Move: Battery Drain Test


Userlevel 7

Still testing.

 


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Really disappointed with the battery on my Move, especially the drain speed when turned completely off.

Hoping a software update fixes it soon.

Userlevel 1

Battery life has been a BIG problem since I purchased the MOVE.  The convenience of the MOVE is great.  Sonos is a really really good system and fits our lifestyle very well.  

We have noticed all the things mentioned in this post.

. the MOVE for some odd reason turns itself on after we turned it off.  When it does this is seems to tell our main Amazon Echo device to stand down while the MOVE takes over household Alexa commands.  Again this happens randomly.

. the battery life when in use is not 10 hours, never has been.  More like 3-5 hours.

. our current situation w/ our new MOVE device is it won’t charge at all.  We put it in the cradle, the amber light notifies us that it indeed sees the charger, then does nothing.  We’ve had it in the oval charging ring for a week now and nothing.  It’s a paperweight.

 

This is what I get for buying version 1.0.  Knowing Sonos, they will solve these issues, I’m confident in that.  Meanwhile, the early adapters live with it.

Userlevel 1

I want to post an update.  I found a post on another site that said if your SONOS MOVE is unresponsive, press the power button for 60 seconds then it will come to life.  Well I did that, it did not come to life, UNTIL I reset it on the charging cradle, than boom.  My sonos windows app, saw it, said it was at 100% power and I’ve used it today.  Still only got about 5-6 hours out of it, but at least it’s working again.

 

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Adding my voice to this topic.  My Move when fully powered down with long press of Power Button + Beep, will suffer battery drain from 100% down to 65% over 6 days.   Unit was listed as offline the whole time in the Android App.  It was free standing not docked on power ring.   No other battery device I own losses anything like this much charge over such a short period.  If Sonos is listening to this topic - please fix.  

Userlevel 7
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If a device is powered fully off by a long button press, for me it should no longer respond to any remote commands and should be completely off (no WOL equivalent) and require a button press to switch it back on.  It should still be in the very high nineties a week later.

There's a simple explanation for the battery drain and I doubt Sonos will ever admit to it.

 

When you purchase a Sonos Move, you’re ultimately purchasing a premium speaker riddled with spyware not by one, but two of the largest data-whoring companies in the United States.

 

There’s a reason Amazon’s Alexa, and Google’s Home products require a 120v receptacle. That reason simply being that the devices would die within mere hours had they been wireless. Regardless of what “buzz words” Amazon or Google tell you their devices strictly listen for, you must understand that these devices are always recording/listening. There are plenty of horror stories available online to read through if you don’t believe me. And in the case of the Sonos Move, an always-on microphone = massive battery consumption. 
 

 

I don’t forsee Sonos fixing this problem as they have minimal control over Amazon and Google’s horrid software.

 

 

If Sonos were smart, they’d release a microphone-free Move. I assure you all battery issues would be completely resolved.

 

 

Smarten up people and get these listening-devices out of your homes. You’re sacrificing privacy to save yourself 3 clicks from your smart phone.

 

 

 

 

Userlevel 7
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I'm pretty sure that's not true to be honest.  There are certainly issues with the Move but they're not related to the Mic.

I’m experiencing the Sonos Move battery drain problem too on a new Sonos Move. I charge it up to 100%, turn it off completely with a 5 second press, and 6 days later it is completely dead and will not power up with a long press. I can charge it back up by placing it on the cradle.  I’ve gone through this cycle 3 times now so it’s clearly not holding a charge when powered completely off. 

I have been having the exact same issues.

I always turn my Move all the way off by holding in for 5-6 seconds until I get the power off tone. After 6+ days, the battery is practically dead. Not only that, but a quick press on the power button turns on the power light right away, as if it were in standby mode.

When I leave the Move on the charger, the battery obviously doesn’t drain, but even if I turn it off completely, I find that the power indicator is on some hours (<1 day) later.

This is unacceptable. The reasons we turn it off are to make sure it’s not listening and to make sure that the battery doesn’t drain (for instance, if we know we need to take it somewhere soon).

Please issue a firmware update that addresses this issue. It has been identified for quite some time now.

SONOS seems quiet on the subject. An update would be appreciated if any work is being done on the issue. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +26

Hi everyone, I mentioned before in this thread that the team is investigating an issue where the Move turns itself on when it should be off. Here’s the previous message:

Hi everyone, the team is looking into some things around battery and powered off state behavior. You should see about 5 days in standby, but it should drain over 30 days when powered off.

There have been a few cases we’ve seen where a Move powers itself on and we’re looking into it. It’s early on in the investigation stages right now as they’re trying to see what’s causing the powering up. But I’ll let you know if there’s more to share. If it does power itself back on after the unit had be turned off properly, it would then go into standby mode and drain out the rest of its battery over, at most, 5 days.

