irobot frustration...what should I do?

pippolippi · Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 17

Has anybody tried to drill a hole on the hub cover, near the sensor, in order to easily blow canned air to clean the sensor?
I'm asking because I had to dismantle my red three times already to clean the sensors and I don't think it's possible to get the osmo update here in europe.

Dick Sommers · Joined: 04 May 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Nor Cal

pippolippi wrote: Has anybody tried to drill a hole on the hub cover, near the sensor, in order to easily blow canned air to clean the sensor?
I'm asking because I had to dismantle my red three times already to clean the sensors and I don't think it's possible to get the osmo update here in europe.

Yes I did - I got tired of blowing it out with canned air and having limited success. I drilled out holes just above the sensors (just big enough to put the "dust-off" tube in). Then went I need to clean the sensors I put the machine in sensor test mode and watch the "lights" in the mode switches so I can tell when the sensors are clean and the lights blink without hesitation. With the holes there it doesn't seem to get dirty any quicker than before. Because the holes are above the sensors I drilled them aiming down toward the hub at about a 30 degrees. Did I mention that it takes less than a minute to clean BOTH wheel sensors! A drill will go through this plastic like its soft butter - light pressure. I didn't take the wheels apart drill them, I did them in place and it also just took about a minute. If someone needs pictures, let me know and I'll try to put them up.

OlDoc · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 3

Well...ahem...has anybody had to jump through as many hoops to keep their conventional vacuum cleaner working?

I like the idea of Roomba but mine is getting to be a real pain to keep running. I bought mine from a consumer appliance store, not a hobby robotics store. I expected a consumer appliance, not a hobby robot. If I'd wanted a hobby robot, I'd have bought a hobby robot--and paid less for it.

I've read a lot of creative ideas about how to fix the Roomba. Why can't iRobot engineer it so that so much maintenance and these field modifications aren't necessary?

ballison · Joined: 28 Oct 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Fargo, ND

Thanks anengineer for the tip, it saved my Roomba when I was just about ready to pitch it in the trash. I also discovered that you can avoid the headache of removing the entire cover just to clean the sensors. Just remove the three screws which are accessible and gently pry the motor cover open. This will give you just enough of a gap to reach the sensor with a q-tip and clean it with a little rubbing alchohol.

wiffel · Joined: 29 Oct 2006 Posts: 1

About a year ago I was assembling my Roomba Pro Elite after cleaning the sensors. This was the third time in two months and I was also thinking about drilling holes to make the cleaning a bit easier.

At that time I noticed that the hub covers don't cover the internals completely. They leave little holes (e.g. where the wires come in) that allow small dust to enter. Last time, I did put little pieces of sponge (? I'm not quite sure if this is the correct word. My english is not that good :-( ) to close these little holes.

Never had my Roomba doing the 'circle dance' ever since ...

GeorgeNC · Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 1 Location: North Carolina

It appears to my new customer's impression that the wheels require gasket seals, which perhaps could be added with silicone caulking, and would not interfere with disassembling when needed. Wheels with optical sensors should have no way for dust to enter at all especially in a dust handling machine. Maybe it was just too expensive for them. Printers can generate dust from paper handling too, but they don't seem to have such design problems, and they'd render the whole product unworkable.

Did you have to take the body off everytime to clean this sensor, or have you tried just blowing it out with comrpessed air now that you know where it is?[/quote]

kroyster · Joined: 22 Feb 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Charlotte, NC

So what exactly is the process for using the OSMO hack to fix the circle dance problem? Do I just plug in the SCI, let it update the roobma's firmware, and then remove it? Or is there an actual hack involved? I'm getting tired of removing the wheel hubs for cleaning, but if this hack is too involved or not as effective, I may just drill holes in the covers for easier cleaning access.

DustbotsDOTcom · Posted: February 27, 2007, 10:05 pm Post subject: Re: circle dance fix

[quote="kroyster"] Anonymous wrote: anengineer wrote: Here is the fix for the "circle
Any chance you could post a step by step on disassembly?

