Enthusiast II

Answered

Move - standby question

28 replies
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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_GriffithsAnswer

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...

By returning it to the charger loop
By pressing the rear top power button
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).
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.

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Ken_Griffiths

nifoxke,

I think that currently the easiest way to switch between the 5ghz and 2.4ghz network is to reset the Move and set it up again using this procedure...

Take Move off the charging base.
Press and hold the power button for at least 5 seconds to power it off. Wait for 30 seconds.
Press and hold the infinity/join button and place Move back on the charging base.
Continue holding the infinity/join button until the light on top flashes orange and white and then let go the button.
The light will flash green when the process is complete and your Sonos Move is ready to be set up.
Post setup you will need to also reinstall the voice assistant to the speaker.

Here is another helpful method to switch to a completely different local network (just for your information) too...

Connect your mobile device to the new WiFi network.
Open the Sonos app and wait while it searches for your Sonos system.

If the app shows “We can’t connect to Sonos,” tap This isn’t working.

Tap More Options, then Update Wi-Fi Settings.
Follow the instructions to connect your Move to the new WiFi network.

Sonos products can remember the credentials for up to 16 wireless networks. When you bring your Move back home, it will automatically reconnect to your WiFi network.

T

twukAuthor

Enthusiast II

Thanks both. Much appreciated.

T

twukAuthor

Enthusiast II

Oh, and for what it's worth, the original 'offline' issue didn't occur today. Will continue to monitor and hope it was a one off.

M

MathewG1

Contributor I

I am interested in getting a move speaker. I already have sonos equipment around my house. My question is can move be grouped with the other sonos products ? Like party mode where every speaker plays the same source ?. So if the weather is poor etc I could just use it like any other sonos speaker. If not I will just stick my play 5 which i move outside anyway. Thanks

K

katinparis

Lyricist I

MathewG1: I came to this feed to better understand the sleep mode (thanks, all, for the info!) but can tell you that we pre-ordered a Move for the very reason you allude to: every time we dine out on our terrace, I have been plugging in a "roving" Play 5 (that's even the name I gave it) which has been *fine* but annoying. Been waiting for years for a portable Sonos and the Move doesn't disappoint!! The sound is brilliant and yes it works like all the other speakers in Party mode. I now leave it docked in a spot that never had a speaker before and just pick it up to take outside when we are out there; it also now occasionally gets moved to the bathroom which doesn't have enough space/sockets - and no drop-ceiling - to have a full-time speaker. My only regret is that Sonos didn't come up with this sooner... and that even at this late date they didn't release it before summer in the northern hemisphere!

Z

zcrowder

Lyricist I

I am having the issue with the Move powering back on even after I do the 5 second shutdown off the base as well. I like to keep it off the base upstairs but the battery after a couple days it dies without use. I thought the 5 second shut down would work but I came back later that day and it had powered back on. I love the sound but there needs to be a way to completely shut it down to preserve battery so it can be turned on when needed. For the premium that is paid for Sonos this seems to be a blatant miss.

Ryan S

Retired Sonos Staff

Hi @zcrowder, the team is currently investigating some battery related trouble, along with Moves that are powering on on their own. They’re looking into it to see what’s causing this, and to get it resolved. Still gathering data though, so I don’t have an ETA to share.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

J

jm9843

Lyricist III

I picked up a Move yesterday and my initial experience with sleep and the battery was less than stellar. A run down of usage after the initial setup:

Charge the battery to 100% on the base
Listen to ~30 minutes of TuneIn on battery before stopping playback
Go to bed, get up this morning
Sonos app can’t find the Move
Status Light on top of the Move is solid white. Pressing the Play or Volume buttons causes the Status Light to blink momentarily and a chime is NOT emitted.
Pressing the Power button has no effect. Placing the Move back on the charging dock has no effect

The only way that I could get the Move to come back was to long-press the Power button until the Status Light turned off and then pressing the Power button again to power it back on. When it finally came back online, the battery had depleted to 36%.

