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twuk
Enthusiast II
September 24, 2019
Answered

Move - standby question

Having just received the Move, a few questions related to the device in standby:

1. Will it automatically enter a sort of power standby if not used and no music is playing? If so, at what interval?

2. Can it be woken from standby By playing to it From the app, without physically interacting with the Move?

Experience thus far is inconclusive as when let powered on but not in use, the app seemed to reflect it was unavailable, but when I entered the room the lights on Move remained on.

If I power off using the rear button, it then doesn't appear that it can be reached from the app or powered on remotely.

As a result I'm not clear which is the best/correct method of entering standby. My preference would be to simply leave it powered 'on' and have it enter a low power sleep state until music is played to it or I physically press a button to wake.
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    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_GriffithsAnswer
    September 24, 2019
    twuk,

    I'm still playing with my new Sonos 'Move'. I personally think it’s brilliant. I have been gathering together some information about it and here is what I have found so far...

    My understanding is that when the “Move” is sat on its 'powered-on' charger loop, it behaves like any other indoor Sonos speaker and is in a 'wait state' and ready to play at any point. There is no automatic'standby'/'power-off' whilst the charger loop is supplying it with AC power.

    When the 'Move’ is off its charger loop and running on its built-in battery, then I understand it's 'power state' behaves differently when not playing. It has two 'power-down' states, one of which I will perhaps call “standby or sleep mode” and the other is “powered off” completely.
    • The 'Move' can be put into standby/sleep mode, by a single quick press on the top rear power button.
    • The 'Move' can be powered off by a long (5+ second) press on the same power button.
    • The 'Move' running on battery seems to fall into 'standby/sleep mode' after approx. 30 minutes of inactivity. I don’t know if it then powers off completely, but suspect it would, particularly if the battery reaches a low point where it needs to be re-charged.
    I think when the speaker is 'powered off' it can be brought back to life by either placing it back on the charger loop or pressing it's power button on the rear (assuming the battery hasn’t drained).

    When it’s running on battery and in standby/sleep mode I have found the 'Move' can be woken in these different ways...
    1. By returning it to the charger loop
    2. By pressing the rear top power button
    3. By simply opening the Sonos App connected to the same Sonos Household. (The App must have been closed completely not just brought into focus on screen for that to actually work).
    4. It may also wake itself up to receive updates (not sure, but have seen that mentioned online?)
    So this is from the things I have read and played with so far, but you may need to just double check the information, as presumably things maybe subject to change to what some users have already mentioned online.

    You may also find the following information helpful about the three buttons on the rear of the 'Move' device...

    Power Button (Top)
    • A short press will put the 'Move' to sleep
    • A long press will power off the 'Move' completely
    Wifi/BT button (Middle)
    • A short press will toggle Bluetooth mode or WiFi mode
    • A long press in BT mode will enable it's BT pairing mode
    Infinity Button (Bottom)
    • A short press will start pairing mode for the Controller connection during initial setup.
    • A long press will activate a snapshot button Diagnostic (you will see the LED switching colors, press the same button once more to get out of this mode). I’m still trying to find out more about this particular feature.
    Anyhow I hope that information helps you with understanding your new Sonos device.

    I’m sure we will ALL discover even more about this new Sonos product in the coming days and weeks.
    View in thread

    28 replies

    bockersjv
    bockersjv
    Local Superstar
    September 24, 2019
    All Sonos speakers are designed to be on all the time, but they go into low power mode when not being played. Looks like the same for the Move when on its charging base.

    When off the base it goes into low power mode to give 5 days standby. Would be interesting to know how long before this is invoked. I am assuming that even in this mode all that is needed is to select it in the app to get it working. I hope that is the case so will be interested in the official answers to your q's
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_GriffithsAnswer
    September 24, 2019
    twuk,

    I'm still playing with my new Sonos 'Move'. I personally think it’s brilliant. I have been gathering together some information about it and here is what I have found so far...

    My understanding is that when the “Move” is sat on its 'powered-on' charger loop, it behaves like any other indoor Sonos speaker and is in a 'wait state' and ready to play at any point. There is no automatic'standby'/'power-off' whilst the charger loop is supplying it with AC power.

    When the 'Move’ is off its charger loop and running on its built-in battery, then I understand it's 'power state' behaves differently when not playing. It has two 'power-down' states, one of which I will perhaps call “standby or sleep mode” and the other is “powered off” completely.
    • The 'Move' can be put into standby/sleep mode, by a single quick press on the top rear power button.
    • The 'Move' can be powered off by a long (5+ second) press on the same power button.
    • The 'Move' running on battery seems to fall into 'standby/sleep mode' after approx. 30 minutes of inactivity. I don’t know if it then powers off completely, but suspect it would, particularly if the battery reaches a low point where it needs to be re-charged.
    I think when the speaker is 'powered off' it can be brought back to life by either placing it back on the charger loop or pressing it's power button on the rear (assuming the battery hasn’t drained).

    When it’s running on battery and in standby/sleep mode I have found the 'Move' can be woken in these different ways...
    1. By returning it to the charger loop
    2. By pressing the rear top power button
    3. By simply opening the Sonos App connected to the same Sonos Household. (The App must have been closed completely not just brought into focus on screen for that to actually work).
    4. It may also wake itself up to receive updates (not sure, but have seen that mentioned online?)
    So this is from the things I have read and played with so far, but you may need to just double check the information, as presumably things maybe subject to change to what some users have already mentioned online.

    You may also find the following information helpful about the three buttons on the rear of the 'Move' device...

    Power Button (Top)
    • A short press will put the 'Move' to sleep
    • A long press will power off the 'Move' completely
    Wifi/BT button (Middle)
    • A short press will toggle Bluetooth mode or WiFi mode
    • A long press in BT mode will enable it's BT pairing mode
    Infinity Button (Bottom)
    • A short press will start pairing mode for the Controller connection during initial setup.
    • A long press will activate a snapshot button Diagnostic (you will see the LED switching colors, press the same button once more to get out of this mode). I’m still trying to find out more about this particular feature.
    Anyhow I hope that information helps you with understanding your new Sonos device.

    I’m sure we will ALL discover even more about this new Sonos product in the coming days and weeks.
      Ryan S
      Ryan S
      Retired Sonos Staff
      September 24, 2019
      Great answer Ken!

      The suspend mode kicks in after about 30 minutes of inactivity, and there are several ways it'll wake up, such as when you open the app, or press buttons on it, or move it to the dock. It has a sophisticated wake on LAN built in.
      Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
        twukAuthor
        Enthusiast II
        September 25, 2019
        Sadly my first day with Move has not been stellar. Initial impressions were great - excellent build quality, great sound, worked exactly as expected with the app etc. After use yesterday I put into standby by hitting (tapping, not holding) the power button.

        This morning upon waking with a single tap of the power button, initiating playback via Alexa failed completely. She repeatedly said she was having problems. Ok, I thought, could be the Alexa 'service' at fault.

        Opened the app on iPhone to see only that the Move was offline. Waited a bit, tried again, no joy. Entered standby (single tap) and woke again, no joy.

        Eventually I did a full power down by holding the power button for 5 seconds, then again waking. This seemed to do the trick.

        Bottom line is that I don't feel I should have to do this dance on a daily basis to use the speaker. It should enter low power standby - either automatically or with a tap on power - and wake as expected, rejoining the network and being available in a few seconds for playback.

        I've captured diagnostics and raised a ticket, but initial response from support also not adequate, simply saying there's no issue shown in the log. Not surprising, given the speaker wasn't likely connected to the cloud at the time, but had hoped it might have sync'd any logs once it did connect. It would seem there must be a way to capture diagnostics offline and share when again connected. I would have hoped support would proactively have suggested this (unless it's not possible!) rather than ignoring the root issue.

        Will of course continue to monitor, and I accept it's early days so some firmware tweaks may be necessary.
          Ken_Griffiths
          Ken_Griffiths
          September 25, 2019
          twuk,

          I've not experienced any such problems so far. Did you choose the shorter range 5ghz connection, instead of the longer reaching 2.4ghz radio? The latter not only has further reach around the home, but can provide better penetration through walls, so if the problem persists, maybe try switching the Move over to that radio instead.
          twukAuthor
          Enthusiast II
          September 25, 2019
          Thanks Ken, yes it's on 5ghz but we have a very small property and excellent coverage. Would also note that its position didn't change between it working fine the day before, nor working fine after a hard reset.

          Purely speculating here, but I'm going to guess it has put itself into some deeper standby after a period of time and then failing to establish connectivity properly on wake.

          No objections to trying 2.4ghz band, but I doubt signal strength is the problem.
          Ken_Griffiths
          Ken_Griffiths
          September 25, 2019
          No worries twuk, perhaps keep an eye out for any App/Firmware updates too as they tend to resolve any issues.
          twukAuthor
          Enthusiast II
          September 25, 2019
          On a somewhat related note, the rest of my Sonos kit connects via a Boost, but that didn't appear to be an option when I set up the Move. Thinking about it further, should it not be using the Boost when in wireless mode?
          melvimbe
          melvimbe
          September 25, 2019
          On a somewhat related note, the rest of my Sonos kit connects via a Boost, but that didn't appear to be an option when I set up the Move. Thinking about it further, should it not be using the Boost when in wireless mode?


          The Move doesn't connect to Sonosnet (through Boost) like the other speakers. the reasoning being that Sonosnet was designed to operate with stationary devices, not devices that can be moved from room to room like the Move is. The designers believed that given the above and the increased reliability of modern routers/wifi since sonosnet was first created, it made more sense for the Move to be wifi only.
          Danny
            nifoxke
            nifoxke
            Prodigy I
            September 25, 2019

            On a somewhat related note, the rest of my Sonos kit connects via a Boost, but that didn't appear to be an option when I set up the Move. Thinking about it further, should it not be using the Boost when in wireless mode?
            The Move doesn't connect to Sonosnet (through Boost) like the other speakers. the reasoning being that Sonosnet was designed to operate with stationary devices, not devices that can be moved from room to room like the Move is. The designers believed that given the above and the increased reliability of modern routers/wifi since sonosnet was first created, it made more sense for the Move to be wifi only.

            Thanks for this. This answers one of the two questions I came on here for. The second question is how do I change the wireless network of the Move? When I set it up I put it on my 5GHz network but the 2.4 would be better for range.
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