Forum Discussion

Bismarck318's avatar
Bismarck318
Roku Guru
2 years ago

Decreased Remote Battery life with 12.5.0 upgrade?

Anyone noting decreased battery life after the 12.5.0 upgrade?  Seems the batteries are only lasting about 2-4 days, and..... when testing the depleted batteries they appear to be still in very good ...
remotes
RokuTakashi's avatar
RokuTakashi
Community Moderator
2 years ago

Hi, Bismarck318

Thanks for posting here in the Roku Community.

We appreciate you for flagging this to us, and we'd like to ask a few questions regarding this issue. Did this issue specifically occur right after updating your Roku OS to the latest version? Also, how often do you use the remote and its features?

Please keep us posted.

All the best,
Kash

  • Bismarck318's avatar
    Bismarck318
    Roku Guru
    2 years ago

    This is a 3820 stick, (which was the replacement this past June for the 3800 I returned to Roku), the 3800 went through a phase of eating batteries itself, then was OK.  I was fed up with replacing  them, so I went to rechargeable, which were lasting 2 weeks to a month then longer, so something had changed).

    The unit auto updates, & had been at 12.5.0 for a while (but I've seen 3 different builds) still had the original batteries since June (so OK the batteries bit the dust, removing them though they still tested relatively good), So possibly this started with the last "build" of 12.5.0. 

    I've gone through 3 sets recently (past few weeks) now (all test OK upon removal) & looks like I'm going to replace this evening again as it was giving me the warning the past 2 days).   I tried the rechargeables again last week they only lasted for one evening, these run at a slightly lower voltage I believe. 

    I'm going into a different brand of battery tonight to see if these behave any different. 

     

     

    • Bismarck318's avatar
      Bismarck318
      Roku Guru
      2 years ago

      As I figured the remote was completely dead last night (no battery warning, but batteries test OK), replaced batteries & working again. 

      Note:

      With any remotes, I noticed, as a rule when the remote dies one or both batteries are usually completely dead, apparently it shouldn't take much power to run a remote.  In contrast in my Roku 3900 I purchased in 2017 or 2018 I only think I had to replace batteries once or twice in that remote.

      I will keep you posted. 

      • RokuCarly's avatar
        RokuCarly
        Community Moderator
        2 years ago

        Thank you for sharing your input, Bismarck318.

        Roku remotes are designed to go the distance, but a few things will drain a remote a bit faster:

        • Congested Wi-Fi network around the device; the reason for this is that most remotes will use RF to connect to your Roku player, and constant reconnection will use more battery.
        • Heavy usage of private listening or voice command on the remote itself, but using the Roku mobile app will save your batteries!
        • Or viewing lots of short-form content, like YouTube, where a streamer could go through a few hundred button presses in an hour.

        Furthermore, please make sure that you charge your Roku Voice Remote Pro for about 3 hours so it will last for approximately 2 months under normal use. Anyway, keep us posted on what you find out. We'll be looking forward to your update.

        Thanks,
        Carly