Roam is always turning itself on and the battery is always dead making the roam unusable

  • 25 April 2021
  • 96 replies
  • 15080 views

Userlevel 4
Badge +1

I hope an update is coming because I’m over going to use my roam and it’s dead. Out of the five times I’ve wanted to use it I have only been able to use it once. I have to leave it on the charger when not in use otherwise it will be dead when I go to use it. When it’s on the charger and it gets to 100% there is no way to turn it off. If I hold the power button for five seconds it turns off but within a few seconds it turns itself back on again. If they don’t say a fix is coming within a week sadly it’s going back.


This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

96 replies

Userlevel 3
Badge +2

We should combine the multiple threads on this topic. Sonos appear to be completely ignoring it at hoping it goes away (please do prove me wrong by commenting Sonos!).

 

Here's another thread in case there's anything interesting there too..

 

https://en.community.sonos.com/wireless-speakers-228992/sonos-roam-battery-drain-6857914

I hope an update is coming because I’m over going to use my roam and it’s dead. Out of the five times I’ve wanted to use it I have only been able to use it once. I have to leave it on the charger when not in use otherwise it will be dead when I go to use it. When it’s on the charger and it gets to 100% there is no way to turn it off. If I hold the power button for five seconds it turns off but within a few seconds it turns itself back on again. If they don’t say a fix is coming within a week sadly it’s going back.

I hope an update is coming because I’m over going to use my roam and it’s dead. Out of the five times I’ve wanted to use it I have only been able to use it once. I have to leave it on the charger when not in use otherwise it will be dead when I go to use it. When it’s on the charger and it gets to 100% there is no way to turn it off. If I hold the power button for five seconds it turns off but within a few seconds it turns itself back on again. If they don’t say a fix is coming within a week sadly it’s going back.

Thanks everyone for the input, I thought I had a defective one! Sending back on Monday for a refund. Almost as disappointing as finding out my 5 Gen 1 is basically obsolete 🤬🤬

Userlevel 4
Badge +3

this thing is a piece of crap, I have several sonos speakers and whoever designed this should be fired.

wanted to use it last night, dead.

again powered overnight. not connected to anything.

wnat to use it today.

dead again.

the power button on the back is useless and it is impossible to tell if it is fully off or not

this thing can't hold a charge for a few hours without being used. piece of crap.

Userlevel 4
Badge +3

I hope an update is coming because I’m over going to use my roam and it’s dead. Out of the five times I’ve wanted to use it I have only been able to use it once. I have to leave it on the charger when not in use otherwise it will be dead when I go to use it. When it’s on the charger and it gets to 100% there is no way to turn it off. If I hold the power button for five seconds it turns off but within a few seconds it turns itself back on again. If they don’t say a fix is coming within a week sadly it’s going back.

same for me, it's an awful design 

Userlevel 4
Badge +3

@sdtheclub

That the roam turns on again with fully charged battery if you have turned it off, only happens when it‘s connected to a QI charger. The reasons are how QI charging works and the fact, that roam always turns on if it‘s connected to a power supply. 
If connected to power using the usb c cable roam can be turned off completely even the battery is charged fully. 

nor my experience at all. I don't use a qi charger and this thing is always dead when I want to use it 

Userlevel 4
Badge +3

I hope an update is coming because I’m over going to use my roam and it’s dead. Out of the five times I’ve wanted to use it I have only been able to use it once. I have to leave it on the charger when not in use otherwise it will be dead when I go to use it. When it’s on the charger and it gets to 100% there is no way to turn it off. If I hold the power button for five seconds it turns off but within a few seconds it turns itself back on again. If they don’t say a fix is coming within a week sadly it’s going back.

I’m having the same issue , I got mine a few days ago, I keep thinking I am turning it off but then after a while the white light comes back in . I went to use it this morning after being at 100% yesterday and it was completely drained. It’s now lost 20% over half a day . This is absolutely ridiculous. Sonos reckon on standby it will last around 10 days but I can’t see this happening  we should be able to charge and be ready to pick up and go without charging everyday . I’m very disappointed I the roam for this. I thought maybe I was not turning off properly and came to see if I could find an answer and found this thread.  .. has anyone found a answer to the problem? It is driving me mad keep turning itself back on. I don’t want it on standby permanently, I have other options for getting the weather etc. I just want to charge the roam , turn off and be ready to turn on when I want to take it outside. Surely that’s the point of a portable speaker

yep same issue as me, this is going back 

Userlevel 4
Badge +3

I’m going to post this everywhere I can. The “auto turn on” feature is SO.DUMB.

