irobot frustration...what should I do?

cdebel2005 · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 3

wsngmartin wrote: hi cdebel
from what you're posting, sounds like your brush motor is making funny noises and not turning the brushes?
we've dealt with that on our disco bots. ended up being that the *inside* of the brush motor was clogged up w/ doghair. hubby/resident roombatech opened up the motor the first time and manually declogged it, the second time he sprayed it out w/ something called a contact cleaner from radioshack and it hocked up a chunk of doghair and went right back to business.

I don't know how to describe that noise, but it's like if someone was trying to hold the shaft with a piece of metal... "Squiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii". Extremly annoying.

I don't know if i can open the motor like you asked. At one end there's the gear box (but even without the gearbox, it still make the noise). At the other side, there's a little circuit soldered to the end and under this circuit it nothing let me think that i could open this end... but i'll try.

wsngmartin wrote: your frustration is understandable, but you just might get some great satisfaction in bringing the little guy back to life.
not to rub salt into the wounds, but if you haven't been running him for over a year? how's the battery?

I've no idea if the battery is still good or not. If it's not good anymore, it probably would cost me 100$ to repair this. I'm not sure if i woud invest more time and money on this thing. I've paid 170$ for an Eureka few years ago and its still working like a charm. I don't see why i would have to pay 100-200$ every year to repair or buy a new thing to clean-up the house...

I spent many hours just to dismantle the whole thing, clean-up the little motors, gears, and whatever can be found in it. Believe me, i've never spent that much time to clean-up the house with my Eureka. It take about 15 min per week. (13 hours per year). I spent over 10 hours to figure out what was wrong with my Roomba, and i would have t clean-it from top to bottom every months for 1 hour to make sure that it wouldn't jam, dance in circle or whatever it can do.

Believe me... if all what people want is to save time by buying this robot (almost every person buy this robot for this reason), they should spend their money somewhere else.

But if they like to play with little robots, dismantle robots, and stuff like that (some people do, i don't!), well, this robot is for them...

But thanks anyway for your link. If i've had this answer 1 year ago from iRobot, maybe i would have spent more money on it... but today, it's just too late. Maybe iRobot should care a little more about their customers, and design their stuff a little better...

I've just spent some time to write this message because one person who animate a show on TV just bought this sh** and think it's a really good thing, that it save so much time, and stuff... You know, the kind of "Beginner Enthusiast"? :-)... I can't wait until his next review 1 year later when his roomba will be found in the junk yard.

TechLarry · Joined: 31 Jan 2008 Posts: 106

I bought 5 refurb schedulers and 3 of them have had to be replaced.

One with a bad cliff sensor.
One with a bad gear.
One with a power charging problem.

The warranty on the first two only have about 2 weeks left.

One good thing. I've got a hell of a lot of parts because they don't take the old refurbs back :)

-Larry

neo1az · Joined: 22 Dec 2007 Posts: 8

I have a 400 series Scheduler. I have hardly used it (the dust bin has not even filled once). I decided to start using it and it developed the 'circle of death' problem.

I went to the official site. It seems that there are two problems that cause this depending on whether it beeps or not. Mine does not beep but just circles. According to the official site, this is a problem with the bumper sensor. It 'thinks' it is always hitting a wall. Tapping the bumper and compressed air did not fix the problem.

Can anyone describe how the bumper sensor works, and how to take it apart to clean or repair the bumper sensor?

Thanks much.

THX-1138 · Posted: August 24, 2008, 8:14 am Post subject:

Hello Neo,

All that valuable information is found in the READ ME found at the top of the forum.

I would also suggest that you run the full diagnostics to further troubleshoot this circle dance problem.

neo1az · Joined: 22 Dec 2007 Posts: 8

I studied the FAQs in more detail. I did the diagnostic and it shows both front bumpers activated. I took the front bumper off and looked carefully at the sensors. Since I have hardly used it everything looks clean. I used compressed air anyway. Same problem and same diagnostics. The springs seem to be fine. The circle dance continues.

I have the Roomba Scheduler, model # 4260, with Intelli-Bin (auto detection of a full refuse bin) (Sold at Hammacher-Schlemmer). There is an additional sensor on the front right of the bumper that seems be designed to reflect against the wall. I did not see this described but it also appears clean.

Any suggestions?

Thank you again,
neo

THX-1138 · Posted: August 24, 2008, 10:29 am Post subject:

Hello Neo,

When you say "both front bumpers activated", are you saying they pass the test or fail? How did the rest of the diagnostic tests go?

neo1az · Joined: 22 Dec 2007 Posts: 8

When I did the first test both the spot and clean indicators were lit. Does this mean they were both activated? I did not do the rest of the tests. According to the official site the circle dance only happens when there is a problem with the front bumper sensors (no beeps) or the cliff sensors (it beeps). Mine does not beep. I am confused at this point.

thanks for any suggestions

neo1az · Joined: 22 Dec 2007 Posts: 8

I ran all the tests and everything seems fine except for the two front bumper sensors. Both the spot and clean remain lit during this test.

suggestions?

vic7767 · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 3536 Location: Louisiana

If your Roomba is still under warranty, contact IRobot for support. If not then you need to disassemble the robot and see if you can discover a mechanical or electrical problem under the bumper.