Has anyone figured out a way to get these things working or am I just screwed for being a loyal customer and early adopter with a first gen roam thats out of warranty?
Best answer by GuitarSuperstar
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As far as I’m aware, chat is 24/7, but the phone lines are essentially business hours for the location they’re supporting.
Same here. Dead roam.
Is there a way to contact the support by e-mail? Looks like the chat and phone option only is open while I am at work.
Same thing happened to me.
Orange light stays on, unplug it and the roam is bricked dead.
I hit up support and they just told me to reboot it’s charge it on the wireless, then wired. So pretty much I’m stuck with a brick.
They know they should swap these, but find every reason not to.
Userlevel 6
+12
I purchased 3 Sonos Roam SL speakers. 2 of them bricked - won’t charge, solid amber light only when plugged in, and won’t turn on/can’t be reset. I’ve only had them for about 1 ½ years. I planned on purchasing more products but this experience has caused me to reconsider. 3 Roam speakers with charging stations cost $800 dollars and 2 of them didn’t last 2 years. I shouldn’t have to pay for extended support when spending that much money. Is there an design flaw in the Roam speakers?
I wouldn’t let your Roam speaker experience dissuade you from purchasing DIFFERENT Sonos speakers. Roam is unique IME as the only POS speaker in the Sonos lineup. Hopefully Sonos helps you out but there’s no way I would replace them with new Roams.
I don’t know if there is a design flaw, but scrolling the community or other places where owners talk about Sonos and anecdotally there doesn’t seem to be any other speaker that gets as much hate as Roam, not even close IMO.
I purchased 3 Sonos Roam SL speakers. 2 of them bricked - won’t charge, solid amber light only when plugged in, and won’t turn on/can’t be reset. I’ve only had them for about 1 ½ years. I planned on purchasing more products but this experience has caused me to reconsider. 3 Roam speakers with charging stations cost $800 dollars and 2 of them didn’t last 2 years. I shouldn’t have to pay for extended support when spending that much money. Is there an design flaw in the Roam speakers?
Very disappointing to find my Sonos Roam doesn't charge properly. I can't turn it on at all despite having been on charge and connected to a 3A USB charger. I have a cheap old JBL clip which has never missed a beat over 5 years of heavy use. I just took it for granted that a device like this would just turn on and off with the push of a button and charge fully when hooked up to a charger. There's no sign that charge is getting low either, it just drops out and won't turn on again unless it's been on charge for over an hour. Sort yourselves out Sonos!
There is really no need to weld lithium cells together for this fix…there are plenty of suppliers on Amazon that sell the battery pack with the pin connector already attached and all sealed up, so as long as you can get the Roam all taken apart, you can just pop one of these battery packs in the plastic holder and put it all back together and have a working Roam again. Sonos has such good products…I mean I have had some of my speakers and other Sonos devices for over a decade and ALL of them still work. They really should create a battery replacement flow for the Roam…it isn’t really acceptable to just give you a 30% off coupon to spend another $100+ to get a brand new speaker when a battery replacement is all that is needed. And I don’t want to just give up on my Roams…I have Moves too, but they are definitely not as portable as the Roam is.
100%. I’m sure someone like ifixit would totally facilitate something like this. They now have some really good guides up on Roam teardown/troubleshooting
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Sonos_Roam
I have successfully repaired multiple Roams that seemed dead (like the title here says). The typical symptom is no signs of life, but when plugged in to a USB-C power supply, the charge light would come on…. but no matter how long left like that it was dead when the power cable was removed.
The issue is bad lithium-ion cells. Unlike some devices, Roam devices will not work even when plugged in to a beefy power supply, if the battery is defective. They simply will not run from wired power supply without a working battery.
To repair this requires replacing the two lithium-ion cells inside. It’s not an easy repair. Just getting the device opened without damaging it is difficult. First step is to remove the end caps (they are glued down well - use a spudger around the perimeter of each cap). After that, there’s 4 screws (2 under each endcap) to remove the grille. Then 6 to remove the speaker assembly (one connection to the charge/power circuit board). Then 4 screws to remove the logic board (one wifi cable that is very well glued down and two ribbon cables to remove). Then 4 more screws to remove the battery assembly (one connection to the charge/power circuit board). The batteries then need to be carefully removed from the assembly, and new cells need to be installed. Lithium-Ion cells have inherent risk and can self-ignite if not handled properly. The cells are not soldered -- they are spot welded to nickel strips, making this step beyond many DIY toolkits. When put back together, it should work. Be careful re-gluing the end-caps so that the buttons (on the top) and Qi charger (on the bottom) don’t get covered in glue.
