IanML
Member
Not necessarily. If the recharging story is true, the process may rely on the self-capacitance of the battery to function, i.e. the battery would be used to store electrostatic energy, rather than chemical energy.
General Key Fob (pebble) battery low
- Thread starter chrisdoublel
- Start date
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General Key Fob (pebble) battery low
murkle
New member
Any evidence for that? eg an aerial in the pebble to harvest some magic energy? A precise place that it must be positioned to work?
IanML
Member
No idea. All I can say is that, in my case, when I started to keep the fob in the receptacle when driving, the door control function appeared to improve somewhat, and once the warning was reset, it has not returned. Empirical evidence.
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murkle
New member
Interesting! Did a dealer have to reset the warning?
IanML
Member
The dealer could not get it reset. I subsequently did it - see this thread for details.
chrisdoublel
Member
Got the battery out today and even more surprisingly it works! case was a bit battered so I think I'm going to try and 3d print a replacement, have to learn how to 3d model first though as I doubt anyone else has made one.
Edit actually for now if I leave out the inner rubber then the outer pebble casing holds everything together quite securely. If I do get time I will try to 3d print something cooler and post back
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chrisdoublel
Member
quick question, is the range on the pebble worse than the normal key? mine certainly is but maybe I damaged it getting to the battery or maybe the battery I used isn't great. Interestingly it doesn't show the battery low warning message.
murkle
New member
Just checked - both fobs with a new Panasonic battery.
They both have exactly the same range (within measurement error) - around 1.5 m from the driver's door
My low battery message disappeared automatically around 1 day after changing both batteries - so for anyone with that error it's worth trying different batteries I think
chrisdoublel
Member
Thanks for that, actually my pebble started working as good as the main fob today and then when I was showing someone what I did it stopped working at all. I think the battery connection isn't great, I probably bent the housing a bit and now it doesn't have as strong connection.
Hoi, net 2032 batterij vervangen en had hetzelfde probleem, maar klein stukje zilverpapier dubbelvouwen op de printzijde leggen en dan de batterij erin schuiven en werkt nu wel. Komt omdat die "lijm" een isolatie ring vormt. En gebruik wel een Duracell of Varta. Succes.
Elifmagy
New member
I've been able to get my pebble key working today following the method linked above to the German forum. JanvdB's post above was very useful as having successfully got the thing apart, where it does indeed have an ordinary CR3032 battery, and after some time getting the battery unglued and out, I put in a shiny new Duracell battery and . . . the key still only worked in the centre cubbyhole (the RFID connection). Jan suggested folding a bit of tinfoil and placing it on the surface the battery sits on before sliding it in to solve the problem of glue remnants preventing contact. That worked and the key is working fine now. (I'd scraped that contact and also squirted contact cleaner on it but only the tinfoil worked.) ALSO the Keyfob battery low warning disappeared immediately. If you're trying this procedure give yourself plenty of time and be patient. I found that heating (110 degrees celsius) only slightly softened the glue (and according to my reading integrated circuits are only safe to about 120 degrees)) so while cracking open the case to reveal the battery was relatively easy it took me a couple of hours of repeated reheats and gradually easing a craft knife blade under the battery until I could finally budge it. (Great example of useless Fiat dealers. Ours said the battery low warning related to the main key, the one with buttons, and that we needed to pay them nearly £400 to replace that. We didn't and a couple of months after they told us that the pebble died completely. Clearly that was the problem, so if we'd gone with the dealer's advice we would have paid £400 to get the wrong key replaced)
I wanted to add to this - we found an auto-locksmith who managed to do a similar thing, break open the resin and change the old battery for a new one.
The challenge is it’s really hard to get the new battery to sit flush in the battery holder, so it connects to the negative contact (underneath). I’ve solved this by leaving the battery half in and half out of the holder - works just fine now!
The challenge is it’s really hard to get the new battery to sit flush in the battery holder, so it connects to the negative contact (underneath). I’ve solved this by leaving the battery half in and half out of the holder - works just fine now!
Elifmagy
New member
Hiya. Yes I had the same problem and wedging tinfoil in didn’t work reliably. When i looked closely there was still resin near the edges of the contact surface which were lifting the battery. I spent a while with a small fine file getting the surface, right up to the metal cradle, completely clear. The battery goes right in now and the fob’s working completely reliably
blindoracle
New member
Had this wonderful experience today too.
Heating in the oven didn't help much, I had to dremel it around and then heat with a heat gun for some time.
Only then I was able to pick the sides apart and reach the PCB.
To get the battery out you need to also heat it with a gun and then scrape out any resin that you can reach. Even at high temperatures the resin remains rather solid, but it becomes fragile so that you can use something to pick pieces of it out.
