A new number plate is issued every six month.  The current known format that has been in place since Septebmer 2001 and uses a zero or a five to indicate which half of the year the plate was issued. This is known as ‘age identifiers’.   For example 2002 would be shown as 02 and the second half of the year always issued in September would be 52.  The plate is prefixed with two letters before the year which indicate the city of issue.  This is know as ‘local memory tags’  For example a new car sold at the start of the year in 2002 in Enfield would have a number plate of EN02.  Three random letters are then assigned after this to complete the plate number.

In March 2010 the identifier changed to 10.  In September 2010 this will change to 60.  This prefixed 6 being used to shown the second half of 2010.  So in March 2011 we would have 11 and in September this would be 61.

If your key fob has stopped remotely opening your car doors or has become problematic, then it may mean the battery is flat and needs replacing.  The battery in the key fob only supplies power to the remote opening functionality and not the transponder chip that deactivates the immobiliser.  The transponder is a passive chip that requires no battery.  I will talk more about tranponders and how they work in a separate post.

Replacing your key fob battery is a simple procedure that requires not specialist skills or knowledge.   Their are two types of fobs, some are built into the key and some are separate remotes that can be clipped onto the key.  Either way the procedure for replacing the battery is identical.  The battery will be flat and round like a large watch battery and stored in the head of the key fob.  To replace the battery simply open the fob in half using a flat head skrewdriver.  Depending on which car key you have, you may need to lift out the circuit board of the remote to reveal the battery.  Again, using a flat head screwdriver lift out the battery from its housing and fix in the new battery.  Clip the two remote halves back together and that’s it…battery replaced!

BEWARE… Some car key fobs will lose synch with the car if the battery is removed for too long.  If this happens the fob will need reprogramming.  Some key fobs can be reprogrammed with a manual procedure but some require programming with a diagnostic tool, so ensure you replace the new battery straight away.  I will discuss methods of programming your own key remotes in a future post.