I don’t know what causes bad cells in what often seems like a short time (eg under 2 years). It may be poor quality cells, or maybe it’s related to constant charging or physical environment (eg heat).
Of note, Sonos sells replacement battery packs for the Move speakers, and those are end-user installable. There is no such option available for Roam speakers, making them disposable once the batteries die.
I suspected that this was my issue too with mine. I was worried my Anker Qi charger wore the battery out early. I appreciate your post, it’s confirmed my suspicions and I’ll look for a new battery as I’ve seen some online. Thanks.
There is really no need to weld lithium cells together for this fix…there are plenty of suppliers on Amazon that sell the battery pack with the pin connector already attached and all sealed up, so as long as you can get the Roam all taken apart, you can just pop one of these battery packs in the plastic holder and put it all back together and have a working Roam again. Sonos has such good products…I mean I have had some of my speakers and other Sonos devices for over a decade and ALL of them still work. They really should create a battery replacement flow for the Roam…it isn’t really acceptable to just give you a 30% off coupon to spend another $100+ to get a brand new speaker when a battery replacement is all that is needed. And I don’t want to just give up on my Roams…I have Moves too, but they are definitely not as portable as the Roam is.
I also bought my Roam at Costco. January 19, 2022 so mine lasted just over 2 years. Same symptom. Solid orange charging light using Sonos charging block and Sonos provided USB cable. No response to power button or response to factory reset.
if you don’t have success getting it replaced, have a look at my post above yours.
Same issue. Bought the Sonos roam fron Costco 2 Christmas's ago, to pair with our play 5s. Hardly used it compared to the other speakers. Now it will light up orange when plugged in, but does absolutely nothing else. Extremely let down.
I also bought my Roam at Costco. January 19, 2022 so mine lasted just over 2 years. Same symptom. Solid orange charging light using Sonos charging block and Sonos provided USB cable. No response to power button or response to factory reset.
I had the same problem described here so I’ve just replaced the dead battery on my 2+ year old Roam (bought July 2021), was a fairly simple fix and it now works OK. I followed a youtube video showing the steps clearly. Bought a replacement battery off Amazon for about £25 so thats the cost of the fix. Apart from the new battery all you need are 2 torx drivers T6 and T10 sizes and a couple of bodgers to prize the bits apart. Just be careful undoing the cable clips (one for the speakers and one for the battery), there is a tag to depress to remove the plug from the board.
THis was the tube video I watched -
I have successfully repaired multiple Roams that seemed dead (like the title here says). The typical symptom is no signs of life, but when plugged in to a USB-C power supply, the charge light would come on…. but no matter how long left like that it was dead when the power cable was removed.
The issue is bad lithium-ion cells. Unlike some devices, Roam devices will not work even when plugged in to a beefy power supply, if the battery is defective. They simply will not run from wired power supply without a working battery.
To repair this requires replacing the two lithium-ion cells inside. It’s not an easy repair. Just getting the device opened without damaging it is difficult. First step is to remove the end caps (they are glued down well - use a spudger around the perimeter of each cap). After that, there’s 4 screws (2 under each endcap) to remove the grille. Then 6 to remove the speaker assembly (one connection to the charge/power circuit board). Then 4 screws to remove the logic board (one wifi cable that is very well glued down and two ribbon cables to remove). Then 4 more screws to remove the battery assembly (one connection to the charge/power circuit board). The batteries then need to be carefully removed from the assembly, and new cells need to be installed. Lithium-Ion cells have inherent risk and can self-ignite if not handled properly. The cells are not soldered -- they are spot welded to nickel strips, making this step beyond many DIY toolkits. When put back together, it should work. Be careful re-gluing the end-caps so that the buttons (on the top) and Qi charger (on the bottom) don’t get covered in glue.
I don’t know what causes bad cells in what often seems like a short time (eg under 2 years). It may be poor quality cells, or maybe it’s related to constant charging or physical environment (eg heat).
