T7 California Battery drain - Key "talking"

[Struan_Cali]

Apologies if this question has been asked and answered already.
As the title suggests, the 12v battery has been going flat and its has been pin pointed that its due to the key constantly "talking" to the van when camping, to cut a long story short other than buying a faraday pouch to put the key in when I'm camping, or turning off the keyless entry system what should I be doing to prevent this from happening.

 

[Souter]

Just get a faraday pouch. Easy and simple. Saves key battery as well. Had one for 8 months and no issues

 

[Bongoloidfloyd]

First thing I did was turn off keyless entry and other non essential key functions.

No battery issues.

 

[Chriskend]

Same here, turned off the keyless entry, no real issues

 

[dspuk]

I don’t know about a T7 but my Defender has the same type of key and it’s never had a drain issue for 18 months.

You’re under warranty - ask for it to be repaired - it’s possibly a software update issue.

While stopping it “talking” by wrapping it in foil will work, it’s not fixing the root cause.

 

[P600BOO]

Are you talking about the key draining the vehicle battery or the key battery is draining?

 

[Amcali]

Turning on camper mode as soon as you are camping will also trigger 'rest stand' of the system. Best is to also use the faraday bag/pouch as mentioned.

 

[stoobthealien]

I've got keyless fully turned on - never had the battery drain issue - other have had so I think it's a fault

 

[vbk1975]

Apologies if this question has been asked and answered already.
As the title suggests, the 12v battery has been going flat and its has been pin pointed that its due to the key constantly "talking" to the van when camping, to cut a long story short other than buying a faraday pouch to put the key in when I'm camping, or turning off the keyless entry system what should I be doing to prevent this from happening.

I don't have a Multivan, but does the car have a Approach Unlocking / Walk away locking feature ?

If it does then the vehicle will be pinging the key looking for a response, if it is within a few metres of the vehicle the keyfob will woken and transmitting back to the car, this transmission is used to determine the location and direction of the key.

Normal operation without this feature is the vehicle only transmits looking for the key when you pull the handles or go to lock - some systems will also challenge the key when it is inside the vehicle to prevent it being locked in, but it certainly will challenge when the start button is pressed

If you spend a lot of time just outside the vehicle and it has Approach Unlocking or Walk away locking, then disable this feature in settings (if you can).

 

[WelshGas]

I don't have a Multivan, but does the car have a Approach Unlocking / Walk away locking feature ?

If it does then the vehicle will be pinging the key looking for a response, if it is within a few metres of the vehicle the keyfob will woken and transmitting back to the car, this transmission is used to determine the location and direction of the key.

Normal operation without this feature is the vehicle only transmits looking for the key when you pull the handles or go to lock - some systems will also challenge the key when it is inside the vehicle to prevent it being locked in, but it certainly will challenge when the start button is pressed

If you spend a lot of time just outside the vehicle and it has Approach Unlocking or Walk away locking, then disable this feature in settings (if you can).

It does and you can.

 

[stoobthealien]

I don't have a Multivan, but does the car have a Approach Unlocking / Walk away locking feature ?

If it does then the vehicle will be pinging the key looking for a response, if it is within a few metres of the vehicle the keyfob will woken and transmitting back to the car, this transmission is used to determine the location and direction of the key.

Normal operation without this feature is the vehicle only transmits looking for the key when you pull the handles or go to lock - some systems will also challenge the key when it is inside the vehicle to prevent it being locked in, but it certainly will challenge when the start button is pressed

If you spend a lot of time just outside the vehicle and it has Approach Unlocking or Walk away locking, then disable this feature in settings (if you can).

Even with the approach switched off the little red light on my key fob blinks communicating with the vehicle - doesn't seem to have any effect on vehicle battery drain though.

 

[WelshGas]

Even with the approach switched off the little red light on my key fob blinks communicating with the vehicle - doesn't seem to have any effect on vehicle battery drain though.

Agree, but the vehicle will warn you when the Key Fob battery gets low.

 

[Maccheek]

Even with the approach switched off the little red light on my key fob blinks communicating with the vehicle - doesn't seem to have any effect on vehicle battery drain though.

The key fobs contain a motion sensor. The blinking tells you that the fob is awake. After a while the fob will go to sleep and will not respond to signals until it detects being moved. This is a security feature to prevent relay theft, when thieves access your key remotely and relay the signal to another device so they can steal a car without physically accessing the key.

 

[stoobthealien]

The key fobs contain a motion sensor. The blinking tells you that the fob is awake. After a while the fob will go to sleep and will not respond to signals until it detects being moved. This is a security feature to prevent relay theft, when thieves access your key remotely and relay the signal to another device so they can steal a car without physically accessing the key.

Indeed, but it also only does it when in range of the vehicle

 

[Rebus]

Just get a faraday pouch. Easy and simple. Saves key battery as well. Had one for 8 months and no issues

Agree

 

[Rebus]

Apologies if this question has been asked and answered already.
As the title suggests, the 12v battery has been going flat and its has been pin pointed that its due to the key constantly "talking" to the van when camping, to cut a long story short other than buying a faraday pouch to put the key in when I'm camping, or turning off the keyless entry system what should I be doing to prevent this from happening.

It’s also good for the safety of the van that the cannot be read when you’re parked

 

[Souter]

If you have 2 keys, get a Farady Pouch for each and don’t leave it in the van. OH has key no. 2 and we keep it hidden in her handbag ;0). Just in case.