Key fob switch

While my key fob remote has been working flawlessly, I decided to check the battery voltage, and was surprised when a switch came loose when I split the key fob housing apart. On close inspection, looks like both solder joints of this surface mount switch had come loose, perhaps a stress fracture failure over time. I used a pair of spring tweezers to hold the switch in place on the circuit board, and used a fine tip electronic soldering iron to resolder the two joints. The fob seems to work a little further away from the car now, doesn't make sense since the range should be a function of the RF transmitting power, the loose switch should have little to no impact.

It's all in your head. Range on these things is usually crap, i got a new fob from Porsche and still three feet away from the car is too far away sometimes. On Renntech you will find a TSB that Porsche put out for increasing the range.

In my head? The remote would used to only work when I'm within 2 or 3 feet from the driver door, with the same battery after resoldering the switch back in, I can now get easily 10 feet range. YMMV. Agreed the range is not great to start with, doesn't really bother me, only an observation.

New fob from Porsche, solders new, battery new, same range. I can hit a sweet spot where it will also work from ten feet away, but more then enough three feet is still a chalange.

Yeah... I was really disappointed with the range....you know when you are 50 feet from your car and you cannot remember if you locked it... My wife's Subaru key fob will lock the car from hundreds of feet away...it is amazing. I am not exaggerating. It is so impressive, I test it for fun when we are far away from it,but can still see it.

True, one day I'll dig up the DIY for extending the range. My old 1996 Acura remote fob can reliably lock/unlock from my third floor office 500 feet away from the car!

I was also very disappointed with the remote range. I replaced the battery believing that 5ft range was the result of the dying one. Nope, after the replacement it is still 5ft. And yes, remote in my Acura can unlock and lock it from 100M away no problem. So I was disappointed with Porsche's effort.

I've been reading this thread, patiently waiting for someone to mention the Skull Antenna ... http://www.metacafe.com/watch/563785/boost_car_remote_with_skull/

You can also get replacement switches if you want/need to. http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic...opped-working/ From the above link" "Dave: There is an interesting article in the June 2010 issue of Excellence Magazine entitled: "Fob 4 Less: Fixing a modern Porsche key for less than $3 bucks". The article describes rescuing a dysfunctional key by replacing a couple of small, inexpensive momentary switches. Looks relatively easy to do and since the electronic functions of your key are already messed up you don't have much to lose. I have one non-functional fob, but since the other is working I haven't tried this idea yet. I did call the dealer about a replacment. They offered to solve the problem for $375. If you go the diy route please let folks know how it works out. The article lists the source for the momentary switch as: www.digikey.com , phone # [phone removed]). The three switches (this is a reply to a targa owner 3 switch Remote) are normally off (part # CKN9193CT-ND). The web link is: http://search.digike...CT-ND&x=27&y=19"

I was in the garage when I reported increase in range to about 10 feet since that's the only space I had before going inside the house. Tested the range at the work parking lot today, the increase in range is actually close to 20 feet and reliably even with the same battery that was in there before, this is noticeably better by a factor of 3 to 4 as compared to before I re-soldered the two joints electrically connecting the switch to the circuit board. Perhaps the gradually failing solder joint(s) caused increased resistance and reduced current flow, reducing the transmitted RF power as a result, that's the only logical theory I can come up with.

Maybe you used a roll of flux capacitor core solder instead of the usual flux core...