freeagent Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 bought a 300Tdi Discovery last week, the remotes work fine but i don't know how long the batteries have been in there, and would rather get them changed before i get stranded. is it a DIY job? whats the score with opening it and removing the battery, will it work OK when i put it back together or will the alarm need reprograming... don't want to go to the main stealers unless i have to as don't want to pay a fortune for a battery that probably costs about a quid... cheers in advance... m@tt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onions Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 You can replace the battery yourself with little danger of anything going wrong. I bought a replacement battery from a bloke at Billing last year and it came with some weird and wonderful instructions about doing the change out of range of the car and once the battery was removed I was supposed to press the buttons for 10 full seconds to remove any residual charge in the remote. In the end I popped the back off the remote and changed the battery (standard looking button cell) the way I would change any battery and it works just the way it used to (except from a longer distance). I'll prise the back off my spare remote if you want me to see if there's a battery number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wailofthesnail Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 You can replace the battery yourself with little danger of anything going wrong. In the end I popped the back off the remote and changed the battery (standard looking button cell) the way I would change any battery and it works just the way it used to (except from a longer distance). just as onions said, you've got 10 seconds from when you remove the old battery to getting the new one in, so just have it ready(ie out of the packet) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onions Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 Just took my spare one apart and I have this to report: Take you remote off your keys as you will need to split it into its two bits. You can do this by putting a screwdriver in the top and twisting as shown here: Once it is in two bits you will have a bit of black plastic and a bit that looks like this: You can just slide the battery out and replace it with a new one. I had mine out for a couple if minutes to take the following photo and it worked OK when put back together: In case the image ain't too great the battery says, "(loads of stuff I can't read) Lithium Battery, CR2032, 3V". Then as Mr. Haynes would say, "Refitting is the opposite of removal". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted April 27, 2006 Author Share Posted April 27, 2006 top man onions, thankyou very much. that battery looks quite a bit like the one in our digi-box remote (and the number looks familiar) so should get it in sainsburys or the camera shop... just out of interest, how far away from the truck should it work with a fresh battery? i need to be within about 6 foot of the body at the moment, is this normal, or should i be able to 'blip' it from a bit further away... thanks again... might be good for the tech archive this one........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddyplugger Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 Just took my spare one apart and I have this to report:Take you remote off your keys as you will need to split it into its two bits. You can do this by putting a screwdriver in the top and twisting as shown here: Well, thats that knackered then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onions Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 Well, thats that knackered then! That's why I did it to the spare one!! (Didn't break it honest). As far as distance is concerned - I have a newish remote and a remote that looks like it has been with the car since day one. With fresh batteries the newish one will easily operate from 60-70 feet away (more if you hold it to your head Clarkson style). The older one works at about 30-40 feet. Both of those distances assume that I have line-of-sight with the car, although sometimes it will go further or work through a double glazed window in my house, depends on how it's feeling. If you're only getting 6 feet then you need a new battery in my estimation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onions Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 I found this too: CR2032 Button Cell But even though it's only 24p for the battery the £2.95 delivery charge may make it a bit price-prohibitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted April 27, 2006 Author Share Posted April 27, 2006 yeah, i thought it should work better than that... little job for the weekend... thanks again.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 CR2032 is a generic battery any type will do as long as it is a CR2032. think it is probably a watch battery. Older 1995MY one button fobs use two batteries, CR2016s I think. You don't need to mess about discharging the thing, never had any problems, just sometimes need to press the unlock button a few times to resync the rolling code Range depends on vehicle, the antennas in the old vehicles are nowhere near as sensitive and the 1996 model vehicles like my old one are particularly bad, gotta be right next to the vehicle a lot of the time. Some time in 1997 (I think) they changed the antenna design or location in the vehicle, and the later ones will work from anything up to about a hundred yards away if you are line of sight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted April 27, 2006 Author Share Posted April 27, 2006 oh, thats typical, knowing the way my luck goes i'm bound to have the model with the gammy antenna... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 The important thing is not to start poking away at the button too far away because then the rolling code gets out of sync and it takes a few goes to catch up when you do get in range. Waiting till you are right next to the vehicle is better and then it will work first time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbocharger Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 The important thing is not to start poking away at the button too far away So what you're saying is, if it won't work then you shouldn't have pressed it! My 1994 model sometimes had the fob touching the window before it would work, but it depended where you were. Behind the car was much better than pressing from in front. Think yourself lucky - with the Ninety I have to actually get the key inside the lock before the complicated near-field electromagnetic forces will allow me to open the door! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imspanners Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 As Bogmonster said, these have a rolling code. Pressing either of the buttons rapidly 5 times resets the code. I hope onions doesn't mind me borrowing his piccy. Whilst replacing the battery, take a look at the 3 areas highlighted. They are soldered joints from the battery which have a habit of cracking. Often just need touching with a hot soldering iron to remake the connection (with battery removed), and the distance will be restored. If the battery has been removed for some time, just press the fob close to the vehicle 5 times, and all will be restored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onions Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 I hope onions doesn't mind me borrowing his piccy. On the contrary - nice arrows. I might have a go at that soldering lark today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 Another tip. If you park in an area with lots of RF radiation (telephone exchange or a TV transmitter for example) in one of the 1996 ones you can have a hellish job getting back in to it! I know of several people here who had to have their Discoverys towed 100 yards or so from the source with the alarm going ape, before they could get it to shut up and go! The best place to put the key fob in this case is against the front windscreen as close as you can get it to the speedo binnacle - reason being that the aerial wire runs across the top of the speedo head. It is also the reason the range is usually better when you are in front of the car where it can "see" through the windscreen, rather than behind the car where the signal is going through the bodywork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imspanners Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 Another tip. If you park in an area with lots of RF radiation (telephone exchange or a TV transmitter for example) in one of the 1996 ones you can have a hellish job getting back in to it! I know of several people here who had to have their Discoverys towed 100 yards or so from the source with the alarm going ape, before they could get it to shut up and go!The best place to put the key fob in this case is against the front windscreen as close as you can get it to the speedo binnacle - reason being that the aerial wire runs across the top of the speedo head. It is also the reason the range is usually better when you are in front of the car where it can "see" through the windscreen, rather than behind the car where the signal is going through the bodywork. That is also applicable for P38s..... Sometimes works if you put the transmitter under the dash to try to shield the transmitter signal. Fault normally caused by phone/radio mast interference. Shell petrol stations are some of the worst as the price signs often hide phone masts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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