Hi
I have a 4k for about 4-5 years now, still works fine, except the remote keeps coming up “low power” warning after 1-2 days. tried about 6-7 types of battery, even duracell and same thing happens. Any ideas, and btw no stuck keys on remote, cheers in advance
The remote that came out that long ago didn’t have the mechanism to trigger that warning so I find this a bit confusing. Is this a replacement remote or maybe you have something else connected that may be sending a “F2” key? If the remote is still working but it is just the message you can disable it with a keymap. If you visit the following guide there is a keymap at the bottom for doing just this…
Hi,
Do you have another keyboard attached?
Are you using the original remote supplied with the device?
Sam
Hi
No, there is no keyboard attached, the battery actually dies after a day or two and the remote wont work.
The box sits under the tv, and is cabled to the router, thats it !
It has worked fine for years, now it runs batteries down like hell. The remote is in as new condition, not dog chewed, or dropped.
Is this as simple as just a faulty remote ?
The remote wouldn’t go faulty on its own. There could be two issues:
- You or a neighbour has a new device that’s causing interference and the remote is constantly hunting for a free frequency and this is causing battery drain. You could hold Home and OK to re-pair the remote.
- There could be a short circuit. This sometimes happens if the battery contacts are damaged. This can happen if the customer uses a sharp instrument like a knife to prise the battery out when replacing it after it has run out of charge.
Recently I started having a similar problem. I’ve been running OSMC/Kodi on a Pi 3 for several years now without any issues with the remote. Recently it started displaying that “low power” warning. We changed batteries without effect. I used my battery checker and it said the the old battery was almost full charge. Other that this the unit seems to be ok. Any ideas?..RDK
When did you purchase that remote? As you write “for several tears” but the function of battery level reporting was only added recently
I don’t recall exactly when I got this remote, but it has been 3+ years. The “low battery” has only started showing up within the past month or so…RDK
You might try cleaning the battery contacts with something like Deoxit or isopropyl alcohol in the case that the contacts have become a little dirty. You might also be able to try very gently bending the spring steel that pushes against the battery a little but I would be very cautious about trying to bend it more than only a small amount least you risk pushing it past its elastic limit and breaking it.
If nothing works and you want to reduce the annoyance a bit you can remove the toast message that can be done with a custom keymap. The is a keymap for doing this listed at the end of my long-press keymap guide here…
Do note that there is no way to get the remote to not send out the F2 key when it thinks the battery is low so it is going to still fail to send the button pressed whenever it is popping up the message now. The keymap I posted will only prevent to on screen message from being displayed.
Indeed, and if that key is being sent, the remote is new enough to have the low battery indicator built in.
Maybe upload the log file so the team can check which remote control you have to ensure the message actually comes from the remote
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Besides the logs, can you show us a photo of the battery compartment without the button cell?
Are the new batteries all from one batch?
Otherwise, I always use disposable gloves when changing button cells to prevent partial discharge due to wet fingers and the unwanted application of grease.
You have so far caught the attention of 4 OSMC team members with this topic, respect! 
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OK, tell me which log to send (directly from the OSMC interface or from the Pi itself?) and then I will take photo of the remote battery compartment and forward all to you folks…
Is there a serial number or something on the remote to tell you which version it is? Thanks…RDK
The log which tell us the revision of remote that you have.
If you just upload all logs via My OSMC this will give us everything.
Well, it just created the “all logs” zip file via MY OSMC, it is over 500 mb and the upload function of this web reply will not recognize the file extension “.zip”. It is also too large for my e-mail. So, specifically which of the logs do you want and how should I transfer them to you?..RDK
Reboot twice before uploading than it should be not more than a KB unless something is really wrong with the system
OK, I’ll try that later today, but you still did not indicate how to get the file to you…RDK
To get a better understanding of the problem you are experiencing we need more information from you.
Depending on the used skin you have to set the settings-level to standard or higher, in summary:
-
enable debug logging at settings->system->logging
-
reboot the OSMC device twice(!)
-
upload the log set (all configs and logs!) either using the
Log Uploadermethod within the My OSMC menu in the GUI or thesshmethod invoking commandgrab-logs -A -
publish the provided URL from the log set upload, here
Thanks for your understanding.
OSMC skin screenshot:
Folks…Well, I guess it was the battery (both of the batteries that I tried) after all.
Some time ago I ordered a second remote as a backup, which just now I opened and installed. It worked correctly.
Then to be complete I took the battery from the new remote and put it in the old remote, It also now works correctly.
My battery checker shows the old battery to be “good” (scale is from “poor”, “weak” and “good”) with a rating about 1/2 way between “weak” and “good”, closer to “good”. The battery from the new remote pegs out the “good” range.
When I put the old battery in the new remote, it works for a while and then starts triggering the “low battery” message.
So, thanks for you time and ideas - looks like I need a new battery tester…RDK
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