Roomba Battery Problems

shendley · Joined: 09 Oct 2007 Posts: 63

A few weeks ago I started noticing that my Roomba's battery seemed to be running out more quickly. I searched the forum and had it confirmed from someone here that I should drain the battery and then let it charge continuously for 72 hours, which I did the end of last week. But today Roomba ran out of power twice while attempting to do two rooms with a lighthouse - two rooms it used to do easily with power to spare.

So what are my options now? Should I try to 72 hour thing again or is something more drastic needed? Or am I just stuck with a battery with reduced staying power? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

vic7767 · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 3429 Location: Louisiana

Using the word Lighthouse would lead us to believe that you are discussing a model 5XX battery. If so you should contact IRobot for a warranty replacement since your Roomba is not quite 12 months old yet.

shendley · Joined: 09 Oct 2007 Posts: 63

Thanks Vic. Yes, I do have a 5XX (535 - forgot to mention that). I guess I'll call Irobot tomorrow and see what they'll do for me. But, assuming I can get a new battery, can anyone let me know if there is a place on the forum where tips for keeping your battery going can be found. I don't wanna do to a new battery whatever I did to this one to run it down.

vic7767 · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 3429 Location: Louisiana

At the beginning of this forum is a Sticky "READ FIRST" within that thread is a bit of information that THX-1138 put together that will apply to even the new 5th generation Roomba batteries. This is doe to the fact that the batteries are still NiMH. Head over here and have a read:

http://www.roombareview.com/chat/viewtopic.php?t=2901

shendley · Joined: 09 Oct 2007 Posts: 63

Thanks for the link. I'll bookmark it.

I contacted IRobot about the battery and they said I should do a battery reset where I hold the spot and dock buttons down together for ten seconds and then charge it for sixteen hours, run it in a room without the dock to completely run down the battery and then charge normally. If it doesn't work the first time they want me to try it at least three more times after that. Does that sound like good advice? I hadn't seen that mentioned on the forum.

wsngmartin · Posted: June 27, 2008, 2:42 pm Post subject:

shendley
in time the battery can build up "memory", little crystals that form in there. this decreases its run time. by running the battery till it dies, then doing the 72 hr charges, it helps to break the crystals down. the only way to tell if it helps is to try it, and time it.
run the bot til it's completely dead, with dock disconnected. time this.
press the "spot" and "dock" button as they suggested, then charge for 72 hrs.
repeat the run-down process, and see if you get a longer run time.
if the answer is yes, then repeat the spot-dock-charge sequence, and do another run-down timed run.
if it does improve, then it was memory formation. if not, then it's a battery in its terminal stages (no pun intended?) and needs a replacemt.
they are telling people 16 hrs now. that was after a few owners started having anxiety attacks doing three consecutive charges, which takes over 9 days and tries one's patience sorely.

shendley · Joined: 09 Oct 2007 Posts: 63

Thanks for the reply. But, after reading your post along with the e-mail IRobot sent detailing the procedure, I have a few more questions: 1) The procedure as described by IRobot doesn't mention running the battery down until it dies and I didn't do that this time. Is what I'm doing now ineffective or is the IRobot recommended procedure simply an alternative procedure? 2) I did, however, already run Roomba down until it died earlier and did a 72 hour charge, but without pressing the "spot" and "dock" button at the same time. That procedure didn't seem to increase it run time, but now I'm wondering if in missing the dock+spot step, I did it correctly. Would what I did earlier with Roomba make any difference to the battery? If so, since I didn't see any increase in battery time, does this suggest my battery is reaching its, as you put it, "terminal" phase?

