Newbie to Dish Network

[Dochappy]

A few months ago I switched from Direct tv to Dish. I got a regular box in my room and got a dvr for my youngest sons room. The technician said it would be easier to make it so my youngest son and oldest share the one box. My oldest son has a remote with blue number 2 on the bottom and he watch whatever he wants without changing the tv in my youngest son's room.

We noticed one problem straight away. The batteries in the second remote seem to go out really fast. Most of the time the batteries are dead in about 4 days, and we use name brand batteries. My youngest son hasn't had to change batteries yet. We gotten to the point where we take the batteries out when not using the remote , but that doesn't help.

Can anyone help shed some light on how to fix this problem ?

Also last week we started noticing , that certain channels wouldn't pick up in my oldest son's room but they would work in my youngest sons room. It seems like it's around 4:30 pm to around 10:00 pm that the channels stay off , and sometimes an error stating something about a broken switch will pop up for half a second , not long enough for me to read the entire thing.


Any help will be greatly appreciated

 

[untech lady]

I have had DISH for about 3 years...I have never had the battery/remote problem...think I would ask for a new remote! I only replace batteries about twice a year in all my remotes.

I have had the "check switch" message and one tv not getting all the channels that the other one got. DISH had to end up sending me a new receiver. First make sure all your connections are tight and that the little antenna that stands up on the back of the receiver is screwed on tight...and run the "check switch" test.
The tech support I have encountered when I call are always helpful...I am very thankful that I purchased the $5.99 "insurance" plan as I have had to replace receivers about 5 or 6 times in the 3 years I have had DISH. I only have to replace batteries about twice a year in my remotes, so sounds like something really wrong with your remote.

 

[TNGTony]

Does your oldest son sleep with the remote in the bed? If so... there could be a simple explanation... he rolls onto the remote pressing random buttons on the remote all night long killing the batteries. Just a guess. I do that too.

See ya
Tony

 

[tonare1]

Dead remote

My mom had this condition happen to her #2 remote and didn't do anything about it right away (shortly after) when she got her system.
Turns out a CSR told her a while later that they had had some problems with some #2 remotes running the batteries dead ( i believe it was a 6.0 version remote. She ordered a new 6.3 style remote from dish on her nickel and hasn't had any trouble with it since. I would ck on the "sleeping on it" concern first, then ck into a new remote while you are still under a warranty period. A lot of newer remotes go to a standby mode and will not run the batteries dead if a key is pushed - forever - and go to a sleep/hibernation mode. Once the keypress is ended and a short normalizing time is passed, it will resume operation as normal. Not sure yours does this, but just an fyi about it.

 

[Dochappy]

Thanks for the help. I contacted support and was told that the remote was damaged and was sent a new for free. The new one they sent wasn't for the dvr system so they are sending me another one that should work for the dvr at no charge.

I thought at first that maybe he was rolling onto the remote during sleep , but After the second battery change , he started taking the batteries out of the remote before going to bed.

I've checked the connections and everything is secure. I haven't gotten the error again , but I'm still noticing that at around noon or later certain channels seem to go out for a few hours.

thanks again for the help

 

[bryan92]

Does your oldest son sleep with the remote in the bed? If so... there could be a simple explanation... he rolls onto the remote pressing random buttons on the remote all night long killing the batteries. Just a guess. I do that too.

See ya
Tony

Daughter was doing this too. Took a while to figure it out, but all is well now. Took it away. J/k

 

[adavis720]

Same here, the batteries in the Harmony in the bedroom last about 1/4 as long as the one in the living room.