A friendly wager

[Drago]

Today I am going to fit a new battery in the Ford Fusion of Elderliness. The current battery is working, but the date code is five years ago and it's marginal when drop tested. I have a near new battery on standby that I salvaged from my old car that suffered a viking funeral.

So here's the gamble.

Within seconds of disconnecting the battery I am likely to lose the radio code. I've made a heath Robinson lash up with a PP3 to clip to the battery connectors to try and keep sufficient current to save the code - will old Bern prevail, or will he get angry and do a Basil Faulty with a tree branch?

I'm not feeling terrible confident.

 

[DaveReading]

I bought a battery from Halfords a few years ago and foolishly accepted their offer to fit it. They plugged a gizmo into the cigar lighter socket that they assured me would avoid the need to re-enter the radio code.

It did what they said. Unfortunately (unless it was completely coincidental) it also triggered the airbag light, which then stayed on permanently from that point onwards. Had to change a sensor in the end to fix it for the MoT.

Incidentally, the callow youth who changed the battery couldn't undo the clamp bolt to get the old one out. I had to gently take the socket from him and do it myself instead. I won't let Halfords anywhere near my car now.

And I keep my radio code in a safe place.

 

[snorri]

I expressed similar concerns to my neighbour and he offered to do the changeover for me, it all went smoothly, without any need for a 'tempy PP3 lash-up'. I threw a few firewood logs sawn from a tree that had washed up on beach, over to my neighbour and all was well.

 

[numbnuts]

I bought a code saver they do work

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I bought a code saver they do work

Pen and Paper?

 

[Drago]

I'm not in the financial league that permits me spending a fiver on a code saver. I'd rather drive around with no radio than unnecessary waste money on what is simply a means on transport - it's that type of spendthrift thinking that gets people saddled with finance buying something to impress neighbours, who probably couldn't care less anyway.

 

[screenman]

I just make sure like you are doing that there is still a feed, many cars do not need it though as long as you do not have a tea break.

 

[PeteXXX]

When I disconnected my battery for a few minutes, the wireless code was dumped. It wasn't a problem as I know the code to re-enter.
Hopefully the Heath Robinson PP3 ploy will work.

Gone are the days when all you had to do pop the car wireless in a plastic bag in the freezer for a while to unlock it!

 

[fossyant]

No code then ??? Mine is "coded" to the ECU, so you can't just swap a unit out, but it doesn't loose the code upon battery disconnection. Depending upon how quick you are you may not loose the radio stations. You might have to reset the auto down on the driver's window. I have to cycle the window up and down three times to re-set the auto up/down.

I did a fair bit of swearing changing mine recently as the 'positive' terminal nut was really difficult to get a socket on it due to the in-line fuses on the connector.

Good luck !

 

[Bollo]

[QUOTE 4697391, member: 259"]Typical faded nobility. You've got a vast tract of land in the Lake District and you can't afford a fiver for a radio saver.[/QUOTE]
Don't forget his Louis Vuitton plod pension! The only reason he's out of fivers is that he used the last one to snort blanca from a cortisan's breast.

 

[Drago]

[QUOTE 4697391, member: 259"]Typical faded nobility. You've got a vast tract of land in the Lake District and you can't afford a fiver for a radio saver.[/QUOTE]

Mort wins the chuckle of the day award!

Ok, attached my homebrewed source of electrons, and disconnected the battery. Some faffing about as the new battery is 20 A meatier as it was from a 4x4, so the box took about 10 minutes persuasion with an angle grinder to accommodate the new battery.

In it went, connected it all up. Car started first go, then went to try the radio...

And it worked!

strangely anti climactic though.

 

[r04DiE]

I'm not in the financial league that permits me spending a fiver on a code saver... ... it's that type of spendthrift thinking that gets people saddled with finance buying something to impress neighbours, who probably couldn't care less anyway.

Like this, you mean:

I've ordered a Lordship. It comes with 12" inches of land in Cumbria to make me a legitimate lord of the manor.

 

[Drago]

In the early days of coded radios in the eighties, some Philips sets could be reset by exposing them to low temperatures.

 

[numbnuts]

Pen and Paper?

OK for radio, but no good for central locking

 

[PeteXXX]

[QUOTE 4697640, member: 9609"]have never heard of that one before - how does that work ?[/QUOTE]
No idea how it worked. Apparently, freeze for a couple of days then defrost, job done.

Only old radios though.