My vision was blocked. Please press OKAY (3000)

[DarkLeftArm]

Thanks for this, but all that was done ad infinitum before I ever found this forum. My Lidar tower is now totally disassembled waiting for new parts. The motor was shot, so I have a new Jameco unit. The slip ring that supplies the signals and power to the laser itself was totally fried. It felt like a ratchet, so I have ordered a new unit from the factory in Hong Kong that made them. Since Neato won't carry them, I went to the source. I was surprised nobody here seemed to have ever messed with one of these.
Succeed or fail, I will post my results here. This forum seems like a pretty good record of things people have done to these things.

Cheers
Bert

[glnc222]

If possible please post part identification and source for the slip ring, not seen before.

[Tritonal]

As many other people here I am getting the vision blocked error. This started a good while ago but I'm just getting around to doing something about it. The turret won't spin any more so I was guessing motor. Downloaded a neato control program ran through the motions testing everything I could and all seems to work minus motor. I had already ordered a new motor so I tore it apart replaced the motor cleaned it and put it back together. I've read that the polarities are reversed so I made sure I plugged the motor in the way it was before. After getting it put back together and started up the turret now spins but its not a steady spin it's kinda pulses a few times before the neato pops up the vision blocked error. Maybe I didn't connect the positive and negative right? I ran the program again fired up the turret motor from the program and same thing, it spins but isn't really constant more of a pulse. Few seconds on then slows then few seconds on then slows. I also tried using the scan tool but it wouldn't output anything.

So all in all I'm thinking either 1. I hooked the power up wrong or 2. the lidar itself is bad. Any insight before I start tearing into it again?

[vic7767]

Step 1) Reverse the polarity of your dc motor. Make sure when the motor is spinning that it is spinning counter clockwise when viewing the pulley mounted on the shaft.

[Tritonal]

So I checked it to see which direction it was spinning and it's counter clockwise and it's actually cleaning now!

I don't know why it is now but wouldn't this morning but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth. Now I have a whole seperate issue. I had 4 plastic pieces left over that I could figure out where they went to save my life. So I decided to put it all together and find out that way. Well apparently they are for the bumpers. lol. Oh well its cleaning now, though not having an easy time of it. When its all done I'll take it apart put the plastic pieces on and hope it still works.

So I'm now certain the polarity was right atleast

[glnc222]

When installing the four bumper actuators with pins into sockets in both the top and bottom of the case, check the bumper action holding the case closed, before fastening the numerous screws, as the case can be closed with an actuator jammed out of position.

[Tritonal]

Got it all put back together with the bumpers installed. All worked great. Did a cleaning of a room then displayed the vision blocked 3000 error again. Turret rotates but looking in I don't see the faint red of the LIDAR. Thinking the lidar is bad.

[Wing Nut]

but looking in I don't see the faint red of the LIDAR. Thinking the lidar is bad.

I'm not sure you can with just your eyes? I know with the XV series the IR Lidar's laser is only seen when viewed through a common type of video camera, the ones typically found in cellphones.

[glnc222]

Difficult even with a digital camera as the beam is weak for safety and pulsing momentarily besides, unlike the bright LED emitters in the wall and cliff proximity sensors. Some fancy cameras have produced pictures of the lidar beam line on walls. But it is easy to check the lidar with the data scan over USB with the Neato Control Program. Besides the laser emitter there can be problems with the sensor related to digital camera tech.

[Tritonal]

I am able to see it pulsing though very faintly when it was working properly. But now its a 50/50 on if it actually works. Yesterday morning it worked, afternoon it didn't and this morning to worked but stopped mid cleaning with a vision blocked 4000 then 3000. So it's very intermittent right now

[DarkLeftArm]

If possible please post part identification and source for the slip ring, not seen before.

So if you go up a bit, you'll see I had the same problem. My lidar motor was shot, but also the slip ring connector was hardly working at all. It was wobbling, ratcheting, I'd have been amazed if it was doing its job well at all transmitting any signals.
So I pulled out the lidar turret and disassembled it. The part number was right on it, along with the website of the company. the website is http://www.slipring.cn/index.php and I couldn't find the exact same part number so I contacted the sales rep. She told me they had the exact part. [part #LPM-04B(0)]
Since we have two of these things I ordered two parts. They cost $20 apiece and $30 shipping from Hong Kong. also a $5 credit card charge. A total of $75 and I had the parts in my hand 30 hours after I finalized the order.
With the new slip ring and a new motor, my robot is running like new. I think that slip ring was getting worse slowly.
I took pics if anybody is interested.

