Recharging Dead Key FOB

[pedro2u]

Just took my vert out of storage today :thumbup and it's time solve a few issues that I've had all winter to think about:

When I bought the car last fall, one of the keys was completely dead. The previous owned had it stuffed in a drawer for 9 years.... I drove the car for 30 minutes today and still no life out of any of the buttons. So doing some research I came across these instructions:

https://store.bimmernav.com/blogs/installation/how-to-recharge-your-bmw-remote-key

It says to:

connect an automotive battery charger your car's battery pos/neg jump start terminals in the engine bay, then insert the key into the ignition and turn it to position 1 and leave it overnight. The charger will prevent your car battery from dying while the key gets charged.

I haven't seen these instructions anywhere but on bimmer.nav. Has anyone every tried this? Any concerns about leaving the key in the accessory position all night on a battery charger?

[Newjack]

I don't see any issues with doing that. The key recharges from being in the ignition while driving, this just saves you some miles on the car.

[pedro2u]

Well, I'll report back in the morning. Gonna give this a shot. Of course, if the key is just bad and won't take a charge regardless, I'll never know if this was a good process for charging or not............. Think positive

[az3579]

Hope it works. A battery that's been dead for 9 years tends to stay dead.

Even if it does end up being dead, there is a way to replace the battery inside of it with a CR2032 battery, if you're feeling adventurous. At least you wouldn't have to spend upwards of $200 for a new key. :)

[pedro2u]

Well, end result - that didn't work. :facepalm

I guess you're right - dead is dead

Since I do have 1 fully functional FOB, I think the 2nd key is headed right back into the drawer - for use only as an emergency back up. That's the other way to save $200

[ZHPizza]

Same thing happened to me. Dead key wouldn't recharge no matter what, so it went in the drawer as a backup and I ordered a fresh one. Sad.

[John in VA]

Have you checked Scott's site, or considered contacting him? https://www.bmwgm5.com/bmwgm5/Keys.htm

[cornercarver]

Even if it does end up being dead, there is a way to replace the battery inside of it with a CR2032 battery, if you're feeling adventurous. At least you wouldn't have to spend upwards of $200 for a new key. :)

http://youtu.be/lK7vhXwA0JQ

[pedro2u]

John - thanks for that tip on Scott's site. I just read through it, and since I had already left my car on the charger overnight with the key in the accessory position, I figured the FOB was probably charged. Best point on Scott's site was the Key Resync procedure, which he said was the most common failure

So I just did that procedure on both of my keys (30 seconds.....total) and :thumbup I know have 2 working FOB's!

And absolutely thanks to Scott for creating his very informative website

[John in VA]

John - thanks for that tip on Scott's site. I just read through it, and since I had already left my car on the charger overnight with the key in the accessory position, I figured the FOB was probably charged. Best point on Scott's site was the Key Resync procedure, which he said was the most common failure.
So I just did that procedure on both of my keys (30 seconds....total) and :thumbup I know have 2 working FOB's!
I'm glad you checked it out & had success. I'd hoped you see the note where he charged extra to repair the fob after you'd screwed with it!

[az3579]

http://youtu.be/lK7vhXwA0JQ


Oops - guess I got the battery type wrong. 2020/2025 instead of 2032.
Thanks for the vid.

[johnrando]

Cool that that worked!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk