Trackpad connects and disconnects, freezes system

Recently I have been having a lot of issues with my Magic Trackpad. While writing this for the first time it sprung to life. Unfortunately that locked everything bar the cursor forcing a hard restart.

When I first open my Mac in the morning the trackpad disconnects and connects repeatedly. It never actually gains control over the cursor, but the trackpad connected and connection lost symbols flash up. This all takes a an indeterminate amount of time and I generally lose patience. I have noticed that it seems to connect eventually. While this is happening the bluetooth menu bar icon does not respond. Disconnecting the trackpad from the system preferences pane turns that pane unresponsive.

I've heard rumours that this is to do with batteries, and new ones are on the way. Surely this is a folk remedy! Are there any ways to diagnose the problem or explanations of what is going on?