Key Fob - Red Blinking Light Speed Varies
 

Hello all. I'm back to hopefully get some answers and help out some others. I was fortunate enough to do this in the only other thread I've posted so hopefully this proves to have the same results!

I have some weird issue that I've tried to search for but got nothing. My key fob for my 2012 Mazda 3 Hatch works but it's pretty strange. Let me present the scenario:

I come home from work, park my car, don't touch it the rest of the night and then wake up to go to work the next day. When I walk out to my car, I press my unlock button but get nothing. I hold it down and see the red light flashing. The problem isn't the light, it's how fast it blinks. This is a very rapid pace. I hold it down for ~10 secs and the speed seems to decrease until it gets to it's standard unlock (maybe registration??) speed of about once every .5 seconds and my car door unlocks.

I then drive to work sit in my little office all day, mess around on forums and whatnot, then go back out to my car to leave and the same scenario presents itself except this time, it's ~3 secs.

I get home and if I need to go somewhere prior to getting in for the night, I can go right out to my car and it will unlock immediately.

TL:dR

The unlock/lock seems to work all the time but the speed of the light and the length of time it takes for the car to unlock depend on the amount of time the car has sat idle. The red flashing light on the key fob indicates this as well as if it's sat idle a long time, the light blinks very quickly until the unlock message has been sent to which it slows down (you must hold the unlock button down in order to see this).

Checked the battery and it's output is 2.87 and it's a 3 watt battery so that's fine. I have also reprogrammed it. Not helping.

Any solutions, tips, tricks, anything?

Thank you all!

Replace the battery. 2.87v is getting too low.

Wow, no kidding? Even for a 3V battery? I would assume that is perfectly fine. Guess that's me being naive. That was my first guess when it first started happening so I guess it makes sense.

Thank you for the input.

Did changing the battery work for you?
I've got exactly the same problem.

If it's a battery problem, why does it start working after pressing it for a longer time?

Sorry for bumping an old thread.

Same issue
 

Did changing the battery work for you? I am having a very similar issue. I will get home from work and not start my car until the next morning and have to use my key to get into the car. Then When I get to work my fob will both lock and unlock the car like it has not issues at all. At the end of the day when I leave work it works fine but in the morning the same things starts again. This has been going on for two days.

Sorry, forgot to reply but yes, it did fix my issues I was having. No need to apologize for bumping old threads also. I have a different one that helped people for a few years.

You can find the battery and how to change it online. Hope it works for you both!

Hi both,

Replacing the battery worked for me too. Seems like such a reverse of logic though. The more you press it the more power it gets.

Anything less than 3v from a 3v battery is a sign it requires replacement.

Is that the same for the 12v car battery?