Hi all,

 

Searched around for this but couldn’t find an existing topic. My wife took the car out today, unlocked and started fine in the drive, drove for a bit, parked & locked ok, but when she came back to the car the key is completely dead. Car would unlock via the emergency door lock and started ok, but won’t lock or unlock with the buttons on her key. Tried the other two keys and both work fine, tried replacing the battery in the dead key and no joy. The battery I took out was reading 3.05v, the replacement is 3.3v or higher, so battery is definitely fine, the key is just completely dead, red light doesn’t illuminate either. Typically the approved used warranty expired 6 weeks ago!

Has anyone seen this before or have any ideas?

Try one of the ‘good’ batteries in the ‘bad’ key as there’s been quite a few instances recently of new ‘good’ batteries that aren’t!

Edited 10 June, 20223 yr by john999boy
Clarification

Ye, if red light not illuminated I won't tie in with the car.

I had that, it was very frustrating until I realised the red light wasn't on, then all worked. Yes need good battery.

17 hours ago, john999boy said:

Try one of the ‘good’ batteries in the ‘bad’ key as there’s been quite a few instances recently of new ‘good’ batteries that aren’t!

I have to say I was sceptical about this but you were right! Swapping the unbranded new battery with the unbranded one in a known good key resulted in the dead key working again and the working key not. Swapping them back returned things to how they were. Tried another 2 no name CR2025 batteries in it but no joy. Found a Grundig branded CR2025 (all of these are from the big cards of coin batteries, inevitably with all the CR2032s used!) and this worked fine!

The keys must just be sensitive to battery quality, I’ll maybe try to get a couple of branded CR2025s for when this inevitably happens again. Interestingly I saw a warning for a low key fob battery once a few weeks ago but nothing since.

 

Hopefully someone will find this useful & thanks again john999boy!

6 hours ago, NZ100 said:

Ye, if red light not illuminated I won't tie in with the car.

I had that, it was very frustrating until I realised the red light wasn't on, then all worked. Yes need good battery.

I noticed there being a bit of a lag between a new battery going into a fob and it starting to work, is there some sort of pairing going on with the car?

This is what I found, if I change battery as soon as the sign comes on the dash  no problem, if I wait, I have to pair it with the car. Got to be 100% red light coming on, on key.

I've also used the 2032s with no problem getting them in.

1 hour ago, NZ100 said:

This is what I found, if I change battery as soon as the sign comes on the dash  no problem, if I wait, I have to pair it with the car. Got to be 100% red light coming on, on key.

I've also used the 2032s with no problem getting them in.

lesson learned, I’ll do it at the first sign of the message in future. I’ll maybe try 2032s next time as well. Thanks NZ100 - very much appreciated!

I was in our Skoda dealer last week, the service guy mentioned that the Skoda keys are very sensitive to battery quality. He claimed it was one of the most common issues they're dealing with at the moment.

14 hours ago, silver1011 said:

I was in our Skoda dealer last week, the service guy mentioned that the Skoda keys are very sensitive to battery quality. He claimed it was one of the most common issues they're dealing with at the moment.

Thanks - it’s bizarre, they’re supposed to be 3v batteries and the new, but non working, one I put in was showing 3.3. The one I just removed was also over 3v but the key just didn’t like it. They do appear to be very very sensitive. I’d had Fords before and the (Siemens?) keys they use seem to work fine with anything.

Seems likely that internal resistance is the parameter that makes a difference. Affects the voltage available when under full load. Unloaded voltage doesn't tell you about this.

Edited 12 June, 20223 yr by Pete_Ex-Wino

I agree with Pete, but then I would, he always seems to know what he's talking about 👍.