Forum Discussion

countrygall66's avatar
countrygall66
Reel Rookie
9 months ago
Solved

Fast draining batteries on Roku remote

The first year my remote was good. Now all 3 remotes are eating batteries like candy. I am disabled & I need my remotes to work & I live on a very low fixed income, I can't always be trying to batteries. Why do your remotes, get like that so quickly??

remotes
  • RokuJharra-Q's avatar
    RokuJharra-Q
    9 months ago
    Greetings here in the Roku Community, countrygall66!

    Thank you for letting us know about the issues you're experiencing with the battery health of your Roku remote. We're here to provide further information and suggestions.
     
    Please be advised that Roku remotes are designed to go the distance, but a few things will drain a remote a bit faster.

    • Heavy usage of private listening on the remote using the mobile app will save your batteries!
    • 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.
    • Or viewing lots of short-form content, like YouTube, where a streamer could go through a few hundred button presses in an hour.
    Furthermore, we offer a Roku Voice Remote Pro (2nd edition) with 50% more battery life than the previous edition, with USB-C charging that typically lasts three months per charge. Live TV is one button push away, and you can pull up your favorite apps and adjust settings, like closed captioning, at any time with the quick launch button.

    We hope you find this information helpful.

    Thanks,
    Jharra

15 Replies

  • RokuJharra-Q's avatar
    RokuJharra-Q
    Retired Moderator
    9 months ago
    Greetings here in the Roku Community, countrygall66!

    Thank you for letting us know about the issues you're experiencing with the battery health of your Roku remote. We're here to provide further information and suggestions.
     
    Please be advised that Roku remotes are designed to go the distance, but a few things will drain a remote a bit faster.

    • Heavy usage of private listening on the remote using the mobile app will save your batteries!
    • 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.
    • Or viewing lots of short-form content, like YouTube, where a streamer could go through a few hundred button presses in an hour.
    Furthermore, we offer a Roku Voice Remote Pro (2nd edition) with 50% more battery life than the previous edition, with USB-C charging that typically lasts three months per charge. Live TV is one button push away, and you can pull up your favorite apps and adjust settings, like closed captioning, at any time with the quick launch button.

    We hope you find this information helpful.

    Thanks,
    Jharra
  • jontalk's avatar
    jontalk
    Roku Guru
    9 months ago

    Very odd. Is the Roku powering off after you use it? If not, I'd go to Settings>System>Power and make sure its configured properly.

    • Emissary35's avatar
      Emissary35
      Roku Guru
      9 months ago

      These remotes are junk, they are sucking the batteries of power even if you are not using your Roku, even if your Roku is not plugged in. I know this from years of experience, I would always unplug my Roku when not in use and next time I would use it the battery level would drop significantly. I have made this suggestion several times on different topics here, do what I do.

      Take your batteries out of the remote when you are done using your Roku and only have them inserted when using your device. I have been doing this for the past six months on three different Roku remotes connected to three different Roku devices in my house and the battery drain is almost non existent. Yes it is a pain in the asss having to take the batteries out and put them back in, but it does work and it will save you money not having to replace the batteries constantly.

      We all know that Roku is fully aware of this problem because people have been complaining about the battery drain for years and they have done nothing. Even their rechargeable remotes are full of problems, they won't fully charge and also lose their charge quickly. I have said it many times, these remotes are flawed in either their hardware design, the software controlling them or both.

      The only Roku remotes I have ever used that didn't have battery drain problems are the simple IR remotes that can't be paired to your Roku and don't have the TV and volume control buttons, all the WiFi remotes have this excessive battery drain problem. They also lose connection a lot and when the connection is re-established the remote software annoyingly pops up the battery level icon in the upper right corner of your screen, even if your batteries are full!

      Junk product!

      • tripletaco's avatar
        tripletaco
        Reel Rookie
        9 months ago

        Maybe they should just put an off/on switch on it that disconnects the batteries.

  • Bravomn85's avatar
    Bravomn85
    Reel Rookie
    9 months ago

    Aren’t there supposed to be “roku” batteries available to purchase separate from a new remote? I will check my settings but I was curious why I can’t find the default battery when it had a notification that the remote wouldn’t work as well with other batteries. 

    • renojim's avatar
      renojim
      Community Streaming Expert
      9 months ago

      Bravomn85, Roku doesn't make batteries and I've never seen the notification you're referring to.  All I can imagine is that it's referring to trying to use rechargeable batteries (which generally don't reach 1.5 Volts) or non-Alkaline batteries, but I don't know if it's possible to tell the difference between Alkaline and non-Alkaline (usually marked "Heavy duty") batteries.

      • Bravomn85's avatar
        Bravomn85
        Reel Rookie
        9 months ago

        The “roku” batteries that come standard with the remote when you first bit it last at least the times longer than any battery I’ve found.