So I inhereited a never-used Roomba from my mother. I set it up and when I pushed the “Spot” button last night, it went out in roughly a 10 square foot zone and then stopped, giving a red light. I left the batteries to be charged overnight and tried it again. It cleaned the same area and that’s pretty much it again. So then I poked the middle “Clean” button a few times and it cleans a path straight out from the docking station about 5 feet long. Now, it comes back and docks and beeps “Mission Accomplished!” after it’s done. Unfortunately, that’s all I can get it to do. I hit the “Max” button twice so it’s not flashing green and ready to clean immediately and waiting to see if it’s going to do something. So far, it seems not.
Anyone got any ideas about it?
I think it may end up being the battery. I waited until the light was green again and set it off to “Max”. It cleaned much of the same stuff it did before, but it also took a Zheng He-like voyage off towards the kitchen and towards the bedroom and crapped out over there, beeping pitifully for me to rescue it. It’s recharging again. I want to see if it’ll recreate the journey.
LOUNE, the ‘spot’ setting is for spot cleaning. That’s why it went around in circles until thru.
It won’t recreate its journey every time you run it. Each time, it goes out with a blank-slate memory and figures out what it’s doing. You can read about Roombas on the manufacturer’s website: www.irobot.com . Find a manual for your Roomba here.
The battery can act weird; there’s all kind of stipulations about first charge, resetting, etc. I purchased a different kind for mine, which is lighter, takes less time to charge, and lasts longer. The OEM battery will only last about 2 years (IME).
You probably do need to ‘reset’ the battery and let it charge for 36 hours.
Sometimes, at the beginning, mine would quit early because the battery wasn’t quite seated properly. Whacking it a couple of times worked. Also, they can pick up odd bits that will throw them off., but the status button usually lights up when that happens.
It has to be emptied after each use and cleaned properly regularly. See the instruction manual. I tried winging it, and it turned out I wasn’t emptying the dust trap. Luckily, I have offspring to mock me, so I’m doing it right, now.
I bought one, used it a few times, gave up in disgust and threw the whole thing in the trash. (Yes, I should have recycled the useless battery).
Getting rid of it was the only satisfaction that I ever got from it.
A Roomba is a (lousy) technological solution for for a problem that doesn’t exist.
Check the irobot website for error codes for that particular model. The beeps it gives when it peters out can tell you what is wrong. I emailed in the beep code I was getting and that their directions did not fix the problem, and iRobot replaced the roomba with no hassle (course it was still under warranty).
Now I just need to keep from getting stuck on the heating vents.
I never heared of this roomba-thing until I saw this thread and the one on must-have appliances that people don’t have which you can find in IMHO. Is it one of those automatic robotic vacuum cleaners?
Okay, so I’m stabbing in the dark, but maybe you should only press the button once. If I press my roomba’s button more than once it pauses the program.
You obviously never had a Laborador Retriever as a house dog. Think downy soft fine fur undercoat. That stuff won’t sweep up, it floats in the air. The vacuum of the Roomba snatches it up before it begins to float.
Švejk : yes, check them out at the above link.
See, now it seems that the problem might have sorted itself out. I’ve got it closed in the bedroom and hit the “Clean” button (the cats are torn between staring out at the golf course from the back porch and staring at the bedroom door wondering about what the Romba is doing to their hiding spot under the bed).
We tinkered and played. It seems to be okay, I think.
I tried taking the battery out and putting it back in a few times. I figured it might not be seated properly. No, everything seemed okay. We have the quick charger, but mabe it DID need to charge for 36 hours first. That’s kinda odd, but it works fine. I think that it’ll be a great addition to regular vacuuming. Each picks up stuff the other one doesn’t, which mildly disappoints me in my girlfriend’s vacuum. I was amazed at what the Roomba picked up on its maiden voyage. I had vacuumed only two days before.
Ah, good timing. It’s done in the bedroom now!
Ivylad has a bad back. Vaccuuming is very painful for him. Our Roomba is a lifesaver.
We have the baseline model, no “walls,” no “homing beacon.” We turn it on and let it go, keeping an eye on it in case it gets hung up on something. Clean it out when it’s done, then plug it in its charger for next time. We’re very happy with it