Remote fob stopped working

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

One of my remote fobs has stopped working. :-(

Fortunately the spare is still working. I've checked the batteries, and they're giving a healthy 6.1V between them, so I don't think the batteries are dead. At £3.99 each I'd rather investigate other avenues first.

My car has been away for diagnosis of a non-starting fault and also work on the aircon. During that time, I can tell that the car battery has been disconnected because the stereo head unit has gone back into its stupid "shop demo" mode.

When I picked the car up on Saturday, I used the spare fob - the one that I'd handed over some weeks ago and has been in the possession of the two garages that have worked on the car. That one is working fine, but when I got home I found that my "main" fob, which has been in my pocket for the last few weeks, is no longer working.

Before the car went away, both fobs worked.

Could the alarm have "forgotten" the fob that was in my pocket due to the car's battery being disconnected, or become unsynchronised somehow? If so, what is the procedure for re-synching the fobs?

[oily mist]

Mike, I had a 'dead' fob too. This sequence worked for me.

Using the working fob, arm and disarm the system 16 times (8 on, 8 off). At this point the alarm/locks should stop responding and the car will beep/flash to let you know it's in programme mode. Now press a button on the 'dead' fob. Then press a button on the 'good' fob. (All button presses must be within 8 seconds of the previous one otherwise the system drops out of programme mode). Now wait at least 8 seconds and the unit should exit learning mode. Hopefully you now have two live fobs.

Worth a try,

Eric

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Awesome! I'll try that... although perhaps I'll wait until after I've taken the TVR on holiday with me. Will report back!

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

oily mist said:

Mike, I had a 'dead' fob too. This sequence worked for me.

Using the working fob, arm and disarm the system 16 times (8 on, 8 off). At this point the alarm/locks should stop responding and the car will beep/flash to let you know it's in programme mode. Now press a button on the 'dead' fob. Then press a button on the 'good' fob. (All button presses must be within 8 seconds of the previous one otherwise the system drops out of programme mode). Now wait at least 8 seconds and the unit should exit learning mode. Hopefully you now have two live fobs.

Worth a try,

Eric

PistonHeads is absolutely, completely fking awesome!!!!

I'm going on holiday in the TVR in a couple of days' time, hence my caution at not wanting to end up with a locked car and neither fob working. But I decided to man-up and just do it - although I did take the precaution of doing it with the roof off, just in case!

And it works, exactly as Eric describes. To be honest I lost count of how many times I'd locked and unlocked, and just when I was beginning to think it wasn't going to work, the alarm stopped responding to the fob. So I grabbed the "dead" one and pressed its button (noticing that the indicators flashed once, which was encouraging), then did the same with the other fob. Eight seconds later the lights flashed once more and the car unlocked itself.

I now have two working fobs!

I'm presuming that you could probably also put it into this synchronisation mode by disconnecting the battery for a while, but this method is quicker and easier (assuming you have a working fob, of course).

I'm also presuming that this technique will only work on fobs that are already paired to the alarm, so by saying all this on a public forum we're not really giving thieves anything useful - I'm presuming that you couldn't use this technique to pair a different fob to the car. I guess the fobs are the type that change their signal each time they're operated, and they can get out of sync with the alarm - this procedure simply resets the alarm so that it knows where the fobs are in their sequences.

Anyway, whatever is going on, it worked - so many thanks Eric!

[oily mist]

You're very welcome sir, HTH. I too find PH a great place to find out those useful tips to keep the car properly fettled.

I believe this procedure only works if you have a fob which is live and the other which at some point has been paired with the alarm unit - so should be secure against 'undesirables'.

Hope you enjoy your hols.

Eric

[steveb008]

£3.99 each for batteries!!! I got 5 for 99p delivered on ebay

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

steveb008 said:

£3.99 each for batteries!!! I got 5 for 99p delivered on ebay

Admittedly that was Hellfraud's price - but that was the only place I could find the rather unusual CR2012 3V batteries that the fobs take. I didn't look online though.

The best I can find on eBay is 5 for £4.99 or 10 for £8.35. Are you sure you're not thinking of LR44 batteries?

Might order some spares at those prices though.

Edited to add: I ordered some batteries and they've arrived, but I've now realised I had transposed the numbers in my head by mistake and I've ordered the wrong ones. The correct battery type is CR1220, not CR2012.

You can indeed get them on ebay at 5 for 99p, but they're a rubbish brand that gets bad reviews elsewhere. So instead I've now gone for 4 Duracell ones for £3.99, which is still a good deal but hopefully the batteries will have a much smaller chance of leaving me trapped outside the car.

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Thursday 15th August 11:34