Saving settings before disconnecting then battery, Radio Code

[Keithuk]

OK VW are very reluctant to give me my radio code for my new Golf at the moment but I'm working on it. I had a browse through the RCD 310 handbook and it says a dealer has to put the code back in. It doesn't show you the sequence of buttons to press to enter the code.

Many many years ago I've heard of devices that you plug into the cigarette lighter socket that keeps the radio alive while you change the battery or do any electrical repairs.

Now I've searched eBay and there are a few available.

Memory Saver Battery. The cheapest is £7.99 and you can pay up to £50.15. The other devices appear to need another 12v supply on those croc clips. Now I've emailed the £7.99 guy to ask how come his is a 9v battery the other state 12v. He says it just it will supply power to the electrical components in your car, preventing you from losing clock times, stereo presets and switching off your alarms. So will it save the radio code? He hasn't replied yet.

Now a web search for these devices shows a lot of different types and prices. Google KS259A Memory Saver.

Sykes-Pickavant Memory Saver

The same tool thats sold on eBay is selling for £12.91 at most places that appears to be a good buy.

Has any one ever used these devices? Ho they work? I've never price resetting the radio code at VW but I will guest as £15-£20.

I'm not thinking of disconnecting the battery just yet, I'm just looking into the future. Any comments or suggestion will be gratefully accepted.

Edit: Wrong radio number RCD instead of RDS.

[vwcabriolet1971]

Is it necessary to re-code the radio ? I would have thought in this day & age that the ECU would remember the code. Never had to re-code anything on my old MK4 Golf which had 2 battery replacements.

[Keithuk]

Is it necessary to re-code the radio ? I would have thought in this day & age that the ECU would remember the code. Never had to re-code anything on my old MK4 Golf which had 2 battery replacements.

Recoding is one of those drawbacks of motoring. Most things are computer controlled. ECU's have to be powered. A lot of the programming will be burnt into the chips but there a lot of variables that need adjusting. My 16 year old Rover had a coded radio which I knew the code for and when the battery packed up on that suddenly you lost the radio until you re-entered the code.

Obviously it will depend on the make/type of radio. How old was your MK4 Golf?

[Y90USF]

if it is any help to u on my passat whenever i disconnect battery and reconnect it again the radio says learn on it and if i turn the headunit off and back on it starts to work again.

[Y90USF]

if this does not work there are alway car radio shops which can get the code for you at a small cost.

[percymon]

I'm pretty certain the only timeyou need any code is if you swap the headunit, so if you installed a rcd or rns510 you'd need the code for that unit to reprogramme the car to recognise it. Similarly if you sell your rcd310 the buyer needs the code

[shark_90]

The radio is coded to the immobiliser, so you do not need the code if you disconnect the battery.

I believe that your dealer should give you the code however you don't need it.

[Frelon]

Yes, if it just your radio you are worried about, stop worrying!

Have disconnected my battery and reconnected, and radio did not notice the disconnection!!

[james_tiger_woo]

As above - I've had 2 RCD300s in my old Passat. The new, hooky one I got from ebay wanted a code, but when I put my old RCD300 back in, it recognised the car fine.

[SebbyMK6]

When I collected my car, VW gave me a radio code. The page had been printed from a website (some kind of internal VW site I'd imagine).