The manual says the following about the Power button (emphasis mine):

Press to power on; press and hold to power off. If Move is off the charging base, it goes to sleep to save battery when you’re not using it. Just press the power button to wake it up.

This was definitely not my experience. Any guidance from Sonos on what the issue could be or misconceptions about how the product is supposed to work?

Ken_Griffiths

Quite different from jm843 above, this has been my typical experience with my new Sonos Move and it’s battery performance ...

I fully charged my Move Speaker called “portable” and then switched off its charger at exactly mid-day the other day and left it standing on its loop.

After 30 minutes it correctly ‘fell’ into standby mode, as expected. All lights off.

At 3pm, so 3 hours later, I opened the mobile Sonos Controller App (from fully closed state) and as expected the Move immediately came out of standby mode and the status/mic LED lights came on... I was able to play music to the speaker (brief test).

So in summary, during the three hours, the speaker was awake for the first 30 minutes and then in standby mode for 150 minutes and my battery level dropped by 5% to 95%.

I know already (another earlier test) that my speaker powers itself off completely, at or near, to the 7% battery level, so my thoughts are that the Move should remain in standby and 'playable' for approx. 56 hours or more, probably closer to 60 hours (2.5 days) in standby mode, without waking it too often.

It does not appear to make any difference, whether the speaker is on the charger-loop (powered off), or fully removed from the charger altogether.

Thats been my experience so far, at least.

In some other tests undertaken, I have found that when the Move is powered off completely (not standby) off it’s charger loop, it loses approx. 5% battery level in a full 24 hour period and so would likely not need recharging in that mode for about 2.5 weeks.

I see some folks have tested the Move using constant WiFi playback and found it will play an audio source (streaming radio) for more than 10 hours until the battery is completely discharged. So that seems fair enough. I’ve not seen anything about constant Bluetooth playback time ...and I haven’t tested that.

I personally think that’s a rather good overall rechargeable battery performance for the speaker, but perhaps there is still room for some small further improvement as Sonos work on these things to squeeze-out even more from its battery.

J

jm9843

Lyricist III

Status Light on top of the Move is solid white. Pressing the Play or Volume buttons causes the Status Light to blink momentarily and a chime is NOT emitted.
Pressing the Power button has no effect. Placing the Move back on the charging dock has no effect

The only way that I could get the Move to come back was to long-press the Power button until the Status Light turned off and then pressing the Power button again to power it back on.

Day two of using the Move and I experienced the above again where the Move becomes unresponsive, continues to drain the battery, and requires a complete reboot to comeback. This time I did a few hours of mixed playback (SiriusXM/Google Play Music) on battery and single pressed the Power button. The Move emitted the normal tone and all lights went off indicating that it was in sleep move. I walked away thinking that all was well. When I walked by a short time later, the Status Light was back on and the Move was in the state described above. I took a short video on my phone in case it might interest someone at Sonos as it sounds similar to the issue that @Ryan S said the Sonos team was investigating.

One theory: the Move isn’t always gracefully handling its network connected state. I say this because I was later able to reproduce (even while the Move was awake on the dock) by disabling the guest network on my wireless router that the Move was connected to. After disabling the wireless network that the Move was connected to, I expected the Status Light to blink white as it reestablished its connection with my “main” wireless network. Instead, it became unresponsive as described above. Since this is relatively easy to test, perhaps someone else can corroborate?

A total hunch: the errant wake from the WOL sleep state is due to a bug with the Android version of the Sonos app. I’m using Android (Pixel 2 on latest OS/patch levels) and I’d be curious if @twuk and @zcrowder are also Android users. If there’s anything to this shot in the dark, than I’d bet that @Ken_Griffiths is using iOS.

Overall I like the Move quite a bit and I’m hoping that these rough spots can be smoothed out sooner than later.

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