Clock reset, sitting near dock

[tmnCA]

Neato sent a replacement for the replacement which ran once and then went totally dead (no LED, no response at all to buttons). This one arrived, charged overnight and when I started it, went in tiny circles and then complained it's right wheel is stuck. I checked the wheel, both seem to turn normally and the springs are intact, put it down in a more open area and the same thing.

So for now I am still using the original one I got, it has RPS errors but otherwise works.

I think the RPS errors are happening only when it goes under the sofa... it no longer gets physically stuck because I raised the sofa but I noticed the fabric liner on the sofa hangs down and touches the top of the turret, and I think the fabric drapes around it sometimes and causes the RPS. So it's possible that the original robot is OK and if I staple up the fabric under the sofa maybe it won't strand itself under there (I DO want it to vacuum to cat hair that drifts under there!).

[tmnCA]

Restarted the newest replacement and the stuck wheel error went away - Ran the not and after 15 minutes it started circling and complaining again. Guess this one is going back too.

[tmnCA]

So now I am back to running the original robot that I purchased (replacements have been worse). Today it ran great but then tried to return to the charging station. I was out, and came home to find it near the charger but not on it, placed it on manually and checked to see if it was going back out for a second round - saw that the clock was reset to 0. I remember seeing something about this issue in the past is there a fix?

[Wing Nut]

Not sure why it stopped short of the dock, but the clock probably died when the battery died. Even a fully charged Neato, when left off its charger, will flatten its battery fairly quickly.

[robochris]

....and that's the reason why I won't buy another Neato! It is a quite nice robot and it generally works very well.
BUT it has a few super annoying flaws. The first device I had worked for months, then I found it almost every day (it runs on a Mo-Fr schedule) sitting in the middle of nowhere, battery dead.
The replacement I got worked for months, now I find it almost every day in front of its base, battery dead. It just does not find the way home anymore.The "funny" thing is that it stops less than 50cm in front of the base and "gives up". Nothing has changed, the layout of the room is the same. It's sad, really...

[Mav]

....and that's the reason why I won't buy another Neato! It is a quite nice robot and it generally works very well.
BUT it has a few super annoying flaws. The first device I had worked for months, then I found it almost every day (it runs on a Mo-Fr schedule) sitting in the middle of nowhere, battery dead.
The replacement I got worked for months, now I find it almost every day in front of its base, battery dead. It just does not find the way home anymore.The "funny" thing is that it stops less than 50cm in front of the base and "gives up". Nothing has changed, the layout of the room is the same. It's sad, really...

I have seen this behavior in my xv-21, I have now done a reset of the system and hope that it will go back to how it was where it always docked itself instead of stopping just short of docking.

[tmnCA]

....and that's the reason why I won't buy another Neato! It is a quite nice robot and it generally works very well.
BUT it has a few super annoying flaws. The first device I had worked for months, then I found it almost every day (it runs on a Mo-Fr schedule) sitting in the middle of nowhere, battery dead.
The replacement I got worked for months, now I find it almost every day in front of its base, battery dead. It just does not find the way home anymore.The "funny" thing is that it stops less than 50cm in front of the base and "gives up". Nothing has changed, the layout of the room is the same. It's sad, really...

I have seen this behavior in my xv-21, I have now done a reset of the system and hope that it will go back to how it was where it always docked itself instead of stopping just short of docking.

That's exactly what it did - it was *right there* 10cm from the dock, it just didn't dock!

However - happydance - today I came home and it (the original Neato not the circling replacement) was on the dock charged, the rug was obviously vacuumed, and the dirt bin was completely full - it had finally successfully completed the downstairs vacuuming on a schedule, as it was designed to!!

Yesterday I stapled up the sagging liner fabric under the sofa that I think was confusing the radar and causing RPS errors. So I think... I hope... that I have fixed that issue. I guess I will see if my good luck continues.

[tmnCA]

It has successfully completed cleaning 2 days in a row now, looks like the sagging black fabric lining was confusing the radar. And it hasn't done the clock reset since. If it continues like this, I will be very happy with the Neato!

[Mav]

Unfortunately the clock runs off the main battery so if at any time the Neato doesn't return to the base station for charging it will exhaust its main battery and the clock will reset. I told Neato Support that I thought this was a major oversight on their behalf as the clock should run from a separate BIOS style battery.

