Roomba 561 won't dock

[djos]

Hi all, my Roomba 561 had been working great until I went on holidays for a week - before I left I took it off the dock and plugged the charger in direct to the 561 as this disables the schedules.

Anyway all seemed ok but when I got home and put it back on the dock, it refused to recognise it or charge from it. I pulled out the battery to reset it and still no joy. Yet it still charges fine from the direct connection.

I checked the charge pads on the Roomba and there's no deformation or any other visible issues so I cleaned the contacts on both the Roomba and the dock but this made no difference.

Any ideas on what to check next?

[mfortuna]

Check for dirt or a bent contact in the side jack contacts. It is a common problem.

[TechGuy]

Clean the debris from the side jack. The debris is preventing the switch at the side jack from closing.
Read my post in the following thread for details.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19982

[leonicholson]

You may have the same problem I have. I've received the part and will install it soon.

My post:
Roomba 595 not charging on dock?

[djos]

Thanks gents, I'll blast the charge jack with some compressed air and see if that does the trick.

[djos]

Clean the debris from the side jack. The debris is preventing the switch at the side jack from closing.
Read my post in the following thread for details.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19982

Great post, that explains why the charge pads are open circuit when I check them with my DMM.

[djos]

Ok so the jack spring contact had definitely bent down, however even after jamming some conductive metal into the jack to bridge the two elements, it still won't change from the dock. It recognises it just fine but just won't charge when placed on the dock and can't dock when instructed to dock.

I did this because I wasn't able to bend the spring element up from the outside.

It does still charge just fine from the jack.

[vic7767]

Disconnect the connector from the circuit board and check continuity from the black wire to the brown wire.through the jack. If open replace the dc jack.

[djos]

Disconnect the connector from the circuit board and check continuity from the black wire to the brown wire.through the jack. If open replace the dc jack.

Thanks mate, can you point to a good Roomba disassembly page?

EDIT: I ordered a new jack from you.

[vic7767]

Sorry, had to cancel your order. International shipping of the $3 jack is $13.25. USPS changed their rules for shipping parts in bubble envelopes from $2.29 to $13.25. I don't plan on USPS putting me in the poor house.

Here's the disassembly info URL: http://vic7767-robotmods.blogspot.com/2 ... r-535.html

[djos]

Sorry, had to cancel your order. International shipping of the $3 jack is $13.25. USPS changed their rules for shipping parts in bubble envelopes from $2.29 to $13.25. I don't plan on USPS putting me in the poor house.

Here's the disassembly info URL: http://vic7767-robotmods.blogspot.com/2 ... r-535.html

Lol, no dramas - I ship a bunch of small items myself via AusPost ... but I cheat and send them as Large International Letters. You dont get tracking but for $5 USD max to anywhere in the world it's great.

[Brett]

djos - I think you have misunderstood - the debris and poor contact is NOT between the two bits on metal you can see when looking into the jack - it's within the body of the thing.
Blast it with compressed air if you have it, or give a bunch of blows with your mouth. Then plug it in and out 5 or 6 times (I do this with the brick powered off and i do it on "rapid fire" kind of action). Blow some more.
I'll buy you a beer if it doesn't sort the problem.

(-8

[djos]

djos - I think you have misunderstood - the debris and poor contact is NOT between the two bits on metal you can see when looking into the jack - it's within the body of the thing.
Blast it with compressed air if you have it, or give a bunch of blows with your mouth. Then plug it in and out 5 or 6 times (I do this with the brick powered off and i do it on "rapid fire" kind of action). Blow some more.
I'll buy you a beer if it doesn't sort the problem.

(-8

Ah, ok - I ordered a new part from Ed anyway - my Roomba lives a brutal life in my Workshop / Garage so im not surprised it had a part failure. I've already had to replace the gears, glue metal skids onto the the CHM (the teflon plastic ones wore flat) and remove the wire grill (worn down to stubs) from the CHM + I've been thru about 3 sets of brushes and countless side-brushes in the past ~2 years.

Amazingly the things that last the longest are the AeroVac filters!

PS, long drive across the Nulla to Melbourne mate!

[djos]

Ok so the new part from Ed arrived last week, I installed it on the weekend and now my roomba successfully docks again!

Thanks Ed.

[leonicholson]

Ok so the new part from Ed arrived last week, I installed it on the weekend and now my roomba successfully docks again!

Thanks Ed.

Great! I also received the part, but haven't installed it yet in my 595.

[vic7767]

Thanks Ed.