I've been meaning to fix up my Mazda key fob for a couple of months... part of the housing had fallen apart and I have no idea where it is. I just know that one morning, I pulled it out and it was missing the side that had the unlock/lock buttons. The bottom section was already broken off when we bought the car second hand... and when I had previously taken it apart to replace the battery, the side housing was really loose as well.

Anyway, the previous time, everything snapped back together... loose as it was before I took it apart, but still functional... but with the side of the casing missing, it was really hard to lock/unlock the doors as the actual switches were quite recessed into the key housing, and I would need to use a paperclip to depress them.

But the radio transmitter still worked, and so I was still able to drive the car...

... or what actually happened in practice was that I would start pinching my wife's key fob so that I could easily unlock the car and get in and drive without faffing around with paperclips!

And very soon after it broke, I did purchase an empty key fob housing... with the idea that I would just transfer the entire chipboard from the old housing to the new one. But I was travelling quite a bit... and then there was the nightmare of organising the ensemble administration and forward planning.

So, it just didn't get done... until the other week when my wife finally got annoyed with me constantly asking where her car keys were!

Now, these key fobs are a little bit fiddly... there is a way to opening them, that you tend to forget unless you are doing it often... and so, it was back to YouTube to get a bit of a refresher before I started breaking things.

And on the Mazda key fob, there is this little lever thing that is attached to a spring that means that you can get the front plate off the fob.

... handy to remember in case you actually need to get to the physical key as well!

From there it is a matter of pushing on a little tab with the physical key, which only just disengages the back plate.... but not quite enough to easily pull off, and so it was straight to the little iFixit kit for a little wedge to pry off the back plate.

Back plate off, and at this point... I wasn't able to easily find a manual or video that would walk be through transplanting the board that was inside the inner housing and moving it to the new housing... and at this point, I figured that I could either use the rest of the day looking it up and potentially screwing it up... or to just cannabalise the new parts to replace the broken parts on the old housing. More time effective, and less risk...

So, first removing the broken tab that was supposed to anchor the side housing... and the one that had broken which meant that the side housing had fallen off completely... taking the button toggles with them. Again, iFixit to the rescue with a nice little set of tweezers which were able to grip the tiny leftover tab that was still sticking out... and gently pulling it loose and clear.

Taking the new side housing with the buttons, and the bottom section (which was originally missing...) ad snapping them into place, I quickly had a fully functional key fob again. I also decided to take the newer front and back panels so that it would look like I had a mostly new key fob... shiny, and everything worked as intended!

Much cheaper than getting an auto technician to come out and programme a new key fob! And all of it was done quickly and before my wife got back from the school run!

Handy Crypto Tools

Infinex: The future of self-custodied crypto wallets. Simple but powerful to use, made for normies!
Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Coinbase Wallet: Multi chain wallet with lots of opportunities to Learn and Earn!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
WooX: The centralised version of WooFi. Stake WOO for fee-free trades and free withdrawals! This link also gives you back 25% of the commission.
GMX.io: Decentralised perpetual futures trading on Arbitrum!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
KuCoin: I still use this exchange to take part in the Spotlight and Burning Drop launches.
MEXC: Accepts HIVE, and trades in most poopcoins! Join the casino!
ByBit: Leverage and spot trading, next Binance?
OkX: Again, another Binance contender?