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I have two RC-AL7 remotes in use with my two Roku Sticks (3600 and 3810). Both are plugged directly into house power through the provided adapters so they are on all the time.
The 3810 is in the living room where it gets very heavy use daily. The last set of batteries as of this writing was installed a bit over 3 months ago and still shows a battery level of about 60%. (You can check via Settings > Remotes & Devices > Remotes > [remote name] (in use) > About). I don't know if this is 60% of useable voltage, or 60% of original voltage, so I don't know at what point it will start to fail. I'll try to remember to check next time. (When the remote starts to fail, I'll have to use the remote capabilities of the Roku app on my phone to go thru the Roku menu choices.)
The older 3600 in the guest room doesn't get much use and I have no record of when the batteries were last changed but it was a number of months ago. It says the battery is at 87%, so it's not draining much when sitting essentially idle.
Roku remotes typically use the same wifi channel for the wifi-direct communication with the Roku device as the Roku itself is using for its internet connection to your local network. I suspect, but have never seen it confirmed, that if you are using a router channel that is congested with a bunch of outside routers using the same or overlapping nearby channels, that the remote has to work harder to sort through the data packets spewing out from the other routers on that channel and pick out the ones it needs to maintain its connection with the Roku -- thus draining the batteries faster. If you can configure your router to use a less congested channel it should, at least in theory, reduce the remote's workload and thus reduce battery drain. Less congestion should also result in higher data transmission rates.
I don't have Apple, but in a web search I haven't been able to find anything comparable to WiFi Analyzer for iOS - maybe somebody can suggest one.
In the absence of hard data, your most likely bet for finding a clearer channel in the 2.4 GHz range is to limit yourself to channels 1, 6, and 11 as these are the only ones that can operate without overlapping and interfering with each other. Give each a try and see how it works.
I have two RC-AL7 remotes in use with my two Roku Sticks (3600 and 3810). Both are plugged directly into house power through the provided adapters so they are on all the time.
The 3810 is in the living room where it gets very heavy use daily. The last set of batteries as of this writing was installed a bit over 3 months ago and still shows a battery level of about 60%. (You can check via Settings > Remotes & Devices > Remotes > [remote name] (in use) > About). I don't know if this is 60% of useable voltage, or 60% of original voltage, so I don't know at what point it will start to fail. I'll try to remember to check next time. (When the remote starts to fail, I'll have to use the remote capabilities of the Roku app on my phone to go thru the Roku menu choices.)
The older 3600 in the guest room doesn't get much use and I have no record of when the batteries were last changed but it was a number of months ago. It says the battery is at 87%, so it's not draining much when sitting essentially idle.
Roku remotes typically use the same wifi channel for the wifi-direct communication with the Roku device as the Roku itself is using for its internet connection to your local network. I suspect, but have never seen it confirmed, that if you are using a router channel that is congested with a bunch of outside routers using the same or overlapping nearby channels, that the remote has to work harder to sort through the data packets spewing out from the other routers on that channel and pick out the ones it needs to maintain its connection with the Roku -- thus draining the batteries faster. If you can configure your router to use a less congested channel it should, at least in theory, reduce the remote's workload and thus reduce battery drain. Less congestion should also result in higher data transmission rates.
I don't have Apple, but in a web search I haven't been able to find anything comparable to WiFi Analyzer for iOS - maybe somebody can suggest one.
In the absence of hard data, your most likely bet for finding a clearer channel in the 2.4 GHz range is to limit yourself to channels 1, 6, and 11 as these are the only ones that can operate without overlapping and interfering with each other. Give each a try and see how it works.
