Low cleaning time on XV-21

[denodan]

But did you do a battery new reset, when you first got your Neato? as one reply said, he did it by mistake and worked. I suspect if your getting low battery times, and have not told the Neato you have a new battery, then it may not work resetting the battery, so think to get the proper run times, you first got to tell your Neato it's a new battery.

So wonder if the problem, for people is not at first hitting new battery even before using your Neato, rather than using it without first hitting new battery,

seems funny this is not mentioned in the manual from what I can see, but putting in a new battery, you must tell Neato.

Afterall it is a new battery, when you get your Neato, so why not also tell it, it's a new battery?

[donnoj]

Looks like Neato update their site to reflect the lower run times:

"Normal run time for the Neato" is 40-60 minutes depending on the floor type it is being used on. It runs longer on hard floors and a little less on carpeted floors.

http://www.neatorobotics.com/support/an ... -charging/

Picked up an XV-21 this week and the best times I get are 30 minutes hard floor and 10 minutes medium height carpet, before it heads back for a charge.

I'm exchanging it tonight and will see If the next one does any better.

[glnc222]

Did they correct an over-estimate of capacity previously used, or have they lowered the capacity -- either from smaller batteries or more powerful motors draining faster? There is some reduction from using the harder turning, higher drag bristle brush. Maybe that's all it is. Surely they could give more detail and still put a positive spin on it; this obscurity is not helping marketing in my opinion. Finally it could just be the lawyers.

[donnoj]

I've been reading in several posts that friction from the bristle pet hair brush uses more energy. Has anyone simply replaced it with the older style beater bar, since it comes with the unit, to see if cleaning time extends between charges? Why the heck do they include the old bar anyway? Does the old bar work better on carpet?

[glnc222]

I use the beater bar because it does not tear as much fiber out of rather fragile cheap carpeting as I found the bristles do, preserving the material as well as not having to clean that off the brush, which is pretty hard the way it imbeds in the bristles. But with pet hair situations you might prefer the bristles, and hopefully have more durable flooring. On hard floors the bristles are preferred to the beater because of its spiral form which does not slap the blades against the floor noisily, and maybe wearing the blades more. Depends on the situation whether that matters.
The beater is impressive hardware with that solid aluminum extrusion tube, heavy duty stuff. Gives the Neato a classy quality (but what do I know?).

I do not like the brush bearing mounts designed for quick removal for cleaning -- those pet situations again. It does not seem durable as it rubs in places. So I replaced it with ball bearings and custom crafted rubber grommets which don't rub -- hopefully will last a long time. Still pretty easy to remove, just a bit tricky to fit the belt on with less flexibility in the mount. Its all in the wrist...

[kamiraa]

Well if you put new batteries in Neato, then you have to tell it they are new, else the life will be shorter, so suspect the same will be with a new Neato, tell it the battery is new. seems you guys maybe not doing this tip

Today I timed my "good neato" and got 37 minutes with the original batteries. This is a VX-21 3.0 firmware. This thing has had around 10 recharges and still sitting at <40 minutes (mix of carpet and tile).

Like I mentioned earlier, if we are limited to exactly 3 runs, it seems I need three 45-50 minute attempts to complete the entire first floor.

I got new batteries today (older style). I put them in just now, and told the box it has new batteries in the support menus. I will report back tomorrow night of the findings if these older stock of batteries will support longer life.

Wish me luck!

Well new batteries help, went up to 50 minutes first run out, after a full day of charge.

Much better!

[donnoj]

I would love to get 50 minutes on hard floors alone. I'm on my second unit and am at about 30 max hard and 10 carpet. I need to call customer suport and see if they can send me some new batteries. Seems like there is a batch of bad ones in these units, making the device practically useless.

[denodan]

Tell me, did all you guys not do the new battery thing, before you used your Neato? There is a new battery option in the LCD menu, so wonder if it makes a difference? I did it to mine, after reading the problems here and am, I estimate getting around 60 mins on carpet.

Did our sitting room took 15 mins and hardly gone down on battery indicator at all. I am sure someone else on here also did this and also get about 60-62 mins. So this option may just help before using your neato. After setting language then set new battery.

[kamiraa]

Tell me, did all you guys not do the new battery thing, before you used your Neato? There is a new battery option in the LCD menu, so wonder if it makes a difference? I did it to mine, after reading the problems here and am, I estimate getting around 60 mins on carpet.

Did our sitting room took 15 mins and hardly gone down on battery indicator at all. I am sure someone else on here also did this and also get about 60-62 mins. So this option may just help before using your neato. After setting language then set new battery.

Could be, because when I changed the batteries out, I did this in conjunction.

So question is . . is it the batteries, or the firmware setting.

Some folks before you call Neato, give it a try, and post up. Worth a shot . .

[denodan]

I think it odd, you put a new battery in, and they tell you to use new battery option, yet when you buy the Neato new it is not mentioned, which I think even with a new Neato, you got to tell it the battery is new. I just don't see why they don't tell you, with a new Neato to do the same. After all your new Neato has new batteries, so logical would say with a New Neato, tell it the batteries are also new.

[vic7767]

When you receive your new Neato the New Battery selection was performed prior to shipping, exposing the battery pack to another aggressive charging process will just decrease the operational life of your brand new batteries.

[neato]

[donnoj]

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=15765&p=112470#p112470

[vic7767]

There was no mention of using the NEW BATTERY menu selection in that post but it is a very good idea to charge the battery pair for at least 12 hours prior to first use.

[donnoj]

I thought that selecting new battery on a brand new unit degraded the life of the battery.

Does any ne know the reason Neato ships some units with the batter already plugged in and other not? I'm suspecting it's intentionally done to improve the capacity/working life of the battery while its sitting in warehouses and store shelves.

[vic7767]

I thought that selecting new battery on a brand new unit degraded the life of the battery.

Yes, you are correct. That's why I mentioned in the previous post that the battery was just charged normally for 12 hours and the NEW BATTERY selection was not performed.

[denodan]

Well I did select New Battery and get well over 60 mins on battery, and that is on Carpet. Also mine did not charge up for 12 hours, was fully charged in less than 1 hour.

There are one, or 2 members here, who selected new battery by mistake, and also get 60+ mins on battery. All selecting new battery does, is tell the hardware, and firmware it's a new battery, so if it needs a full 12 hour charge, then will do it, so very doubful it does any harm to the battery, and many people with battery problems, maybe their Neato's are not set as new battery when new, so see no harm to select new battery, with new Neato and a good precaution anyway, so all it would be doing is calibrating the Neato Hardware, so if your battery is almost full like mine was, is not going to recharge it for 12 hours.

[vic7767]

The 12 hour charge is NOT something that the Neato charging system attempts whether the New Battery selection is made or not. As I have explained in other posts, the 12 hour charge when you first receive your Neato is something that you elect to do that will help balance all 12 cells that then will lead to a longer operational life. Even though the Neato battery status LED stops flashing and is Green, there is still a charging current that is being applied to the cells and if allowed to continue charging an additional 12 to 16 hours the individual cells will become more balanced.

[SyRenity]

Hi.

Reading last posts, if the battery already so bad it can hold only 25 minutes of clean-time, is there any risk in running new battery procedure and leaving charging for 12 hours?

I mean, any chance the benefits will overcome the battery wear & tear in such operation?

[vic7767]

In a situation like you describe where normal charging does not generate improved running times then by all means try the New Battery option and see if results improve.