Cheers
Bert

[mfortuna]

Please post pics, they will be helpful.

[DarkLeftArm]

[rlamond]

Hello All,
I'm a long time roomba tinkerer, but just recently was gifted a malfunctioning Botvac D85 with a code 3000 error. I've been looking over this forum for the past couple of days and have a theory or two, but my issue seems slightly different than those I've read about in that my motor does not appear to be dead (but may be dying).
As a cleaning cycle begins, the D85 attempts to spin up the lidar housing, but can't seem to get it up to speed. It definitely moves, but its speed oscillates between stopped and (what appears to be) nearly spinning fast enough. This happens several times until the code 3000 error appears.
The odd thing is, if I activate the LDS through Neato Control, cycling the test on and off several times (can take a minute or two), eventually the lidar gets up the correct speed (300 rpm). However, in some cases, the speed doubles to 600 rpm and stays there. This makes me think there is either something failing in the motor that can be overcome (at least for now) with a 'kick start', or that something seriously weird is going on with the PWM controller. In fact, once I've got the lidar working via Neato Control 'kick start', I can take it out of test mode, disconnect from my pc, and have it successfully complete a cleaning cycle. Has anyone experienced a similar problem?

Thanks in advance!

[rlamond]

Just a quick update; the lidar looks fine on the inside and spins freely; and the tachometer doesn't show any signs of damage. Very confused by this issue.

[ken800]

Just thought I'd come back in case this helps anyone else. Mine didn't specifically say "my vision is blocked" but it did try three times to "go" and failed. It just said Error (3000) press OK to continue.

I fiddled with the lidar and noticed that I could get the unit to start working if I used a q-tip to help the lidar get started. Once running it would finish. Chalking it up as a possible battery issue, I bought a new Neato-branded battery that that didn't fix the problem.

I ordered a bearing from Vics site thing that since I could help it get started that was the most likely culprit. I finally got around to tearing it down this evening and once I took the o-ring belt off of the lidar motor I realized it spun freely and would continue to spin for a while - good bearing.

I realized then that the motor was difficult to spin and didn't have any "pops" in it when rotating. There should be subtle little jumps in the motor due to magnets. I figured the motor was going bad so, as a longshot, I used a bladed screwdriver to carefully remove the press-on pulley and removed the motor. I then cleaned the area at the base of the motor shaft and realized it was both quite dirty and what appears to be a bronze or brass bushing rather than a bearing.

Long story short, I put a very small drop of 3 in 1 oil on the shaft at the bushing and let it sit for about an hour. When I returned, the oil had seeped in so I reassembled it. With the belt and pulley back on the motor rotated with about 1/2 the effort and I could feel the little magnetic pops and the motor spun. Obviously encouraged I reassembled and it fired right up and started immediately once the battery was in the green. Time will tell if this fix holds and/or the oil gunks up the motor but for a while, at least, it's working again.

Hope this helps someone... It was a free fix.

[glnc222]

3-in-one oil reminds me of electric hair trimmer and razor oil, and WD-40 penetrating oil (with a solvent).

[glnc222]

XV Slip Ring Discontinued

A German user repairing lidars reported on roboter-forum maker Jinpat says part #LPM-04B(0) slip ring for XV models is discontinued, the "B" versions.
The Botvac was mentioned as using a more sophisticated Vorwerk lidar with optical data connection, a different ring.
Not clear what is in the older VR100 from Vorwerk.

[Nounours32]

Hello
But they still sell the model LPM-04A. Would you know the difference? Is it worth trying?
My case is that the motor died by itself suddenly after 2 years 1/2 (lidar not turning at all when starting a cleaning). I replaced it and now the lidar turns. But I still have randomly some 4xxx vision blocked errors (not anymore 3xxx BTW). It can complete 2 full cycles in a row or simply stop after few minutes and stopping again and again 2mn after restarting. No pattern, no logic so I guess something else is physically wrong...
Thanks for your help. Hope my return of experience will also help.
Cheers
Nicolas

[glnc222]

I would not know details of the slip ring parts, not an industrial user. You could look at detailed specifications in their catalog, try to compare them, sizes etc. for fit. One user had even discussed the part selection with Jinpat, who supplied the "B" part info, I suppose what Neato was buying. If differences are just in mountings, it might be possible to adapt, drill holes etc. The German member doing many lidar repairs, Haiko on Roboter-Forum said maybe an "A" or "C" series could be used, but had not tried them. He expects to continue working. The slip ring part is fairly expensive. One user managed to find an entire used lidar for $60.