Has anyone gotten a diagnosis of bone cysts forming on their hand from using/holding these worthless, new rechargeable remotes roku has now? I noticed my hand feeling like it's being microwaved after using this remote and now it's gotten so bad that I had to go to urgent care to get x-rays done on my right hand which showed I have cysts forming on my scaphoid bone!!
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It's the 1st edition of the "voice remote pro". I don't remember the date I bought it, but it was through Roku.com. A little over a year ago. It doesn't get hot during use, just feels like my hand is getting microwaved while holding it. Happens with both hands and even if I rest it on my chest. the cyst on my scaphoid bone in my right hand is a little suspicious as well...And also, the battery barely lasts 3hrs on a full charge. This thing shouldn't be having all these issues barely a year old.
MrJaxn78 wrote:...And also, the battery barely lasts 3hrs on a full charge.
Some things that can affect this:
Earphone jack
On remotes that have an earphone jack for remote listening, the earphone amplifier in the remote is activated and more quickly draining batteries whenever something is plugged into the jack, even when you are not streaming anything. Make sure you unplug the phones when not actively listening.
Overcharging
Many (most? all?) rechargeable batteries deteriorate if repeatedly allowed to overcharge. My Samsung phone, Lenovo tablet, and Asus laptop all have optional features that will cut off charging before the battery reaches full charge to prevent or limit this deterioration. (I've suggested to Roku that they add this capability to their Voice Remote Pros, but the suggestion seems to have dropped into a black hole.)
From day one I've always made it a point to try to remember to disconnect my Voice Remote Pros from the charger when they reach full charge, or slightly before. I especially try to avoid letting them charge unattended overnight. The charger I use outputs 2 amps and the remotes charge fairly quickly. You can check the charge level via "Settings > Remotes & devices > Remotes > Voice Remote Pro > About" on your Roku. If I don't want to exit what I am watching just to check the charge level while charging, I just unplug the remote from the charge cord and observe the popup that usually (not always) appears on the upper right corner of the screen.
WiFi congestion
Voice Remotes control via WiFi directly to your Roku, bypassing your local WiFi network. Since the Roku has only a single WiFi radio, the Remote must use the same Roku channel your Roku is tuned to for your local network - this is set by the WiFi router, not the Roku.
There is some evidence that one cause of battery drain for those with WiFi remotes can be your router using a channel that has a lot of interference from nearby routers using the same or overlapping 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 caused by overlap from adjacent channels.
Note that optimum channel choice can be a moving target as neighbors bring new routers online in your vicinity, or reconfigure their current 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. I don't know if that explains my battery longevity (usually 3 months or more with fairly heavy use for my remotes with replaceable batteries) but it's probably worth a try to see if it helps.
They are Wi-Fi remotes. As far as I know there are no known health effects with Wi-Fi.
A few comments I found while googling: “Many bone cysts don't cause symptoms and go away on their own over time. Because bone cysts often go undetected, doctors don't know how common they are.” And “In most cases, doctors don't know why bone cysts happen. As they often occur in children and adolescents, bone cysts seem to happen as the bone grows. A solid tumor in the bone causes about 30% of aneurysmal bone cysts to form. That tumor is usually also benign.”
So I would say any link to a Wi-Fi remote and that condition is highly speculative at best. But if you want to be careful, consider laying the remote someplace and poking the buttons with your finger, or even a pencil eraser. Or, if you don’t have a Roku Stick model, you can get an IR remote.
This is kind of analogous to the idea that if you think cell phones cause brain cancer, you can limit exposure by using the speaker phone as much as possible. Even if there’s no known linkage, it usually doesn’t hurt to be cautious.
