Fixing Sonos CR200 charging issues

I have two Sonos CR200 (aka Control) units in use with my home Sonos system. I love them, no Android or iOS client can match comfort of those dedicated units.

Symptoms

Recently both of my CR200 started to act up, battery was always low even if they where left in the cradle for days in a row.

Reasons

Since my remotes are quite old I suspected battery first and order replacement but that did not help. After some research I discovered that contacts in CR200 charging cradle are gold plated and get worn down with time, decreasing contact conductivity.

Solution

You can get new cradle from Sonos or just replace stock 5v power supply with 6v unit. I used 6v 2A power supply. All remotes now charge happily, so far I see no adverse side effects, battery does not feel warmer then before.

Because of proprietary form, you will need to re-use connector from Sonos charger on your 6V power supply. Be careful with polarity, (+) is center.