[audioholic]

Prelude: I am creating this thread to discuss issues with keyless entry remotes and the possible issues with these simple electronic devices. If this should go along within another thread, I request the mods to do the needful. In addition to this I also want to share my experience with this remote since till now I have dealt with three of these remotes with successful fixes.

Background - My SX4 came with two of these remotes from factory -

So is the case with many swifts, Dzires and Ritz which came before BS4 regulations. Later, this remote was moved into the key itself.

Over a period of five years of abuse, they failed one by one. And I was left with two non-working remotes. That gave me an additional annoyance - People asking how come my car didnt have a central locking system when I would open it manually

Lesson learnt the hard way: When one remote of the car fails, immediately switch to Valet mode or replace the remote. There will come another day when the other remote will fail, and opening the car manually will be a show-stopper kind of situation wherever you do it in case valet mode isn't engaged. Why I didnt replace the remote was because of multiple reasons - Of not finding the authorised guy(found only individuals who would come home and do the job - Security issue for me), and the authorised guy once quoted 2k for those two remotes, moreover I had fixed it once and I knew what the problem was, just didnt have time to work on it.


Okay, coming to the situation now - Your remote(s) have packed and are not working. Lets start the troubleshooting. This will include a few non technical and obvious steps, and some technical steps. I will cover the most prone faults. From the basics, we shall troubleshoot as deep as possible.

Tools required: A prying tool or screw driver to open the remote, A simple multimeter - Very much handy, cleaning agents like alcohol, a soldering gun.
If these tools arent available, do borrow them or approach a person who has them to help you out. If you are interested in buying one, get an el-cheapo multimeter from a local electronic store and use them for basic needs.

Before starting this - keep in mind that the remote is gone, and replacement is coming up. This is just a last minute revival method, and in most cases it will work since there is no rocket science involved nor delicate components here.

[audioholic]

Shortcut - If the LED glows when you press all the three buttons and still the remote doesn't work, you can skip everything till 2.4


1.First step - Physical inspection

1.1. Inspect the remote from outside. Is it damaged? Was it dropped or waterlogged anytime? Are the buttons worn out? +ve if alls well. -ve if not.

1.2. Open up the remote by twisting a screwdriver or a prying tool in the gap provided. Sorry for not showing an image since my remote is chipped out in the sides If step 1 turns out to be positive, skip the next step.

1.3. Since you have located some sort of physical damage, water logging or wear, as you open the remote, look for damage to the inner parts as well, corresponding to the external damage. This may include corrosion(water-logging/chemical influx), damage to PCB. If the PCB is damaged, maybe thats the end of the post mortem.

1.4. Remove the PCB from the remote shell and keep it on a clean surface. It will look like this:

We shall name this the button side:



And this, the circuit side:



2. Coming to the electronics part:

2.1. As obvious as it is, the remote will have a battery that is bound to get weak and die. So, the first test will be removing the battery and checking for its voltage. If this isnt possible due to equipment limitations, wipe the battery contacts on the board and replace with a new battery and check if the LED glows and the remote works. If the remote works, done.

• If the LED doesnt glow, then move to the next step
• If the LED glows and yet the car doesnt respond, move to step 2.4

2.2. Upon replacement of the battery or confirmation of the health of the battery, if the LED still doesnt glow upon pressing any key, we have to check if the fault lies in the buttons. If you see the button side, you will notice that a thin adhesive film is stuck, which carries the three button contacts. These are the flimsiest switches I have come across, and they are just metal buttons pasted onto the sheet as shown



Gently, peel off the sheet and keep it aside. Dont disturb the metal contacts on the sheet. Clean the board under the sheet to remove contaminants and corrosion etc

2.3. With the film removed, measure voltage at the points marked red. It should read the actual battery voltage. In most cases, it will.



