Keyless Woes

Watty100 · Apr 22, 2020

I've had my keyless RT since last August, and seem to be changing batteries in the key every 3-4 months. Last new one 6 weeks ago and already I have to put the key right next to the dashboard to get the bike to come to life.
And riding along, with the key in the breast pocket of my jacket, it always goes out of range. And the remote control buttons for alarm and central locking frequently don't work. :blast

maybe due to low voltage?

Is this a usual battery life for keyless? Is a particular brand of battery recommended? (I've been using EverReady CR2032, expiry date in 2028)

The bike was serviced last month and given a clean bill of health by the dealer (Rydale Wolverhampton) I did mention this problem to them.

Delboy777 · Apr 22, 2020

Watty100 said:
I've had my keyless RT since last August, and seem to be changing batteries in the key every 3-4 months. Last new one 6 weeks ago and already I have to put the key right next to the dashboard to get the bike to come to life.
And riding along, with the key in the breast pocket of my jacket, it always goes out of range. And the remote control buttons for alarm and central locking frequently don't work. maybe due to low voltage?

Is this a usual battery life for keyless? Is a particular brand of battery recommended? (I've been using EverReady CR2032, expiry date in 2028)

The bike was serviced last month and given a clean bill of health by the dealer (Rydale Wolverhampton) I did mention this problem to them.

Go back to your dealer and tell them to make a warranty claim for a new Fob from the mothership. There were a spate of faulty fobs with the 1250 bikes. Dont know if yours is a 1200 or 1250. Do a search on here, and you will find there are a few threads about it.

wessie · Apr 22, 2020

Seen this a couple of times on the RS forum. How close do you keep the fob to the bike when it is parked? If your jacket is hung above your bike it is possible the key fob keeps trying to ping the bike which might run down the battery. My fob is kept way out of range of the bike and since 2016, I have fitted one battery, a Panasonic from Ebay, which was the same brand as fitted in the factory. I am assuming that the fob goes to sleep if it does not get a response from the bike. If this does not address the problem then seek a replacement as stated above.

Watty100 · Apr 23, 2020

The bike is a 2017 model, so out of warranty. But might be worth trying for a new fob on a "goodwill" basis.
And the key is kept well away from the bike, garage is separate from the house.

Is anyone aware of problems with the antenna on the bike, as early 1200s had ring-antenna failures and a recall to fix it.

Santa-2512 · Apr 23, 2020

Watty100 said:
The bike is a 2017 model, so out of warranty. But might be worth trying for a new fob on a "goodwill" basis.
And the key is kept well away from the bike, garage is separate from the house.

Is anyone aware of problems with the antenna on the bike, as early 1200s had ring-antenna failures and a recall to fix it.

The early 1200's with the ring antenna's were whats called "passive"

The key held a small microchip, which when the key was inserted into the ignition, and turned on,

the ring antenna would energise and start looking for a response from any nearby chips

The pulse would trigger the small chip in the key to respond

Keyless has a short range transmitter built into the fob, and has a battery to send the handshake to the receiver on the bike so is technically an active system.

Andi_archer · Apr 23, 2020

Id suggest its definatly a problem with the fob itself, did you only get the one with the bike?

casbar · Apr 23, 2020

Andi_archer said:
Id suggest its definatly a problem with the fob itself, did you only get the one with the bike?

Think the bikes only come with one fob and an emergency key, my 1250 did anyway. A spare/new fob is circa £100. Just to add, that isn't normal behaviour, mine is a year old now and still works fine

Andi_archer · Apr 23, 2020

Yes they used to come with two up to around 2015 but if Watty has another key it would help diagnose the problem

Watty100 · Apr 23, 2020

Thanks for the replies so far, bike came with one fob and the little emergency key. It sounds like a replacement fob is the way forward.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk

thomo57 · Apr 23, 2020

I’ve got a 2017 RT with keyless, I’ve replaced key fob battery once, in 2019.
I’d try your dealer to fix/replace under goodwill

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Watty100 · Oct 16, 2020

Thought I'd pop up this little postscript to this thread.
Post-lockdown I went along to the local dealer to order a new key, only to find I needed a whole host of documentation to prove who I was and that I owned the bike....fair enough, glad to see they take security seriously.

On getting home, I thought I'd try the one and only fix I'm capable of for dodgy electronics, I prized the halves of the key apart and squirted in some WD40. And would you believe it, the key has worked faultlessly ever since!

I did mention to the dealer whilst I was there about asking BMW for a goodwill gesture towards the new key, they said BMW will want confirmation from us as to whether its the key or the receiver on the bike...work which I would have to pay for, negating any potential savings via any goodwill gesture, even if they agreed to it. :blast

Still, I'm happy now that for the timebeing at least, all is well in keyless land :beerjug:

RSInterloper · Oct 17, 2020

I bought my 1250RT in July 2019 - in the past couple of weeks the low battery warning has been coming on so I replaced the fob battery (Panasonic original and replacement). Fob kept well away from the bike when not in use. There's a handy video on You Tube which explains what "up" means in the manual....

trebor · Oct 17, 2020

I went through a period of having to replace the battery in the keyless fob (for a GSA) approximately every month during a period starting at the back end of last year through to March. After less than a couple of weeks of changing the battery I would get the 'Battery Low' warning message on the dash. The batteries I were using were supposedly a genuine pack of four Duracell batteries, but it turned out they were either rip offs or a batch of dud ones. In March I bought an identical pack of batteries from Sainsbury's, replaced the battery and the fob has been OK since.

Shurv · Oct 17, 2020

Glad mine has a key.......................

squibb34 · Oct 17, 2020

My neighbour had this problem with a keyless Jag XK. Turned out the key, was left overnight in his study desk drawer, adjacent to where the car was parked immediately outside, so all the time the 2 were trying to communicate, largely as wessie describes in #3 above. Problem solved with a couple of faraday pouches & relocation of the key storage to somewhere more appropriate/secure in the house.

RSInterloper · Oct 17, 2020

Must be the season for it - I've just had to replace the one in my car fob as well (bought March 2019).

Keyless Woes

Watty100

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Delboy777

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wessie

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Watty100

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Santa-2512

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Andi_archer

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casbar

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Andi_archer

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Watty100

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thomo57

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Watty100

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RSInterloper

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trebor

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Shurv

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squibb34

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