Key fob branded battery confirmation

[Mr Mustard]

I replaced my key fob battery after the 'low battery' warning came up on the dash with a new one from an ebay multi-pack.

It unlocked the car a couple of times and then stopped working. It was showing 3.29v on a multi-meter. So I put the old battery back in as I knew at least it was still working when I took it out. It no longer worked, and the red LED on the fob wasn't flashing with either. Worried now that the fob was faulty or needed re-coding to the car somehow I thought I'd try a branded battery from my local car spares shop. The man behind the counter assured me that if my battery was showing full voltage a branded battery wouldn't make any difference and that my fob was probably faulty.

So I left, but decided to stop off at another shop on the way home and bought a Panasonic battery, hey-presto! it worked perfectly.

 

[SRGTD]

There are lots of dodgy fake batteries out there - probably more likely to be found on certain online sites such as eBay. Quite a few posts on various VAG forums over the years of people who‘ve unknowingly bought fakes that didn’t work.

I suspect your original battery might not have worked when you re-tried it back in the key fob as it was low enough to generate the ‘low battery‘ warning in the first instance. At least you’ve got it sorted now .

 

[rafletcher]

I buy branded batteries from the like of Battery Station. And (having KESSY) squeeze in (literally) a 2032 in place of the standard 2025.

 

[moriarty]

I bought a battery for something recently and it said don't test with a standard voltmeter as it could damage the battery. Don't know the basis but the warning said.
Small Batteries Notice

Do not pre-test small batteries unless you have a specialist load simulation tester designed to perform these tests. (Such as ETIF and the like)

Using standard multimeters and standard battery testers etc can damage the battery or shorten the lifespan of it.

 

[RUM4MO]

I would think that that "small battery notice" should only cover old analogue voltmeters and maybe some extremely cheap DVM, I can't think of any reason why if you used a quality/proper modern DVM/DMM that has a very high input impedance that you would mess up, ie discharge a new quality coin cell battery.

Panasonic is the brand that VW Group has used for over 22 years in my experience, so it is only ever Panasonic that I would fit to a key.