wsngmartin wrote: shendley
in time the battery can build up "memory", little crystals that form in there. this decreases its run time. by running the battery till it dies, then doing the 72 hr charges, it helps to break the crystals down. the only way to tell if it helps is to try it, and time it.
run the bot til it's completely dead, with dock disconnected. time this.
press the "spot" and "dock" button as they suggested, then charge for 72 hrs.
repeat the run-down process, and see if you get a longer run time.
if the answer is yes, then repeat the spot-dock-charge sequence, and do another run-down timed run.
if it does improve, then it was memory formation. if not, then it's a battery in its terminal stages (no pun intended?) and needs a replacemt.
they are telling people 16 hrs now. that was after a few owners started having anxiety attacks doing three consecutive charges, which takes over 9 days and tries one's patience sorely.

wsngmartin · Posted: June 27, 2008, 4:16 pm Post subject:

shendley

i can't say i've seen the procedure you've described from iRobot CS suggested bf. i'm going to guess that it's the "abbreviated" version of the 72 hr "refresh". if you don't run the battery down all the way, you can't break down the crystals as completely, and if you don't do the full 72 hr charge you can't be sure you've filled up and balanced the cells as well.

as far as the "spot" and "dock" button pressing, i believe it's the same thing as holding down the "power" button, as we do on the 4xxx's. i think it discharges any residual charge within the roomba's circuits so everything's completely discharged, but someone wiser will jump in if i'm off on this. i would not think it would have a significant effect on your "refresh".

what kind of run times are you seeing? how does that compare to what you had previously? and, how long have you had your battery/roomba? did you run it all the way down frequently, or did you have it set up to self-dock most of the time?

shendley · Joined: 09 Oct 2007 Posts: 63

I really need to clock its run time. So far all I've noticed is that it is unable to do two rooms with a lighthouse without completely draining the battery whereas before it could do that easily. Since it tends to stay in the first room about 40 minutes, I guess it must be getting about an hour of run time before it gives out.

My Roomba (and battery) is about nine months old - a 535 I bought off HSN. It didn't run the battery completely down very often until recently. Though I only have one major room where it can dock at the end of a run (the one room it does every day), it's had no problem doing rooms without running the battery completely down either with or without a lighthouse.

I also thought I'd paste the instructions I got via e-mail from IRobot for those of you who know more about this to critique. Here it is:

It may help to replenish the battery by resetting the charging system. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Hold down Roomba's SPOT and DOCK/DEMO buttons for 8-10 seconds
2. The Roomba should play a tune, indicating that the reset is complete.

If you have a Home Base®:
3. Align the Roomba on the Home Base® until both the POWER and DOCKED lights are lit on the Home Base®. The Roomba’s CLEAN light should pulse red, and the power supply should have a solid green light.
4. Allow the Roomba to charge for 16 hours or until the CLEAN light turns solid green.

If you do not have a Home Base®:
3. Connect the power supply directly to the Roomba. The Roomba’s CLEAN light should pulse red, and the power supply should have a solid green light.
4. Allow the Roomba to charge for 16 hours or until the CLEAN light turns solid green.

wsngmartin wrote:
what kind of run times are you seeing? how does that compare to what you had previously? and, how long have you had your battery/roomba? did you run it all the way down frequently, or did you have it set up to self-dock most of the time?

vic7767 · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 3429 Location: Louisiana

In the early days, we had the MAX button to aid us in running a NiMH battery completely down until the Roomba would refuse to run another mission. Now that option does not exist so one must force the new 5XX model to run the battery down one mission at a time until it also refuses to run another mission. Once that is done then you should reset your Roomba by either using the spot/dock option or by removing the battery and pressing the Clean button. Either of those will reset the Roombas internal timers including the charging system clock. Now bypass the home base and plug your power supply directly into the Roomba charging jack and let your battery charge for 3 days (72 hours). Now test your efforts by running the Roomba on a cleaning mission and time the run. If you see an improvement in the run times then you can repeat the 3 day charge process twice more and your NiMH battery will be at the best it is going to ever be.

