Remote draining batteries within 24 hours
My Roku (model:3941X-Roku Express 4K+) has worked perfectly for over a year. Last week, the remote started draining batteries within 24 hours! I've now gone through about $20 of AAA batteries on this issue. I've taken to removing the batteries when not in use...and even in the middle of watching a show. My Roku unit is plugged into a wall outlet for power...not through the TV. Can someone please tell me what the heck is going on? Why did this just start happening? Thanks!
As a guess, you may have had a nearby neigbor start using the same WiFi channel as you are.
There is some evidence that one cause of battery drain for those with point-anywhere WiFi remotes can be your WiFi router using a channel that has a lot of interference from nearby routers using the same channel. This is more likely to be a problem in the more heavily used 2.4 GHz wifi band where it can also get interference from other sources like BlueTooth and microwave ovens than in the 5 GHz band.
If you have access to your router's setup, try configuring it to use a different WiFi channel to see if this helps the situation. If you are connecting in the crowded 2.4 GHz band, channels 1-11 are supported. Channels 1, 6, and 11 do not overlap each other and so give you the best chance at reducing congestion, so try each in succession, although depending on what channels your neighbors are using, other channels in the 1-11 range may work best. Also, reducing router bandwidth from 40 to 20 kHz may also reduce interference.
Note that optimum channel choice can be a moving target as neighbors bring new routers online in your vicinity, or reconfigure their routers to use different channels. I periodically use a WiFi analyzer app on my smart phone that can show me which available WiFi channels have the least congestion and I change the channel my router uses accordingly.
