Dead 3 week old FOB battery & question

[Bobby]

It never occurred to me to try to remove the bitterant.

As you rub the battery, can you see where the coating has and hasn't been removed, or do you just "rub and hope"?

Much info about this can be found at www.lucidupdates.com.

 

[xponents]

Rub and hope or lick and hope whichever you prefer

For the love of god, dont lick it. Its supposed to have a bad taste... take an alcohol wipe.

 

[PompousAss]

Much info about this can be found at www.lucidupdates.com.

The FAQ at Lucid Updates doesn't answer my specific question.

I can go track down the card of 2032 batteries that's floating around my house somewhere to test it out, but I don't have a need right now and thought someone might have a quick answer.

 

[hydbob]

The FAQ at Lucid Updates doesn't answer my specific question.

I can go track down the card of 2032 batteries that's floating around my house somewhere to test it out, but I don't have a need right now and thought someone might have a quick answer.

It comes off pretty easy with IPA. Just give it a rub on each side for a few seconds and you are good.

 

[blueice89]

So I changed by battery today and did alcohol wipe trick for good measure looks like exactly 1 year of life I got with the bitterant trick. Does anyone else see more than 1 year life on battery fob?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1828458458607489141

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I just got one month of life out of this POS energizer one I had, getting pin to drive alerts fob not detected etc, so I did the alcohol wipe on a new battery and will set the clock now August 27 and see how long it lasts.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

I just got one month of life out of this POS energizer one I had, getting pin to drive alerts fob not detected etc, so I did the alcohol wipe on a new battery and will set the clock now August 27 and see how long it lasts.

I found that a combination of non-bitterant batteries and keeping the fob in a faraday pouch when not in use has GREATLY increased the life of my batteries.

I bought these : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BCKXHZVC ... they show as currently not available, but there are many clones of these on Amazon.

 

[DeaneG]

...I bought these : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BCKXHZVC ... they show as currently not available, but there are many clones of these on Amazon.

That's the same product I use. I wonder if "SuperKaKa" was tongue in cheek.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

That's the same product I use. I wonder if "SuperKaKa" was tongue in cheek.

I think you mean

 

[scal_air]

It never occurred to me to try to remove the bitterant.

As you rub the battery, can you see where the coating has and hasn't been removed, or do you just "rub and hope"?

Or if you prefer, lick until the taste goes away???

 

[Steve181]

Or if you prefer, lick until the taste goes away???

I measured the battery voltage with a high impeadance Voltmeter, after it failed at 2 months, as 2.7 V. (VS 3.3 V for a new battery) Bitterent should have nothing to do with this, UNLESS it is across the terminals causing additional drain. We need to measure the residual current drain by the fob circuits. Has anyone done that?

 

[blueice89]

sadly I saw my battery fob also fail after 2-3 months after rubbing alcohol applied so something can trigger phantom drain. Haven’t been able to debug but energizer batteries seem suspect the bunny is lying to us

 

[SaratogaLefty]

There is something strange going on. I have never removed the bitterant and my fob batteries typically have lasted for months. Now with the new App to get it to stop nagging me I enabled the "mobile Key" and now I'm lucky to get two weeks out of a battery (even after using alcohol to remove the bitterant). So I'm probably going to disconnect the mobile key.

 

[blueice89]

There is something strange going on. I have never removed the bitterant and my fob batteries typically have lasted for months. Now with the new App to get it to stop nagging me I enabled the "mobile Key" and now I'm lucky to get two weeks out of a battery (even after using alcohol to remove the bitterant). So I'm probably going to disconnect the mobile key.

Yeah I didn’t have the mobile key enabled cause I got a new phone sometime ago, but last year my batteries lasted almost 1 year and after last switch I got only like 1-2 months usage. So I would tend to agree that some type of update might have triggered more phantom usage. It threw me off but now I enabled the mobile key as backup key cause I only carry batteries at the house and no where else and always need plan B

 

[blueice89]

Sounds like we need to file ticket to lucid

 

[SaratogaLefty]

I'm going to wait and see what happens with the battery I installed yesterday. Another change I made based on input from others here is that I'm now leaving the app running all the time in the background instead of just when I'm using it. Not sure if activating the mobile key and having the app run continuously are having an impact on the battery life in the fob?? All of that said, I hope this was an isolated incident (two) and my latest battery installation (yesterday) will not repeat the short timespan again. If it does, as I said, I will disable the mobile key and go back to only having the app run when I'm using it.

 

[blueice89]

I filed a ticket:

It seems after a recent software update the key fob batteries appear to be dying faster. I only replaced my key fob battery couple months ago and it died few weeks back. Can you have engineering team review if any software updates contributed to phantom battery usage drain. It seems handful of customers are seeing similar issues so I wanted to file ticket to engineer support team at Lucid.

 

[Lucken]

I'm going to wait and see what happens with the battery I installed yesterday. Another change I made based on input from others here is that I'm now leaving the app running all the time in the background instead of just when I'm using it. Not sure if activating the mobile key and having the app run continuously are having an impact on the battery life in the fob?? All of that said, I hope this was an isolated incident (two) and my latest battery installation (yesterday) will not repeat the short timespan again. If it does, as I said, I will disable the mobile key and go back to only having the app run when I'm using it.

I’m sure you’re already aware, but for those who aren’t, inexpensive RFID blocking cases like below can greatly increase fob battery life.

Amazon.com

 

[SaratogaLefty]

I’m sure you’re already aware, but for those who aren’t, inexpensive RFID blocking cases like below can greatly increase fob battery life.

Amazon.com

One of the key reasons I like the fob is because it is so small and easy to keep in my pocket without knowing it is even there. Why would I want to put it in an RFID bag and ruin its unobtrusive size??? That to me is a ridiculous answer. Better if it is really the cause to just eliminate the "Mobile Key" setup and live with the nagging from the new app. The app has always worked fine to unlock the car when needed if for some reason I didn't have my fob with me so why do I even need the mobile key?

 

[Lucken]

One of the key reasons I like the fob is because it is so small and easy to keep in my pocket without knowing it is even there. Why would I want to put it in an RFID bag and ruin its unobtrusive size??? That to me is a ridiculous answer. Better if it is really the cause to just eliminate the "Mobile Key" setup and live with the nagging from the new app. The app has always worked fine to unlock the car when needed if for some reason I didn't have my fob with me so why do I even need the mobile key?

Not ridiculous at all. I put it in the case when the key is in my house at the end of the day. This avoids constant back & forth communication between car & key. When it’s in my pocket it’s obviously just the key. I’ve mentioned the beauty of the key size in numerous posts.