Nine months is just a little on the early side of NiMH cell failure unless you have a bum battery right from the factory. This charging procedure will help you identify what is going on.

shendley · Joined: 09 Oct 2007 Posts: 63

I ran Roomba after doing the sixteen hour reset (without, however running the battery down before) as IRobot suggested and it still couldn't do two rooms with a lighthouse before exhausting its battery. I clocked it at an hour and ten minutes. So, making sure Roomba wouldn't start back up, I did another reset (spot+dock for ten seconds) and will leave it plugged directly into the wall (rather than docked) for 72 hours. But, if you guys don't mind, I have one more question: what sort of increased runtime should I see if I can expect the 72 hour resets to bring my battery back up to full strength? I'm assuming I should expect to see more than just a couple of minutes. Would 20 minutes be about right or is that too much to expect from one reset?

wsngmartin · Posted: June 28, 2008, 7:10 pm Post subject:

shendley:

i have quite a few 4xxx bots but only one 5xx. but my 5xx always seemed to have a longer runtime than the 560 i returned. there seems to be a bit of variation as to runtimes from battery to battery.

when my first 4xxx battery started running noticeably shorter run times, it dropped from about 1:15 to maybe 40 min, then after three 72 hr charges went back up to 1 hr+. later, when it went down to 35 minutes again, it got no better with the 72 hr charges.

since you did not time how long your battery ran at its best it would be hard to predict how much improvement you might expect. those who have no rugs, smooth (laminate/tile/wood) floors and little furniture will get the longer run times. with my carpet and carpet/laminate i've never been able to exceed 1:15-1:25. Still, 1:10 is not bad. Do yr 72 hr charge and let us know how it goes.

shendley · Joined: 09 Oct 2007 Posts: 63

I never thought about there being different run times on different surfaces. I'll need to do my comparison runs on the same surface, then. The hour and ten minute run I clocked yesterday was on hardwood. And now I really wished I'd clocked the battery right out of the box. The only real point of reference I have is the ability to do two complete areas with a lighthouse which usually took about an hour and twenty minutes to an hour and a half. Actually, if the 72 hour resets can get it back to doing that two area lighthouse run without running the battery down, I'll be happy.

wsngmartin wrote: shendley:

i have quite a few 4xxx bots but only one 5xx. but my 5xx always seemed to have a longer runtime than the 560 i returned. there seems to be a bit of variation as to runtimes from battery to battery.

when my first 4xxx battery started running noticeably shorter run times, it dropped from about 1:15 to maybe 40 min, then after three 72 hr charges went back up to 1 hr+. later, when it went down to 35 minutes again, it got no better with the 72 hr charges.

since you did not time how long your battery ran at its best it would be hard to predict how much improvement you might expect. those who have no rugs, smooth (laminate/tile/wood) floors and little furniture will get the longer run times. with my carpet and carpet/laminate i've never been able to exceed 1:15-1:25. Still, 1:10 is not bad. Do yr 72 hr charge and let us know how it goes.

shendley · Joined: 09 Oct 2007 Posts: 63

I just finished my first 72 hour reset and only got about 3-4 extra minutes of run time on a hardwood floor (I'm keeping all of my run tests to hardwood to be consistent): 1 hour and 13-14 minutes long. That doesn't seem like much of an improvement, but since I've never done this before I'm not sure. So I'll go ahead and do another 72 hour reset and see what, if any, improvement I get with it. What I'm looking for here is about an hour and a half run time so Roomba can easily do two rooms with a lighthouse without running out before finishing, as it used to do consistently. If I only gain 3-4 minutes from each 72 hour reset, it doesn't look like I'm going to get there.

Any thoughts about my likely prognosis here?

vic7767 · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 3429 Location: Louisiana

You may just have a defective battery. If so it may still be covered under the 1 year warranty from IRobot. Contact them and see if they will help you with a warranty replacement.

shendley · Joined: 09 Oct 2007 Posts: 63

I just called IRobot and they agreed with your assessment. I'll have a new battery in 7-10 days. Thanks for everyone's help with this!

vic7767 wrote: You may just have a defective battery. If so it may still be covered under the 1 year warranty from IRobot. Contact them and see if they will help you with a warranty replacement.