Here's how I fixed mine..... There are 8 screws you need to remove from the bottom of the roomba discovery to separate the top cover from the base: 2 in the battery well, 2 in the brush well, and 4 on the main underbelly (I'm going from memory, but I think that's right). With those removed, I was able to loosen (but not remove) the top cover from the main roomba body. I was able to pry it up enough to expose and remove another screw that is holding the wheel "fender" in place. Repeat for the other wheel. With the fenders out of the way, you can fully access all 4 screws holding each wheel cover "hub cap" in place. Remove those and you should see the wheel as shown in the original image in this thread. Now remove the "gear" and rubber o-ring driving it, fully exposing the dirty optical encoder sensor for cleaning. Now put it all back together (you kept the screws in order, right? :wink: ) taking care that the wires at the top of the "hub caps" don't get underneath and caught up in the pulley shaft that drives the wheel.

That would be ten screws, but not bad from memory :wink:

sha6058 · Joined: 23 Dec 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Greater NOLA area

Anonymous wrote: kroyster wrote: Now my only question is, where can I find a replacement wire brush cover? :roll: That and a new battery will give me a 2nd roomba!! But I don't see the wire brush covers on their accessories site.

How to build your own brush guard.

I know this was posted a long time ago, but since this thread is still active, I thought I'd post an answer to this question in This update package from iRobot contains the wire brush cover, along with with the pet brush update set. For $40, it seems a good buy to make a Roomba usable.

I haven't encountered the circle dance yet, but in trying to learn all about my Roomba (Model #4260...the black Discovery Scheduler with dust bin alert, purchased in November 2006 from HammacherSchlemmer), I peruse this site whenever I have spare time. Today I was checking out the site and getting links for a friend who wants to buy a Scooba and a Roomba for herself next Christmas; I got hooked absorbing information once again.

I have been considering a purchase of the pet brushes since we have two cats, as well my daughter's very long hair that gets wound around the brushes something terrible. I might get this one with the extra wire brush cover, just to have it on hand. Once the children, grandchildren, and cats move out, hopefully this summer, it shouldn't matter, but in the meantime, I'm thankful for the blade on the regular cleaning tool and the extra set of regular brushes that came with my Roomba.

I really enjoy the site. This is my first posting, and I wanted to say thanks for all the information I've gotten so I can keep my Roomba clean and working well. It's really not much more work to keep clean than I had with the rechargeable Shark sweepers I used before I got Roomba! I'll be back to post and read more when I get more time.

Barbara

THX-1138 · Posted: March 19, 2007, 11:56 am Post subject:

:D Welcome to RoombaReview Barbara! We appreciate new members here and welcome your experiences with the robots and input. Glad that you like it here :wink:

sha6058 · Joined: 23 Dec 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Greater NOLA area

Thanks for the welcome. I read here for quite awhile before I actually bought my Roomba, so your site was very influential.

After I posted above, I looked further down on the accessories page at iRobot and found just the wire bale by itself for $5!

http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2349674

Barbara

Kimberly · Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 1

Hi all.
I have sent back 2.
I still have 2 dead and one suffering scheduler roombas. One was given to me while it still worked.
The last one is probably my fault, I dropped it with the battery attached while emptying the bin.
All he does now is once the clean button is pressed, flashes his lights (no sound) and goes in maybe two or three initial circles then stops, complaining of a dead battery. I can remove the battery and put it back then restart, same thing. It's always on the home base.
I think it may be the battery, so I ordered a new one.
I also noticed an alaming amout of fuzz and hair wrapped around the drive shaft. I picked out what I could but couldn't get at it until I popped the brush assembly up past the stops. Then I picked and cut the debris loose.

On my other ones, I used a pipe cleaner and air to go in and clean the wheel wells.
It used to get piled up with fuzz. Then that didn't work. By that time of course they were out of warranty.

I just bit the bullet and bought the new schduler with the dustbin sensor with a LIFETIME warranty from Hammacher Schlemmer.
I then can send in a from to get a free dirtdog for my garage.