Of note, Sonos sells replacement battery packs for the Move speakers, and those are end-user installable. There is no such option available for Roam speakers, making them disposable once the batteries die.
same problem here. suddenly bricked for no apparent reason
If you’ve tried the ‘usual’ steps mentioned, including checking the power-output of the adapter as being 5v and between 10W-15W ..and also tried the power-reset advice, then it maybe best to submit a Sonos system diagnostic report from within the Sonos App, note it’s reference and then contact/chat with Sonos Support Staff via this LINK and see what the Staff can perhaps suggest to resolve the matter.
same problem here. suddenly bricked for no apparent reason
I’m confused, people are talking about a 1-year warranty, but the terms and conditions according to https://www.sonos.com/pdfs/policies/2023-terms-of-sale-en.pdf clearly state a 2-year warranty on their products in section 10a. Is this a recent change so that products bought before 2023 only have a 1-year warranty? I’ve got 2 sonos roams, both with this behavior, or rather lack of behavior. Neither will turn on, using the same chargers from the very beginning. Its been about 18 months. My problem is I’m now in another country and returning them will be very difficult. Don’t know that I’m going to even bother.
I’m in the same boat. I would prefer if Sonos just sent me the 30% discount code/coupon and I could just use it wherever I am in the world and not require me to return my defective unit(s). If they are worried about being scammed, I’m sure they could just blacklist units by serial number to not work.
Userlevel 7
+22
so if you don’t put it in your profile remember to mention it when it may impact forum answers.
I disagree. I rarely interact in this community, this is only my second time. Its been years and both times my location was not relevant to the discussion, as it isn’t relevant here either. You were able to point out I was looking at the wrong terms of service without knowing where I am, which was the solution to my question. I am not always in the same country and putting a location in my profile for 2 or 3 years down the road when I didn’t even remember that I put that in my profile and may give erroneous context to others would be worse than just not knowing. So thank you for your advice, but no.
Userlevel 7
+22
Unless using a VPN your location does impact what services you can access so if you don’t put it in your profile remember to mention it when it may impact forum answers.
Hmmmm, thats strange. Don’t know why the sonos web site referred me to that document. When I followed the same route as I did before, it now shows a different document. Must be a routing issue where the web site thought I was in Europe. I am in Papua New Guinea, but buy in the US, so updating my profile is somewhat meaningless in my context.
Userlevel 7
+22
That link is to the Europe warranty, folks are talking about the US warranty.
If you update your profile to show a country that would help folks respond better.
I’m confused, people are talking about a 1-year warranty, but the terms and conditions according to https://www.sonos.com/pdfs/policies/2023-terms-of-sale-en.pdf clearly state a 2-year warranty on their products in section 10a. Is this a recent change so that products bought before 2023 only have a 1-year warranty? I’ve got 2 sonos roams, both with this behavior, or rather lack of behavior. Neither will turn on, using the same chargers from the very beginning. Its been about 18 months. My problem is I’m now in another country and returning them will be very difficult. Don’t know that I’m going to even bother.
🙄it is Costco standard warranty policy to double manufacture warranty. I just returned my second roam a month ago. I bought that one in 12/2021.
They took it and refunded my credit card instantly.
I almost did that with my washing machine too, but luckily they fixed after the 4 attempt. The Costco concierge said if they can’t fix it this time, they will send me a new one or refund me. And, I didn’t buy the extended warranty.
Just to let you know, Costco does not take the hit on this. Sonos gets the shaft that they deserve.
costco just charge it back to Sonos.
Strange. I spent a good 30 minutes on the phone with the Costco Warranty Center and they did not budge.
I will go to the store and speak with them in person to see if that makes a difference.
Still I am seeing a trend with these types of devices (Headsets, Speakers and even new glued shut laptops and cell phones). They last barely past their warranty periods before they fail. I have 12 year old camera gear still running on the original batteries and electronic test gear dating back to the early 90s still running like they did when new.
The number of people having this issue with the Sonos is way to large. This is a money making scheme in action...
I would not talk to them. Just walk up and say-this thing stopped charging and working. The return desk person will look at the purchase date and take it back. I think it is a Roam thing. I have many other Sonos products and I still love their ecosystem. I have never had problems with my other Sonos products (a total of 9- ✊🏻 on wood). They should really recall the Roam and not short change us. I actually just bought the Sonos Move with the credit, from Costco of course.
I hear you about “planned obsolescence”. They just don’t want to make things that last.
As you said. I went to customer service and they refunded me no questions asked. Thanks.
Userlevel 7
+22
While you are at Costco walk over the the audio/video department and ask one of the folks there for an extended warranty flyer. Last time I looked they offered extended warranties based on device price, no restrictions on the brand.
I just checked, Costco.com isn’t selling them, only for select devices so they may not be available.
https://www.costco.com/protection-plans.html
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