After this, replace the film back and check each switch for continuity. This will require an additional person to press the switch while you check for its working. If the switch is the culprit and has worn out, you might have to replace this with a different switch which can be done in any electronic repair or mobile repair shop. To check the continuity of the switch, check the voltage when each switch is pressed at these points, corresponding to Sw1, Sw2 and SW3:



If there is an issue with the switch, these voltages will not exist even when the switch is pressed. Hence, a 3V signal is necessary at these three points when each of the switch is pressed and only then we can continue to the next stage of debugging.

2.4. The next in line will be this IC which I couldnt decode. The part number is near invisible so I couldnt find out what it did. Just to ensure things are right, resolder the pins by melting the solder and resetting it, in case there are any cracks that may have formed in the bond due to shock(physical).


2.5 The last, but the most significant culprit in this circuit, which has created issue in two of my remotes is this component. The same problem, in both remotes. It definitely deserves a special note.



What it is - A crystal oscillator
What it does - Generates the Radio signal for the remote. Here, technically it is a ~400Mhz signal that is combined with a key code to let the car know what button is pressed.
What happens when the issue is with this component - Remote LED will glow on pressing the buttons, but the remote doesnt control the car, or in simple words wont work.

Why did this single component cause the problem:

Design issue. The component unlike the other IC is SMD based. Lets not make it technical, but in simple words, the PCB of the remote isnt strong enough to stay rigid. Each time we press a button, the entire PCB flexes a little. Such flexing causes this component to develop cracks in the soldering. In addition to that, shocks caused due to bad roads where the remote slams against the interior panels, or when we drop the remote, or having the habit of throwing the remote into a key bowl(all applies to me ) all these will cause the component to become loose over a period of time. Hence, it is a bad idea to use such a component.

How to repair this issue:

Irony is, this component has eight pins to hold it in place. However, only two of them are responsible for the actual working in addition to a ground. The remaining six pins are signal grounds and optional pins which are grounded. Hence, if the two crucial pins develop problems, the ouput is affected. These two are the pins located in the middle of each side surrounded by two other pins. Technically, pin 2 and 6(refer to image attached). When any button is pressed, the pin 2 will have a 3V voltage while the output pin 6 will have somewhere around 0.8V. So these two pins must be connected to the board for the remote to work properly. Due to the reasons mentioned above, it will become loose and hence, melt the solder or add a little more solder along with flux. It will recreate the connection.

Once this is done, the remote will work since this is the last fault I could find. Apart from this there are a few resistors and capacitors which are quite reliable and will not fail.

2.5. Verifying the working and checking for further faults. In the most probablity, this should solve any problem with the remote. If not, then either the remote has lost pairing with the car or something is wrong with the security system. At this stage, try pairing the remote again using the procedure available on YouTube.

3. Assemble the remote back to shape and enjoy!

If you have any queries regarding some other version or any specific problem do let me know. I shall try to understand what could've gone wrong and help you out. However, I do not offer any commercial repair services or stuff like that. I am just putting to use what I have studied so far and that did help me solve the problem with not just two but another remote of my cousins car which had the same problem too. Hence I wanted to share it with people who are facing similar issues. Of course if anyone here in TBHP wants my help, I shall definitely help to the possible extent.

If I get any other remote in my hands for this analysis, I will post another checklist for that too.

PS: You can use this procedure to sit along a mobile repair guy and get things done by him if you are not used to electronic stuff.

[Aditya]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Technical Stuff. Thanks for sharing!

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

One of Two Remote Keys of our Xylo has developed the problem-

Originally Posted by audioholic

If the LED glows when you press all the three buttons and still the remote doesn't work.

The Rubber of all three buttons got torn long back and at that time (1-1.5 years ago) I was unaware of the DIY mentioned by PC_Pranav and another 1 or 2 Bhpians who had covered the slot left by torn rubber with another rubber using DIY method. So I used pieces of plastic carrybags and covered the exposed parts of buttons.
The Remote worked till around 8-10 days. Then only LED used to glow when any button was pressed but no effect (Lock, Unlock, Siren). I thought the Battery conked off. But I was wrong since replacing the battery with new one did not solve the problem.