Hopefully that is the end of the story.

paulstasinos · Joined: 07 Oct 2007 Posts: 1

Cleaning the sensors corrected the problem! Thanks for the info. We originally purchased a roomba discovery 30 months ago at Sears, purchased the two year extended warranty. They were very good about the warranty. I returned it three times! Getting a new one each time. The last time was in May of this year, this roomba started doing the circle dance, but our warranty had finally run out. The only good thing is that I couldn't wait to take it apart but didn't want to void the warranty. Its working well again, I liked the suggestion another used cutting away a portion of the plastic to expose the hub cap screws, next time I am going to do that. :D

bobnielson · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 281

My 400 has little pull-off tabs over the tachometer of the wheels. I just pop the tab up and apply a qtip with some alcahol (where is the spell checker) and it cleans right up. I push the tab back on and we are good to go.

geekgranny · Joined: 25 Jul 2006 Posts: 1775 Location: Dallas Texas USA

bobnielson wrote: My 400 has little pull-off tabs over the tachometer of the wheels. I just pop the tab up and apply a qtip with some alcahol (where is the spell checker) and it cleans right up. I push the tab back on and we are good to go.

Howdy Bob,

Can you describe the "little pull-off tab" and where it is located and size and shape? All of my Roombas that I checked and DirtDogs have a little shoe shaped thing that is raised, on the outside of wheel just below the body. Is that it? I don't want to go breaking something off. Can you see the same "tab" on your other Roomba?

gg=alice

bobnielson · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 281

I have had my 400 for almost 4 months now and as many times as I cleaned it I have not noticed the little pry-out tabs on the outside of the wheel cover right where the wires for the tachomoter go into the wheel cover. The tab is about 1/8 inch wide and 1/2 or less long. You have to be persistant in prying it up at the closest part as the little stud that goes into the wheel is fairly long for the tab. Putting the tab back in place is a struggle to as the long stud wants to bend. Once you have it pryed up and move to one side the complete tachometer is right there to be cleaned. I used a qtip with alcohol then I blew the excess away with compressed air. Worked like a charm! My red has the tabs also. The tab is on both wheels of my bots. A thin flat head screw driver or blade is what you have to have to pry it up. You only have to pry the closest stud out - it will just kind of swing on the other stud.

presh2007 · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 16 Location: Georgia

I found them also, but the side closest to the center of the wheel broke off when I was trying to either clean or put the outside long peg back in. What can I do now to fix it?
This seemed to be an easy job until I noticed I had broke it.
Can I just leave it off?
They are sending my osmo tomorrow. I have 3 discovery 4210 and they both need it. What all does it do?
Thanks everyone

bobnielson · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 281

Since I didn't know what the little tab was all about but looked too close to the tachometer to not look at with a sick bot I was VERY careful to not hurt anything or put too much pressure. The stud that holds the tab in place is VERY long for such a little tab and takes CARE getting it out. It looks like it would be easy to break off but I was very careful. Getting the stud to go back in the hole is a chore also and requires as much or more care to put it back. I have a long time ago got some 5x reading glasses for just such chores - they have paid for themselves many times doing the fine and close jobs. Don't try to push the blade or flat head under the tab too far!! Just enough to catch the edge so you don't cut the stud off. The stud is VERY long for the size of the tab so you may have to get a wider flat head after it is moving up. DON'T push in too far to cut the stud off. When pushing the tab back in take great care to make sure the stud is going into the hole - you can bend (I did) it very easily and then the job gets really hard. I just kept applying pressure to the whole tab with a flat head and moving around a little and then it just popped in.

If you break off the stud then I think a secure tab is needed to keep the tachometer clean from the outside. A VERY LITTLE non perminant or persistant glue (maybe the white glue use to glue paper) will keep it in place until the next cleaning. I use the plastic tooth picks you can pick up at any store to apply such small amounts.

maximumken · Joined: 10 Nov 2007 Posts: 1

I have two Roombas, an original maroon model and a white and black SE. Both suffer from the Circle Dance. I've taken them apart, cleaned them numerous times. Still they dance. I cleaned out the clif sensors too, with compressed air.

Any thoughts, before I take them to Goodwill?

vic7767 · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 3519 Location: Louisiana

You could run the factory tests on them. That will identify if the tachometer function is working or not.