They’re working on the issue and as soon as it’s resolved we’ll let you know. 

I have been having the exact same issues.

I always turn my Move all the way off by holding in for 5-6 seconds until I get the power off tone. After 6+ days, the battery is practically dead. Not only that, but a quick press on the power button turns on the power light right away, as if it were in standby mode.

When I leave the Move on the charger, the battery obviously doesn’t drain, but even if I turn it off completely, I find that the power indicator is on some hours (<1 day) later.

This is unacceptable. The reasons we turn it off are to make sure it’s not listening and to make sure that the battery doesn’t drain (for instance, if we know we need to take it somewhere soon).

Please issue a firmware update that addresses this issue. It has been identified for quite some time now.

 

I would like to add me to the list of troubled and disappointed customers. I've been experiencing this exact same issue. Hope it will be fixed very soon.

Surely if Alexa is switched on and permanently waiting to be woken up, that will reduce battery life.

Interested to know if you switch Alexa off, whether battery life is better or not ?

I bought my Move a couple of months ago but only just been able to use it for long sessions in the garden as the weather improves. I was slightly disappointed that I only got 8 hours before the battery run out. I saw your post and switched off Alexa - result last 2 days - 10 and half hours on consecutive days. Thumbs up Go Sonos

Userlevel 2
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I’ve just received my Move… and thought I’d do a final search online before I opened the box, and I found this thread! This is a definite dealbreaker, something which is intended to be portable needs to respect battery life wherever possible. Some bug or design decision here isn’t.

@Ryan S three months passed between your first and second message, can you at least give a hint as to whether or not any clues have been found as to whether this will be fixed, and when?

I’ll leave mine sealed until there is a clearer answer and timeline, I don’t want to commit to keeping it if this rolls on!

Userlevel 7
Badge +26

Hi @jamrolu, the team did a thorough investigation, and has some more under way. The biggest thing identified is that a bug sometimes causes the Move to turn itself on when it’s off, this of course affects battery life tests because the unit will go from “off” to “standby” which will cause it to drain much faster. It doesn’t happen all the time, or to all units, and it’s software, not hardware. The team is investigating a resolution now.

Userlevel 2
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Hi @jamrolu, the team did a thorough investigation, and has some more under way. The biggest thing identified is that a bug sometimes causes the Move to turn itself on when it’s off, this of course affects battery life tests because the unit will go from “off” to “standby” which will cause it to drain much faster. It doesn’t happen all the time, or to all units, and it’s software, not hardware. The team is investigating a resolution now.

Thanks @Ryan S - very clear!

Just want to make a record that I’m having the same issue. I’m going to keep it for now and am trusting that Sonos will resolve the issue as they say it’s software related. 

Same issue here, 10 days completely powered down, not in standby, and battery drops to 50% from a full charge. Any fix for this battery drain?

I’m experiencing the same disappointment.  Purchased my Move three weeks ago and have taken it through all sorts of discharge tests.  It consistently (not randomly) turns itself on when off (long off), discharges over 50% overnight in standby with mic off, etc.  I want to like this thing and recommend it but these battery issues are complete deal breakers, Sonos.  What’s the latest on a software fix? 

Userlevel 3
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Anyone do a test with new S2 (12.0) fw?

Userlevel 2
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Hey @Ryan S - was this fixed in 12.0/S2?

thanks!

Userlevel 3
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So 5 mins after I published my question, I turned off my Move (that is on 12.0/S2 ) via a 5 second push.  It was at 100%.

 

Just turned it on today (it was still offline in the app)→ sitting at 97%.  Ive turned it off again and will update tomorrow.

Userlevel 2
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Sounds promising 🤞🏼

Userlevel 3
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One thing to note → I didn’t use the Sonos app for anything yesterday, just checked a couple time to see if the Move was still offline.  I mention that as some people think the remote app might be doing some sort of WOL when used.  For me I always saw the Move as Offline

 

I don’t have an overly excessive Sonos setup as some do, I only have 3 zones, my basement (A Beam-two symfonisk bookshelfs and a sub) used for TV via HDMI most times not music….  and an AMP hooked up to floorstanders.  The Move is my 3rd zone.  I also don’t use Sonosnet → no boost and nothing is hardwired → everything is Wifi.  It bears mentioning as it could make a difference.

 

 

Userlevel 3
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Day 2 - 92%.  I did play some music on my home theatre setup via the app but the move was left off and showed as offline in the app at the time but a 5% drop in one day is a bigger drop than I would expect for something that is supposed to be off.  Li-Ion/Li-Po batteries aren’t supposed to discharge that much in one evening so something is going on.  Li-ion is closer to 10% a month self-discharge.

 

I’ll probably want to use my Move this weekend but I will at least run the test for another day.