Charging Error 5, Roomba 550

[mg06981]

ok I found one that will tell me the voltage, I assume I should give it a full charge before trying to measure the voltage?

Also What about zapping the battery do you recommend that any advice?

These are the tools I have

http://i.imgur.com/ipz5436.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/VhQ9yog.jpg

[vic7767]

I would not use a lead acid battery charger to charge the Roomba battery pack. You need a smart charger like this:
http://www.onlybatteries.com/showitem.a ... 2&uid=1041

[Gordon]

I recommend (before you upload any more images) that you find some way to reduce their size down to 640 x 480 pixels. If you presently have no photo editor, I suggest you visit http://www.irfanview.com/ and download "IrfanView". It is a free editor. I recognize it could be that you are not using a PC to communicate with this rr board, say an iPad. If that's the case, IrfanView probably won't work, but your iDevice, whatever it is, ought to have its own image editing capability.

ok I found one that will tell me the voltage, I assume I should give it a full charge before trying to measure the voltage? ...

The first two cell & battery testers that you showed us will not help you with Roomba batteries -- they are dedicated to checking specific low-capacity cells and batteries by applying various calculated internal loads to selected cells under test. Even the model #10 7-2 tester having a 20V capacity would be unable to tell you much of use about your 14.4V, NOMINAL, NiMH battery.

Be aware that a freshly charged Roomba battery may read 16 to 17 volts across its terminals. The 14.4V level will be crossed through as the battery's charge is being depleted. Know also: 12-volts on the battery terminals is considered time to quit using the battery, so Roomba halts its cleaning session at that voltage.

Back on testers: The third tester, the #BT-100 will measure Roomba battery volts when less than "16V". You should not plan on throwing the RED load switch to "I" (since the load resistance is very low and intended for testing lead-acid auto batteries).

As vic7767 told you: It would be unwise for you to charge a Roomba battery with an auto-battery charger, even at the lowest current setting of "2A".

[mg06981]

I tested the battery with the Load tester for cars and it read only 6V so I assume the battery is bad,

Gordon I'll reduce the image sizes from now, Thank you.

[Gordon]

I tested the battery with the Load tester for cars and it read only 6V so I assume the battery is bad,

Even if you "test" a perfect Roomba battery, i.e., one that is known to be capable of operating Roomba for hours, that auto battery test will show the perfect battery as BAD! The reason for that is the tester applies a very heavy LOAD onto the battery under test. That test-load may be 50 times, or more, greater than the load that is reasonable to apply to a Roomba battery!

A great amount of heat is developed inside the tester when an operable auto battery is load tested; that is why instructions say to limit the application time to no more than ten seconds -- as can be read in this cropped image of your tester:

One useful bit of information that you might have observed is the battery voltage before and after you applied the LOAD. I'm guessing that the post test battery voltage, tester disconnected, would have been less than 10V (since I am also guessing (based on posted evidence) that your Roomba battery actually is ready for trash re-cycling.

There is another threat to a "healthy" Roomba by use of that tester: A four ampere fuse inside the battery could be switched OPEN by the heavy current rush through the tester's load resistance; and event that could mislead the person doing the test, as well as perturb the health of that re-settable 'fuse'.

Gordon I'll reduce the image sizes from now, Thank you.

Great news! I think all readers passing this way will appreciate that work. FYI, your images will eventually be processed by an rr moderator or admin so that a low-rez image appears in line; and when that image is clicked a full-rez image will appear in a new window.

[mg06981]

Thanx Gordon

So I bought a new battery on eBay, I guess I'll just test my luck and hope it's the battery. Is there anything I need to know before replacing the battery? I assume just set it and give it the full 16 hour charge.

[mg06981]

ok Got the batter in today, Roomba works well now