For the last three weeks or so it’s been extremely difficult to get my car out of or into the parking garage in my building. The fob that opens that gate was acting up but I wasn’t sure if it just needed a new battery. When I pressed the button, the LED on the fob still lit up so I thought it might just be broken.
I got myself into two particular situations where I probably should have just went out and replaced the battery. The first was when I wanted to go somewhere and I got to the gate exit. I kept hammering on the button on the fob, the LED lights up but gate stays closed. I rolled down my window, stuck the fob outside, hoping it would send a clearer signal but no dice. I must have sat there for at least two minutes by myself. Finally, another vehicle that was leaving pulled right behind me. They probably waited about thirty seconds, wondering what the hell I was doing. They could see the fob in my hand, stuck outside the window as I was pressing on it madly. They figured it out and they mercifully used their own fob to let me out.
Now while getting out was great, I immediately thought that I wouldn’t be able to get back in. Once I was done my errand, I was just hoping that another car would be leaving and I could slip in while the gate was opening for them. I believe this is how criminals get into buildings. Anyways, as arrived home, luck was not on my side. I stopped at the gate and again hammered on the fob. Nothing happened. It was useless, I would have to wait for someone coming out or someone coming back just like me.
Sadly, none of those things for quite a while so I just had my car idling on street with my left blinker on. Luckily the street is wide enough that other cars could go around me on my right. It was five minutes before the lights of another car appeared from behind the gate as someone was leaving. Five minutes doesn’t seem that long but trust me it is, especially when you’re waiting in traffic to turn left into a parking garage you can’t get into. As the gate opened, I drove back in, silently thanking the person who was leaving.
That was about three weeks ago and that was also the last time I drove until today, when I got the battery replaced in my fob. Everything now works fine. I’m an idiot for procrastinating that long.