[aziesemer2]

Possible fix for the stuck weel problem: http://www.robotreviews.com/chat/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=16527

[tmnCA]

I still running the original neato I purchased... it does have lots of annoying flaws but at least it hasn't required new parts due to long hair wrapping around. I cut lots of hair off the brush each week but it stays in the middle and doesn't interfere with the brush rotating like the roomba chm problems.

It picks up tons of dust and dirt every day!

But I do hope the software can be upgraded to fix the navigation problems
- about 1 in 3 trips the neato stops about 2' from the base and then the battery dies before I get home and the clock resets... super annoying
- it frequently gets stuck on furniture legs for no apparent reason - ie it could back up or go around but it seems to think that they are not there and keeps trying to go
- the mag strip is ugly and annoying and has to be placed in front of the sliding glass door or it goes nuts

- strangely, when I run it upstairs it has 0 problems, with different types of furniture and more division into rooms. I don't use the charger up there but it always finishes where I started it. It completes 100% of the time and never gets stuck. So it certainly depends on the furniture and layout.

[glnc222]

If there are windows on the wall where the charger is placed, it seems to have helped closing blinds on them, as the window light seems to have interfered with detecting the charging base. Also if there is a window behind the Neato shining on the base. It still returns to the starting point, but then stops as though the charger is not present. Can be intermittent. To analyze further there might be some log info over USB, never used.

[tmnCA]

Nope, no windows on that wall at all. Nothing else strange either.

[glnc222]

There are periodic reports of intermittent failure to dock, in various threads, with no conclusive explanation. One cause mentioned is running out of charge just before docking, which is odd when so close -- not too sophisticated. I cannot reproduce the problem at will to analyze anything, but there are some msgs listed for the USB command GetLifeStatLog dump related to returning to base. The alert entries will not display on the LCD, only errors. Included in numerous msgs from the laser is one labeled "sunblind", so maybe there is something to the observation about windows. I saw this entry in a partial dump I looked at. Other msg types:
0,LS_ALERT_RETURN_TO_BASE,3,69,144,0xd8,0x3cc0
0,LS_ALERT_RETURN_TO_BASE_PWR,3,70,146,0xdb,0x3e73
0,LS_ALERT_RETURN_TO_START,3,71,148,0xde,0x402c
0,LS_ALERT_RETURN_TO_CHARGE,3,72,150,0xe1,0x41eb
0,LS_ERROR_UNABLE_TO_RETURN_TO_BASE,3,84,174,0x105,0x58b3
There is no alert for intruders.
Haven't seen any reported log entries after a failure to dock, so I don't know if any of these might indicate something when it happens.
One would guess there is some software error involved in this intermittent failure, but hard to say what. Improperly estimating the reserve charge for base return could be one area, as well as too dumb a docking algorithm. It's been observed that when it backs into the charger incorrectly, it doesn't retry for example, in contrast to very aggressive cleaning behavior with obstacles. Someone mentioned docking terminated by bumping an obstacle it could usually go around. There is an old thread on a serious problem with poor contact with the base plates causing heat melting plastic (resistance in the connection) which led to the wiggling contact behavior addition; could relate to wimpy docking procedures -- better safe than melting. Who knows what improvements might come in the next release? They don't describe them all, not unusual.
It works well enough for my purposes. Excellent work all in all, with so many aspects, despite still a work in progress.

[Omegalion]

I've solved by placing the base against the wall and cleaning the contacts on the same

[tmnCA]

Omegalion, mine stops about 1' from the dock, facing 45 degrees towards the dock (stops as it is turning around) so I don't think the contacts would make a difference since it doesn't get near it. It seems to be a navigation issue I can try moving the base around more but it is in the most convenient, out of the way location.

I will have to see how my new Neato does - my 5 month old original just completely stopped working last week (no response at all) and after unsuccessful troubleshooting with Neato I decided to return it to Costco, they didn't have any in stock so I got a refund and ordered a new Neato. Also Costco.com has them on sale $280! I didn't want to go through the exchange process yet again. My new one is on the truck for delivery I should have it by evening.