Makes this product trash, basically. I’ll probably be returning it. 

Every other bluetooth speaker I’ve used before has auto-turn OFF. That makes 10000% more sense than auto-turn on. It would NOT be a big deal to turn my Roam on right before I want to use it. Who cares about a 2-second delay if your Roam is always dead !? 
 

I suppose it depends how you use it. They probably expect most people will keep it on the charger when they’re on WiFi.

 

That’s a bad assumption. My Roam sits in a bathroom on a shower shelf. No charger or outlet there. Since it’s waterproof, I think this is not an unusual use case.  

The problem is the wake from sleep mode when the app is used (even if using the app for OTHER Sonos speakers).  This was a mistake in design.  The app should allow the choice between always wake Roam vs wake Roam when I specifically want to wake the Roam - and supply a mechanism for doing so.  I assume this is an easy software fix.  Fix it!  

yep this is an awful design 

Userlevel 7

this thing is a piece of crap, I have several sonos speakers and whoever designed this should be fired.

wanted to use it last night, dead.

again powered overnight. not connected to anything.

wnat to use it today.

dead again.

the power button on the back is useless and it is impossible to tell if it is fully off or not

this thing can't hold a charge for a few hours without being used. piece of crap.

If you press and hold the power button for five seconds until you hear a chime, it will power off the Roam completely which will conserve the battery’s charge. When powered off completely, the Roam only should lose 1%-2% charge per day.

I was having the same issue. I contacted support, and it turns out pressing the power button briefly only put the Roam into sleep mode which will drain the battery over time. I have to hold the power button down for 5-10 seconds. You’ll get a different chime than you get with just a quick press. Beware that plugging the charger in when it’s off will turn it on, so if you just pull the charger off when it’s done charging, don’t assume it’s off.

Badge

For me the roam is not fit for purpose and i want my money back. 
 

i took it on holiday after making sure it was 100% charged via usb c charger. Switched off, 3 days i to holiday I went to get it out to use and yes, completed drained and takes 10-15 mins to get a minimum charge to even show the white light. Useless. 
 

What’s the point in having a speaker with guaranteed battery life if it’s nonsense.

 

And for the record it was turned off properly.

Userlevel 7

For me the roam is not fit for purpose and i want my money back. 
 

i took it on holiday after making sure it was 100% charged via usb c charger. Switched off, 3 days i to holiday I went to get it out to use and yes, completed drained and takes 10-15 mins to get a minimum charge to even show the white light. Useless. 
 

What’s the point in having a speaker with guaranteed battery life if it’s nonsense.

 

And for the record it was turned off properly.

If the Roam was shut off completely, it should only lose about 1%-2% of battery charge per day. If your battery fully discharged in 3 days, either your Roam was not shut off completely or your Roam is defective. I’m willing to guess it’s the former.

I was having the same issue but think I’ve resolved it. When you turn the Roam off, hold down the switch in back for about 5 full seconds, you will hear a audible that indicates the unit is off. If you just press the switch momentarily, the white power light goes off, but the unit is in sleep mode, not off - so will drain the battery a bit. if you hold it for a second or two, it goes into pairing mode and the white light blinks. Anyway - give this a shot and see if it holds a charge. Also, remember that you can return the unit for a refund within 45 days. Luckily, I have a few days left to see if this solves my battery life issue.

Userlevel 5
Badge +8

Those having issues where it’s draining whilst completely switched off, I would suggest that it wasn’t properly powered off. Because I only use mine occasionally in the bathroom I have to power mine down between uses and can confirm that it only uses about 1% of the battery per day in that state.

What I will say though is that the button is very fiddly and quite awkward to use. A few times I’ve pressed and held it but it’s put itself into Bluetooth mode instead and so I’ve had to repeat the process making sure it does power down completely. I always check the Sonos app to make sure that it says ‘offline’ against that unit.

I’ve seen this mentioned a few times and it’s something I want - please Sonos allow the Roam to be completely powered down from the app. This would make things a lot easier for users and would get rid of the confusion caused when people think that they’ve powered it down.

 

Has this battery drain issue been resolved as I am truly disappointed with the darn thing dying after it’s been fully charged via the cable and powered of for use later only to find its dead again!!! What is supposed to be a useful outdoor speaker is now useless ! Honestly it’s a waste of money and I feel it’s a bad product that hasn’t been properly developed for it’s supposed purpose!  Is it worth contacting support?

