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Roku Remote Kills Batteries

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metrologist:
I got a streaming stick and the remote batteries are killed in mere days. I measured current draw when the stick/tv is powered off, and it pulses from ~32mA to 90mA every second! My remote does not have the headphones feature, but does have some voice feature which should only listen when the mic button is pressed.

Roku comments weekly on this topic:
https://community.roku.com/t5/Remotes-Accessories/Enhanced-Remote-is-draining-batteries/td-p/511906

A post here claims it's IP address conflicts, which causes his router to crash as well:
https://www.quora.com/Does-your-Roku-remote-go-through-a-lot-of-batteries

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metrologist:
Hmmm, I thought the forum was big on this kind of engineered in waste.  :-// I had contacted Roku support in case this is just a one-off defect. So far they've asked for my full contact info and the serial number of the device. I can understand that they would want to check their DB to ensure they don't waste time on a previously addressed issue.

I also read the old thread on wi-fi based remotes and would expect them to use more battery power, but didn't want to be a necroposter. This device was a pre-Christmas gift to enjoy during our work shutdown. The first set of batteries barely made it past Christmas day. I chocked it up to dodgy batteries - Duracell marked as Not for Resale (thanks forum for letting me know about their dubious means). But I was a fool because the brand new "Industrial Grade" set that I installed died just after New Years. Then I decided to play like I was smart and measure the current drain.

I suspect Roku will at some point offer a replacement, but I am fully expecting this is an as-designed feature. The Irony is that I bought a bundle set with the streaming+ stick and the top end Ultra model, which has the uber customizable remote with "private" listening (headphones) feature. I installed the Ultra box where there is wired Ethernet, so I guess it is not having this 24/7 wi-fi polling problem, but then the headphones and "find lost remote" features don't work either.

Further, I have come to a product opportunity here. You see, to "fix" this problem I have inserted a folded up piece of yellow sticky note paper between the contacts of one of the cells. I am imagining this could be two thin contact plates separated by an insulator, and each contact plate wired to a micro switch that could be inserted onto the battery cover, or where convenient. It would be fantastic if that switch could be a switched push-button, so you could turn the thing off completely. Imagine the millions of Roku remote, no, billions of battery operated device users that will be interested in saving money on weekly battery replacements for something that should last years. I think my Sony TV remote is 8 years old and still uses the same Sony branded batteries that it came with!  :clap:

metrologist:
Roku sent me a new remote. The old one actually pulsed up well over 100mA. The new one pulses more around 50 up to 120mA, but it shuts off after about a minute. I didn't measure the current draw on either when in use.

tom66:
Maybe install rechargeable cells.

No problem here with remote for Fire TV stick, and that's Bluetooth with voice connectivity - it's lasted over a year on the original Amazon-provided cells and will have Ni-MH cells installed when those are exhausted.

On the other hand my Panasonic plasma TV remote control still has the original Panasonic zinc carbon cells installed.  It's about 9 years old.   Impressive.

G7PSK:
Leaky bypass capacitor, I had a inflato/tyre guage that killed the battery in days, they sent me a new one and told me ti bin the other so I took it apart, there was a cap right accross the battery so I removed it and it was a few hundred ohms only. I removed it and the inflator/guage worked fine without so I now have two.

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