Electronics » Key fob battery replacement

This week I was confronted with this pop up on my screen. No big deal really, I thought eventually the battery would need replacement on the key fob. But here is the odd part of it; I have had this bike for less than 18 months and purchased new from new inventory. Now the message shows I have 50% battery life yet, what ever that means. But I have a car with a key fob, use that 10x more than my bike key fob, its 5years old and have yet to replace it.

Could there possibly be something over "draining" the power on my RS key fob?

Also, as a precaution, I went ahead and replaced the battery myself....pretty simple task. But I cannot figure out a way on the TFT to see what level of battery life the new battery has. Is there a setting that can check this?

Thanks for any thoughts you may have.

IMG_1550.JPG - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Two comments:

Is you car keyless ignition or just keyless entry? I can see how two way comms with the engine running might account for a drain.

My RS is about the same age but purchased with circa 4300 miles in the clock late June last year and now with 8k on the clock. Mine started flashing the 50% sign in December. Does not do it at most start ups and still says 50% when it does. Knowing the Germanic tendency to overengineer I will replace it when I pick up some fresh button batteries and regard it as a priority if and when it says 25%!!

P.S. Will now check the handbook for the button battery number.

Chris

Chris

My main reason for keeping key fob and bike well apart is so that no thief can boost the signal via a PC, spring my garage door, start up and ride off! There is maybe 20 foot and a brick wall between them and the fob is well away from the front door where any villain would locate his PC.

Chris

P.S. Thanks for the battery number Wessie. I might have one stored away somewhere. Will check.

Is it an old wives tale that putting the fob in a tin box isolates it?
John

I've read once the fob is 6 feet from the bike, there's no constant handshake between it and the bike.

True or false?

I have a car (2016 VW Golf R) with a keyless fob as well as the RS. If your car has a remote but requires you to insert the key in the ignition mechanically to start it, it will use much less power than a keyless system. VW, in their infinite engineering wisdom, aggravated the situation by speccing a CR2025 battery for the fob when they could have easily fit a bigger battery in it.

Anyway, with these systems, it behooves you to keep an extra battery on hand and understand how to start the vehicle with a dead fob. They all have a way as a backup.

Zitat von wessie im Beitrag #9

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Zitat von azqkr im Beitrag #8

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I've read once the fob is 6 feet from the bike, there's no constant handshake between it and the bike.

True or false?

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yes, the handshake will end - you can test this for yourself. Switch the bike ignition on with the fob in your pocket. Walk away and after a short period the ECU will turn off the bike.

this is why you need to ensure the fob is separated from the bike for storage so the fob will go to sleep, with just a watchdog circuit waiting for a ping when the button is pressed on the bike.

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Zitat von JAG im Beitrag #6

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Is it an old wives tale that putting the fob in a tin box isolates it?
John

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No, it's not a myth. You would be using the Faraday cage principle.

You can buy a pouch lined with metal mesh to store the fob. This will supposedly stop your fob being scanned whilst you sit in a cafe, stay in a hotel or at home.

The metal would need to have enough density to dissipate the energy in the radio waves.

Plenty of reviews in the press https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/product-gr...l-blockers-2021

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I have had only had a problem with the life of my key fob (R1200RS) when I used a cheap Chinese no-name battery. When I tried that, I only got about 3 months of life out of it. But when I replaced it with a name-brand CR2032 cell, that one would last about three years before I got the warning signal on my dash that advised me that it would soon be time to replace the battery.

Zitat von wessie im Beitrag #3

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is the car keyless or do you have to push a button to unlock the car? If the latter, then the fob is only powered when you press the button.

the RS key fob is "always on" looking for a ping from the bike. When the bike is parked at home, it is a good idea to keep the fob and bike well apart. That way the fob will go into a standby mode. If the fob is close to the bike the battery seems to go flat more quickly as there is more chatter between fob & bike.

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FWIW, I got the 50% battery fob message recently too and it was followed up by the low batt/replace warning within a week. It was still working but the error messages are annoy.... effective. So I'm replacing. Agree with carrying a spare, just also make sure you have something to pop open the fob packed away too ;)