Roomba 560 firmware upgrade

[c0ke]

I have 2 560's. One moves faster and also says what the error is when it shuts down. My other one will move slower at the beginning and then once in a while it moves at a faster speed and it will just beep code when it shuts down. I think my one has a newer firmware on it. How can I tell what firmware it has? I tried contacting roomba to get an OSMO from them to update my roombas but they said they can't send me one. Is there anything else I can do to manually update my roombas without having to buy one on eBay for over $60.

Thanks

[vic7767]

You may be dealing with two different issues. First the slow movement on your one 560 may just be due to dust blocking the Light touch sensors located behind the front bumper. You might be able to speed up that Roomba by removing the front bumper (careful with the attached little cable) and wiping all the sensors.

I have an alternative to the $60 for an ebay OSMO. Just send me an email or PM me or go to my website and use the "Contact me" form to find out more.

[c0ke]

It doesn't go slow all the time, seems like it goes slow until it knows where to go then it speeds up. I will try and clean that though. Thanks for the tip

[c0ke]

Thanks for the advice on the light touch sensors.. I cleaned them up and it seems to work great.

Thanks.

[vic7767]

Glad that you fixed the slow motion Roomba.

[mastercb]

In the initial post, you described, that oneof the roombas starts "slow" and after a while running, it speeds up.

So, I don't think, this is a problem with dust in the optical bumper sensors.

I discovered a problem, that the "transmitter" part (Ir-LED) in the optical bumper sensor housing gets weaker within lifetime. Now the problem is, that the transmitter does not have enough "signal", to pull the line to a level which signals "bumper not pressed". When the battery voltage decreases, the sensor ("receiver") is "strong enough to pull down the signal line an it works without problem.

If you are not shure, or don't believe me: Just enter the service mode and advance to bumper check. you will see, that ,when you have a fully charged battery ONE of the bumper sensors believes to be "pressed" permanently. When battery is at lower charge state (say: below 50 or 30 percent), the bumper test displays the correct current bumper state.

After replacing both parts (Ir-transmitter AND receiver) in both bumper sensor boxes, my roomba works, like a new one. Price: approximately 50 ct each.

[vic7767]

In the initial post, you described, that oneof the roombas starts "slow" and after a while running, it speeds up.

So, I don't think, this is a problem with dust in the optical bumper sensors.

You are correct..... The problem is with dust on the Light Touch sensors behind the opaque lens mounted in the front bumper, not the bumper sensors.