Completely moronic design decision.
Another note - the fob doesn't seem to work when the voltage is around 3.0-3.1v, it needs 3.1-3.2v to wake up.
Heating in the oven didn't help much, I had to dremel it around and then heat with a heat gun for some time.
Only then I was able to pick the sides apart and reach the PCB.
To get the battery out you need to also heat it with a gun and then scrape out any resin that you can reach. Even at high temperatures the resin remains rather solid, but it becomes fragile so that you can use something to pick pieces of it out.
Completely moronic design decision.
Another note - the fob doesn't seem to work when the voltage is around 3.0-3.1v, it needs 3.1-3.2v to wake up.
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mlofty
New member
Hi all, just found this thread whilst researching the same issue after having tried cracking open the pebble to change the battery and finding the sealed unit. Thanks to those of you who did the research to find out about this issue and how to solve it.
Not much of a handyman unfortunately (I tend to break things even further rather than fix them) so will try the recharge in-car option. Just one question maybe someone can answer for me. I am lucky enough to have a secure garage for my car so could just leave the pebble in the car without issue but..... Will it charge whilst the car is off or do I need to have it turned on? I am guessing the latter but confirmation would be helpful. If I could just leave it in the car overnight with the engine/ignition off that would be awesome.
One other thing to mention. When I took the car in for it's first yearly service I left the pebble with them. The guy who took it from me mentioned to only use the pebble if I had to but rather to use the main key whenever possible. The reason for this is that the main key is covered by the main car warranty and would/could be repaired/replaced if necessary on the warranty. The pebble, however, is not covered by the warranty and would therefore be expensive to replace.
Not much of a handyman unfortunately (I tend to break things even further rather than fix them) so will try the recharge in-car option. Just one question maybe someone can answer for me. I am lucky enough to have a secure garage for my car so could just leave the pebble in the car without issue but..... Will it charge whilst the car is off or do I need to have it turned on? I am guessing the latter but confirmation would be helpful. If I could just leave it in the car overnight with the engine/ignition off that would be awesome.
One other thing to mention. When I took the car in for it's first yearly service I left the pebble with them. The guy who took it from me mentioned to only use the pebble if I had to but rather to use the main key whenever possible. The reason for this is that the main key is covered by the main car warranty and would/could be repaired/replaced if necessary on the warranty. The pebble, however, is not covered by the warranty and would therefore be expensive to replace.
blindoracle
New member
IanML
Member
Well, that's not true. My pebble element was replaced under the warranty. Anyway, I expect the battery will last the same length of time whether you use it or not. If it does get some charge in the bin (I'm still not sure about that - but it certainly does not recharge the glued-in battery) it will only be when the car is switched on.
mlofty
New member
Ugghh, so much conflicting info, especially it seems from Fiat employees who clearly are not really sure themselves.
What I can take away from all this is that the battery within the pebble is a standard CR2032 (as evidenced by blindoracle who has seen it with their own eyes) and so is certainly not rechargeable. Also, as my car is still in warranty, there is a chance I can get a replacement from Fiat (as evidenced by IanML who had one replaced). The way forward is clear: Try Fiat for a replacement and if I have no joy there, rip into it myself as I have absolutely nothing to lose.
Thanks all.
What I can take away from all this is that the battery within the pebble is a standard CR2032 (as evidenced by blindoracle who has seen it with their own eyes) and so is certainly not rechargeable. Also, as my car is still in warranty, there is a chance I can get a replacement from Fiat (as evidenced by IanML who had one replaced). The way forward is clear: Try Fiat for a replacement and if I have no joy there, rip into it myself as I have absolutely nothing to lose.
Thanks all.
Elifmagy
New member
Absolutely agree. As per my earlier post I have also seen and replaced the CR2032 battery in the fob so that's what it is. The fob without battery will work in the little receptacle in the centre compartment because it also has an RFID chip which doesn't need power to communicate but can only do so next to the receiver - so definitely if you can get replaced on the warranty then great, otherwise yes rip it apart. It was just a lot of fiddling and unless the whole of the surface the battery presses on is cleared of resin it will stop it contacting properlyUgghh, so much conflicting info, especially it seems from Fiat employees who clearly are not really sure themselves.
What I can take away from all this is that the battery within the pebble is a standard CR2032 (as evidenced by blindoracle who has seen it with their own eyes) and so is certainly not rechargeable. Also, as my car is still in warranty, there is a chance I can get a replacement from Fiat (as evidenced by IanML who had one replaced). The way forward is clear: Try Fiat for a replacement and if I have no joy there, rip into it myself as I have absolutely nothing to lose.
Thanks all.
