Hello:

I've owned a Skip 1s for a couple of years, and it's been great to use - until the last few months.

Just recently, the batteries having been draining much faster than I'd expect; unlike some of the other threads on battery drain, I'm seeing a set of alkaline batteries drain in a month (instead of in a day) - but I was previously getting at least 6 months (probably a year or more) out of them. And this is with very light levels of usage.

 

Last time this happened, I took some notes:

- On 10 March 2026, I upgraded to firmware 4.14.1 and replaced the batteries with new alkaline ones (as the previous set had died after about a month);

- By 28 March 2026, the batteries are dead - I see no background lights on the top A/B/C buttons after pressing them.

 

What can I do to help diagnose and resolve this issue?

Huh - all round weird... I've seen a few email notifications of replies to this thread - but I can currently only see my original post here. Apologies for those who might have suggested something to try - but I can't read your posts.

 

Similarly, weird behaviour with my Skip 1s:

I've replaced the batteries twice more since my original post 6 weeks ago; I've also saved the config, reset the remote, and re-loaded the config. This lasted 3 weeks until I then found the batteries had drained again (with extremely light use of the remote).

I last replaced the batteries 3 days ago - and just came to sit down and see how I might be able to downgrade the firmware as a test - when I found the remote unresponsive again. Scarcely believing the batteries had drained already, I swapped in a fresh set - and found the remote is still dead. No response with batteries in; plugging it into my Mac produces no recognition that it has been plugged in; removing batteries and plugging does not help; pressing Centre and Back whilst plugging in does not help.

It appears the device is now bricked. Perhaps the increase in battery consumption was a sign of an impending failure?

@jason - is there anything I can do to help diagnose this issue? The device is less than a year old, and has only seen light usage; I would be very sad to lose it...

10 hours ago, Moisie said:

Huh - all round weird... I've seen a few email notifications of replies to this thread - but I can currently only see my original post here. Apologies for those who might have suggested something to try - but I can't read your posts.

 

Similarly, weird behaviour with my Skip 1s:

I've replaced the batteries twice more since my original post 6 weeks ago; I've also saved the config, reset the remote, and re-loaded the config. This lasted 3 weeks until I then found the batteries had drained again (with extremely light use of the remote).

I last replaced the batteries 3 days ago - and just came to sit down and see how I might be able to downgrade the firmware as a test - when I found the remote unresponsive again. Scarcely believing the batteries had drained already, I swapped in a fresh set - and found the remote is still dead. No response with batteries in; plugging it into my Mac produces no recognition that it has been plugged in; removing batteries and plugging does not help; pressing Centre and Back whilst plugging in does not help.

It appears the device is now bricked. Perhaps the increase in battery consumption was a sign of an impending failure?

@jason - is there anything I can do to help diagnose this issue? The device is less than a year old, and has only seen light usage; I would be very sad to lose it...

I think the remote is old, it's hard to say. Could even be moisture. I think the best I can do is give you heavily discounted remote in exchange for this so I can take a look. You can PM me. Sorry for the delay.

On 5/14/2026 at 7:41 AM, jason said:

I think the remote is old, it's hard to say. Could even be moisture. I think the best I can do is give you heavily discounted remote in exchange for this so I can take a look. You can PM me. Sorry for the delay.

Hi Jason - I sent you a PM just after you posted this, but have still to hear back from you. Are you around?