What if the key fob gets wet?

[Fiddler]

And don't forget to plasti dip.

It took courage (stupidity?) to dip one of my MX FOBs into the Plasti-Dip, but I did it, and it seems to still work. I have be carrying my FOB in a clear plastic zip bag to protect it. The spray Plasti-Dip would take less courage.

 

[scaesare]

Model S Keyfob Relatively Water Resistant

I have it on good authority that if you get thrown in to a pool with a Model S keyfob in your pocket, it will continue to work.

I immediately fished it out of my pocket and threw in on to dry land... I then removed it from it's Fob Pocket and pulled the battery cover off and blew it out the best I could.... and let it dry. It still seems to operate the car just fine...

I don't recommend this, however... :wink:

I also have it on good authority if you jump in to a pool with the same fob in your pocket a second time, and then let it dry out, it will still operate the doors and allow you to drive the car, but the frunk button may stop working.

 

[Fiddler]

And don't forget to plasti dip.

I also have it on good authority if you jump in to a pool with the same fob in your pocket a second time, and then let it dry out, it will still operate the doors and allow you to drive the car, but the frunk button may stop working.

@scaesare: I thank 'your authority' for expertly testing that for me. I hope my testing is less comprehensive than yours. Since as you taught me, I will be testing the FOB at an inconvenient moment, I decided to Plasti-Dip it. At least a failure now, at home with the other FOB at hand, is better than out of town and away from cell phone service. A day later now and the Plasti-Dip FOB frunk button still works.

 

[scaesare]

Uh... "happy".... to be of service.

 

[Akikiki]

I also have it on good authority if you jump in to a pool with the same fob in your pocket a second time, and then let it dry out, it will still operate the doors and allow you to drive the car, but the frunk button may stop working.

Good info. I will be checking back in with you as the number of times you do this continues to increase. Wondering how many times you can do this before the fob quits completely (that's a challenge to you to help us learn how many times). Keep up the good research.

 

[scaesare]

Thanks!

Although, in my defense, I was thrown in to the pool the first time. The second time I blame the Long Island Iced Tea(s).

 

[scaesare]

Update:

After a few weeks of managing to NOT immerse the fob in a pool yet again, the frunk button started to work somewhat intermittently... it would take a few tries to get it to trigger.

Then it started auto-triggering on occasion. Sometimes repeatedly. That was annoying. My assumption was that some of the cool chemicals or additives were dried out inside the fob.

So, today I took the battery cover off and the battery out. Then I immersed the whole thing in alcohol and then shook it out. Rinse-repeat 3X...

Upon closer inspection, there are a couple of locations behind the battery contacts that appear to be open to the guts inside. I was able to aim the small straw from my can of electrical component cleaner in there and blast some in each side. After shaking it out and letting it dry a bit, I reinserted the battery.

It seems to be working correctly now. Triggers the frunk every time, and no phantom triggers. I'm letting it dry overnight and we'll see if all is well going forward...

 

[senojjones]

Just sent my Model S Key thru the laundry.
1st submerge it in distilled water, a couple of times
Then toss it in a sock and spin it around your head (cheap but effective centrifuge
Then submerge it in rubbing alcohol, drop it in a glass of rubbing alcohol and shake well
then back to the sock centrifuge trick
i did remove the battery cover
next day it works fine

The distillled water removes the salts, soap, junk
The rubbing alcohol is then substituted for water
and it evaporates.

works with cell phones
(I do have a PhD in Organic Chemistry)