Now I am using the Spare Remote.

For your kind information, the Remote has the key attached to itself (I don't remember the necessary English words at the required time) and not as shown in your case above.

Help will be much appreciated.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by IndigoXLGrandDi

One of Two Remote Keys of our Xylo has developed the problem-

For your kind information, the Remote has the key attached to itself (I don't remember the necessary English words at the required time) and not as shown in your case above.

Help will be much appreciated.

Open up the remote and post an image of both sides of the board. I shall let you know what to do. Since M&M also uses Nippon IIRC, I think the layout will be same, except for the board to be changed as per the key design.

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

Sir,
As requested by you, I am attaching herewith the pictures of the PCB of Remote. Please guide me for troubleshooting the problem.






Here I have removed the Battery Cells.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by IndigoXLGrandDi

Sir,
As requested by you, I am attaching herewith the pictures of the PCB of Remote. Please guide me for troubleshooting the problem.

.

The circuit is similar to the Maruti Suzuki remote and I feel the problem is similar too. You will have to follow the same procedure as above, except that I have marked the different location of the oscillator which is the culprit mostly.

The left polygon is the area that should be cleaned. The right polygon I have marked is the oscillator. Only the layout is different in this and the circuit is similar to my remote except for a few different components.



Overall, from what I see, the remote needs cleanup to remove the dirt or corrosion and then if the circled part is resoldered I guess the problem is solved. If you do not know how to solder etc take it to a mobile repair guy. He can do it for you and set the components alright.

The switches neednt be checked in your case. So if you follow the steps from 2.4 it would be fine.

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

I was too lazy as well as busy to carry out your advice.

Originally Posted by audioholic

The left polygon is the area that should be cleaned.

I sprayed the WD40 all over the board. And left to dry. But still the problem persists.

Originally Posted by audioholic

The right polygon I have marked is the oscillator.
Attachment 1318437

Overall, from what I see, the remote needs cleanup to remove the dirt or corrosion and then if the circled part is resoldered I guess the problem is solved.

I will get it done and report here the outcome.

[vigsom]

Just to add

I could not open my Grand Vitara using the remote - this is the integrated remote+key similar to the one used in the latest Marutis.

Opened the remote housing and found that the battery CR1620 was reading 3.03volts which is still ok considering that the battery is rated 3V.

I bought a new battery which read 3.25volts and installed it ; lo and behold the remote started working.

Even a 0.2V drop makes the remote stop working ;surprising.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Open up the remote and post an image of both sides of the board. I shall let you know what to do. Since M&M also uses Nippon IIRC, I think the layout will be same, except for the board to be changed as per the key design.

I was wondering if anyone in this forum could help me reset the Nippon security system on my Alto K10 (2014) to factory defaults.
I don't know what was changed when it was at the Surakshaa workshop for routine maintenance. It started howling at the workshop itself for no reason. They did something and it was ok for a day, then the same thing happened again at home, I disconnected the hooter and took it to another Surakshaa that was closest to me and the technician told me he reset it. Same thing happened again and this time I pressed the code for "Emergency disarm" using the PIN "1111" (elsewhere on this forum someone had stated that the default code was "1234").

I don't know what triggers the alarm. There is something called "Anti Hijack mode" which could be the culprit, but I don't want to experiment because enabling or disabling any feature is acknowledged by chirps on the hooter and I have disconnected it to keep my sanity and that of my neighbors .

I think there should be some way to get the system back to factory settings, and this would be the best way to get it to a known state.

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

The Wagon R is not getting unlocked and locked via Remote.
The car can be started after unlocking through Key (Manually).

There is sound of Central Locking operating when the Buttons on Remote are pressed. But nothing happens further.

I replaced the Battery Cell in Remote with new one but same result.





Please inform What is the problem.