[Mort]

Hi all,
So I have a 00' 9-3. It has 2 Banana fobs and keys.
Only 1 banana fob is working now. I thought it was the battery in the non-working one - so I swapped in a new one - but no joy.
So I keep my working fob at home - and use the other fob - by only using the key in the door and no remote functions.
I used the working fob the other day - and it had that faint 'flat battery sound' when I used the remote, but I didn't get any SID message about it.


Questions: I recall an 'orange' battery in the Saab alarm unit in the car (not sure if it was 9-5 or 9-3). Is this the case for 9-3? Will I get a SID message that battery needs replacing - or is it only in the Key?

Also - if the working fob goes flat / or the Car battery is disconnected - what happens with the alarm?

To fix/check - I assume I will need both keys, fobs + car at the auto electrician who has a tech 2?

 

[Jeremy R.]

Both the 9-3 and the 9-5 have the same orange batteries (there are two of them) in the siren module in the wheel well. You'll get a Service Theft Alarm message on the SID if the batteries in the siren are low. I believe that you'll also get a message saying something like Replace Key Battery when the battery in your fob gets low.

I've had my car's battery die and nothing out of the ordinary happens when I pop the hood and hook a charger up to it, but then I've also had the alarm go off when doing that after the battery gets charged for a minute or two. Luckily I had the key in my pocket so I didn't tick off the neighbors too much. If the battery in your fob dies, it's no big deal. You can lock and unlock the car with the key, and I believe that that still arms and disarms the alarm on the 9-3.

A Tech 2 should help, but if it's a dying fob, it might not tell anyone much about that. If you're going to pay someone to hook up a Tech 2, you might want to pick up a used fob on eBay just in case, so if one of your old fobsis dead, they can pair up the new one.

 

[jakejm79]

Don't forget that the remote needs to be resynced whenever you replace the batteries.

The batteries in the alarm/siren unit have no impact on the remote unlocking/locking, they purely serve to sound the alarm if the main car battery is disconnected.

 

[Mort]

Good points - Thanks. When I changed the batteries before I did the Unlock/ Lock x 8 as per guidance. My car is going on a ship soon - so I want to ensure I can use it at the other end.