagle eye.  But the fins give me concern. Wondered if they died because I’ve not been using the car much at all - once a week - during this COVID period.  

[AJAMESR]

I presume these are all Prox Keys? Anything under 3v is low. Most new out of the box will read close to 3.3v. 
But the key doesn’t need a battery to open or start the car. 
You can use the emergency blade to open the door and then hold the key to the start stop button, then press the Start/Stop button and car will start. Get to a shop, change battery and all good again, no need for recoding or anything after battery change. 
So u will never be stranded with a dead battery in a key and no need for AA. 

[AJAMESR]

As for warnings about dead battery. I know some cars only have a timer in the system. Bit like a filter in a kettle. It just knows roughly how long of a life it should have. But some systems are sensitive to the strength of the signal coming from the key. Not sure about the Octy.

[AJAMESR]

And the red light on the key just acknowledges a pressed button. Simply indicates power is in the key. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that a signal is being sent. It’s very good indicator that a signal is being sent but no guarantee. It is literal just an LED in circuit between the buttons and battery. So when u push a button it draws power from the battery which runs through the LED on its way to the aerial and so the LED lights up. But if u have a faulty aerial in the key then the signal won’t get sent. 
A proper RF tester can test for a signal. On many keys the LED can be blown but a signal still gets sent. So really the LED is just a useful guide but no guarantee. 

[Lulubelle]

1 hour ago, Lulubelle said:

My Karoq this morning refused to open my doors on either key fob. It’s a 2 yr old Karoq.  AA on the way to do something with the door handle - Skoda dealer said it’s fiddly to do with an inner clip???  I’ll be watching the AA guy with an eagle eye.  But the fins give me concern. Wondered if they died because I’ve not been using the car much at all - once a week - during this COVID period.  

New batteries needed in the fobs.  Batteries replaced and I’m back in business😁. And at least I now know what my ear splitting car alarm sounds like and also how to manually open the car door when the fob has failed.  

[AJAMESR]

50 minutes ago, Lulubelle said:

New batteries needed in the fobs.  Batteries replaced and I’m back in business😁. And at least I now know what my ear splitting car alarm sounds like and also how to manually open the car door when the fob has failed.  

👍 Did they also show you how to start the car when the battery is dead? 

[Lulubelle]

No they didn’t.  I was just so glad to get the fob working again.   Any tips for how to do that on a Karoq?

[AJAMESR]

In order to practice, remove the battery from the key and go out to the car. Leave the other key in the house so that the proximity system doesn't pick it up. 

Maybe unlock the car first to save you time getting out the emergency blade, you know how that works now. 

When in the car, try and start car by pressing the Start Button - you should now see a message on the screen saying no key detected. 

Now look at the plastic trim around the steering wheel were an ignition barel would usually be. You should see a Key Symbol etched into the plastic. Very subtle. Hold your key next to that symbol and now press the Start button. Car will start.

There is an antenna behind the plastic that creates a magnetic field which powers up an emergency chip inside the key. 

 

If the key symbol is not there, have a read of the manual. They may have placed it somewhere else. It varies from car to car.

 

[Lulubelle]

19 minutes ago, AJAMESR said:

In order to practice, remove the battery from the key and go out to the car. Leave the other key in the house so that the proximity system doesn't pick it up. 

Maybe unlock the car first to save you time getting out the emergency blade, you know how that works now. 

When in the car, try and start car by pressing the Start Button - you should now see a message on the screen saying no key detected. 

Now look at the plastic trim around the steering wheel were an ignition barel would usually be. You should see a Key Symbol etched into the plastic. Very subtle. Hold your key next to that symbol and now press the Start button. Car will start.

There is an antenna behind the plastic that creates a magnetic field which powers up an emergency chip inside the key. 

 

If the key symbol is not there, have a read of the manual. They may have placed it somewhere else. It varies from car to car.

 

Thank you!    I’ll go take a look.  

[TrinityJay]

Small update...

 

On 28/08/2020 at 20:52, TrinityJay said:

 

On 28/08/2020 at 13:56, puhleese said:

From my knowledge you don't get any warning for a battery in a keyfob deteriorating.

 

According to the manual it's supposed to! 😞 Pg54 under Malfunctions-

 

Key 2 started giving the warning yesterday, behold the photographic evidence! 

 

 

Turned off ignition, replaced battery, ignition on again and the warning was gone 

[puhleese]

Simply clever 

[Lulubelle]

Unfortunately I didn’t get a warning but that may be down to simply not using the car during the past 6 months as often as I do and so the battery died before the car could tell me.   But good to know.

[TrinityJay]

Yes I don't quite understand why I got the warning for this key but not the other one. FWIW this wasn't a one off, it's been warning me for the past few days but I kept forgetting to do it until today.

[Lulubelle]

I’m in a Karoq so must check if it does the same warning as the Octavia

[FrankLK]

I have kessy and the battery was dead without warning from car, the car was daily driven, now I change battery every year to be safe.