Userlevel 7
Badge +21

Are you turning the Roams off completely?  This requires at least 9 second press on the power button.  They then hold charge for weeks.

If you leave them in standby mode it’s best to leave them on Qi wireless chargers to keep them trickle charger.

Well I’ve done the 5 second press and it’s showing as ‘Offline’ at present so will activate later to see if it’s held a charge fingers crossed. Thanks. 

Poor design, if I fully charge a device and power it off I expect it to be fully charged when I go to use it. 

Such a bummer to learn others are having same experience, but I just submitted my return request for MBG return since I bought my unit <45 days ago and it keeps dying on me. Was excited to use this both as a “mobile” speaker around the house and also outside the house i.e. bring to the beach or on a picnic to use as BT speaker, but like everyone else here: whenever I pull it out of my bag or reach for it after it’s been unplugged, its DEAD. Hoping they come out with new software update in near future that fixes device so I can give it another try down the road. Until then...kinda useless :/

So its not just me then? How stupid and annoying is it to create a battery powered mobile device that keeps turning itself on and running out its battery so that it never works when you want to use it. A battery powered mobile device needs turning on manually and should turn itself off if not used for 15 minutes. 

I am constantly turning the damn thing off when i see a light has come on for some reason. It’s a mobile device. It doesn’t need to be constantly connected to my networks or listening. If its off leave it off.

Sonos if you are listening please change the logic so that pushing the rear button once turns the device off completely rather than “sleep and automatically wake up constantly mode”.

Additionally it might make sense for them to engineer a recessed power button that is less likely to get pushed when in a bag. From an industrial design perspective, like everything SONOS builds, it’s beautiful and I see how they matched the power button dimensions to the USB-C port (but doubled the length). A good software solution alternative would be to create a power off “LOCKED” mode. This would require you to depress two (2) buttons power up again i.e. depressing the power button + play/pause button simultaneously for 5 seconds to power up after being “LOCKED”.

I hope an update is coming because I’m over going to use my roam and it’s dead. Out of the five times I’ve wanted to use it I have only been able to use it once. I have to leave it on the charger when not in use otherwise it will be dead when I go to use it. When it’s on the charger and it gets to 100% there is no way to turn it off. If I hold the power button for five seconds it turns off but within a few seconds it turns itself back on again. If they don’t say a fix is coming within a week sadly it’s going back.

Very unhappy with Same situation.  Poor design. 

My Sonos Roam experience is bad.  I’ve tried to power it off by holding down the power button down for 5 seconds or greater.  Come back later and the battery is drained or nearly drained.  Have to leave it on the charger (not Qi) all the time to be usuable.  I’m outside of the return window but ready to return it.

Userlevel 7

My Sonos Roam experience is bad.  I’ve tried to power it off by holding down the power button down for 5 seconds or greater.  Come back later and the battery is drained or nearly drained.  Have to leave it on the charger (not Qi) all the time to be usuable.  I’m outside of the return window but ready to return it.

Do you hear a descending chime when you power off the Roam? The chime is how you know it has been successfully turned off. If it is powered off completely, it should only lose 1%-2% of battery charge per day.

Userlevel 5
Badge +8

The best solution to all these issues in my opinion would be for Sonos to change the software to allow the Roam to be completely powered off via the app. This would mean that the very awkward and fiddly button wouldn’t have to be used so often.

I completely power mine down after every use and sometimes it takes 3 or 4 attempts to get it to power down completely because sometimes it goes into bluetooth mode instead of powering down and other times it just doesn’t do the 3 stage descending beep - even though I’ve not moved my finger on the button.

Having this facility would stop all the complaints where people think they’ve powered it off  completely and then find the battery drained because in reality it didn’t actually power down.

 

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

I hope an update is coming because I’m over going to use my roam and it’s dead. Out of the five times I’ve wanted to use it I have only been able to use it once. I have to leave it on the charger when not in use otherwise it will be dead when I go to use it. When it’s on the charger and it gets to 100% there is no way to turn it off. If I hold the power button for five seconds it turns off but within a few seconds it turns itself back on again. If they don’t say a fix is coming within a week sadly it’s going back.

Same today, totally powered off Roam, still visible in the app and battery draining 10% over 12 hours. Why doesn't turned off mean turned off SONOS? come on get a bloody fix sorted