vacuuming edges only

[frenchie]

Hi everyone,
My Neato usually only runs upstairs in our house, and it's a fairly simple floorplan : a hallway with rooms on each side. It runs 3 times a week and is great (never gets stuck, always docks... touch wood !).

Once in a while, I'll run it in our downstairs area when we're out and it's never had a problem, until yesterday.
I put it down in the usual spot (a small back room with 2 doors) and hit the clean button. It looked around and appeared to be doing it's thing : map out the room, get to a wall, and proceed with cleaning the edges. About 45 min later, I check on it and it's still cleaning the edges (of a different room), when it is usually done by then !!!! It had not gone anywhere else in the 3 rooms it has to clean (no vacuum marks on the carpets, crumbs here and there in the middle of a room) only the edges !! The floorplan is almost shapped like an 8. From the Neato perspective, there are 2 "islands" it has to go around (one is a wall, one is a kitchen island). Usually, it divides the rooms in subsections, cleans the edges, then the middle of each one, goes to the next one and has no problem returning to it's starting position.
So I put it back on its dock and after it charged, I tried the downstairs again, from a different starting point. I followed it around from a distance, and the exact same thing happened : it went around the edges twice (and a half), before I stopped it (it was getting late by that time...).

Any ideas what I can try ?

[vic7767]

See if you can get it to Spot clean an area.

[mfortuna]

If the Neato can enter a room from two different entrances it can get confused. I have an open concept downstairs meaning each of 4 rooms has two entrances. I find I have to put a magnetic strip between the living and family rooms to make the neato behave.

My Neato starts in the living room and then goes into a dining room, kitchen, and family room. With no magnetic strip it re-enters the living room and thinks it is a new room. This causes major confusion because at this point it is remapping a room it already mapped.

With a magnetic strip it cleans the living room, dining room, family room, and then returns to base (after 1 or 2 recharges).

I am not sure if this is your issue but it may be worth a try.

[VIF]

I suggest taking the charging dock downstairs with you, or get a separate dock for downstairs. Then start the Neato from a docked position.

[frenchie]

Quick update :
Spot clean works.
So I tried to reproduce this behavior, and I couldn't....
so

I put the robot down in the same spot as usual, pressed the clean button, and it did its thing... without a problem. No magnetic strip to avoid the "8" shape, no base in view anywhere... it just worked like it used to.

Mystery. I'll update this thread if it happens again.

[Knolly]

Sorry for reviving such an old thread, but I keep searching trying to troubleshoot my problem and this is the only thread that comes up.

My Neato Botvac 80 used to work perfectly, then wasn't being used for a few months, and now I can only get it to vacuum edges. If I spot clean, it cleans the perimeter of the spot then announces it's done. If I hit clean house, it vacuums all of the edges and smugly beeps at me that its work is complete.

I have tried everything I can think of including buying a brand new battery (why not?) and am no closer to a solution. Neato support doesn't return my emails. I would LOVE to just flash a fresh firmware but they removed the firmware tool from online a while back.

Any ideas at all? It's driving me mental.

[mfortuna]

Not much help but if it used to work and now doesn't work a firmware update will not help.

[vic7767]

Knolly Download the NeatoControl program and then test the Neato sensors. Suspect a sensor is not performing correctly thus causing this condition.

[Knolly]

I actually was playing with that the other night, but I don't know what "normal" is considered with this program so nothing jumps out.





For the room it's currently in, and where I put the Neato, that LDS image seems about right to me.

Is there anything of note in any of those?

[vic7767]

Presently none of my Botvacs are fired up for running so I have no comparisons to make. One thing that has been noticed to create strange operation is the WallSensor. Check that the sensor can change values by moving the Botvac closer to a wall and seeing if the value changes to a lower number.

[Knolly]

Even just placing my hand by the sensor makes the wall sensor drop. However, it seems it never really gets about 88 or so when on the ground, regardless of how far it is to the wall. If I pick up the Botvac it will jump into the 90s for a bit though.

[glnc222]

Sensor failures usually show up in Spot Clean which depends on them as much as full house cleaning.

[Knolly]

Quick demo of how it runs a spot clean currently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt3T72z ... e=youtu.be

[JRG57]

Hello there,

I am new here and bought a second hand Neate XV-21 (european version XV-24). The seller persists that it functioned well till the day he sold it. In my home it only hoovers the perimeter i.e. along the walls. If it by accident enters the middel of the floor it returns to the walls and repeats cleaning along the wall. Additionally it has only found the way back to the charging station one out of 16 times.
I hooked it up with the NeatoControl V3.3 yesterday and tested the Laser sensor. It does not show anything like the picture which Knolly posted further above. I tried to put some objects (cardboard boxes) on the floor and found out that the Neato is short sighted and only recognize objects within app 90 cm distance.
I have performed a soft reset and a hard reset but no improvement.
Has anyone of you got an Idea what I can do to to increase the laser detection?
Everything is cleaned and no dirt in the laser holes.

Please help.

[vic7767]

Has anyone of you got an Idea what I can do to to increase the laser detection?

Disassembly will be necessary to reach the Lidar unit. Once the Lidar unit is visible it can be further torn down to access the lens adjustment opening. Fine tuning the lens will be somewhat of a challenge but with the NeatoControl program you will be able to determine your success.

[JRG57]

Has anyone of you got an Idea what I can do to to increase the laser detection?

Disassembly will be necessary to reach the Lidar unit. Once the Lidar unit is visible it can be further torn down to access the lens adjustment opening. Fine tuning the lens will be somewhat of a challenge but with the NeatoControl program you will be able to determine your success.

Thank you for your answer but do you think that the lidar can get out of tuning and need tuning?
Apparently it as function until shortly. If yes would I need to fine tune the Lidar beam source itself or the lense?

I have read a lot about caps change (7 x 100uF / 25V). Could they course the lidar being short sighted?

[JEfromCanada]

I think what vic7767 is suggesting is that the laser's angle can get out of alignment, such that the reflection of the laser light off objects is not hitting the sensor. This can happen if the laser is aiming too low or too high.

[JRG57]

I think what vic7767 is suggesting is that the laser's angle can get out of alignment, such that the reflection of the laser light off objects is not hitting the sensor. This can happen if the laser is aiming too low or too high.

Could that possibly happen during transportation?
How would I get it aligned, any idea?
I guess to take out the lidar unit, remove the drive belt, take a mirror and try to align the beam to hit the lens, korrekt?

[glnc222]

Adjusting the beam focus is a tricky business not usually needed, certainly not a result of transport. Screw on lenses. I think it is covered in the long instructional video linked in the Mods & Repairs list. What has also been treated is the detector for the spin, which someone had to bend back into place. This has been improved in newer models with more than one detector reported. One case involved some tilt from improper mounting.

[Andycap]

Hi.

I got a xv signature that was listed on ebay as battery error 0002. I knew it would be a risk buying it but I did and the battery error was simple to fix, plug sockets opened up on the outer connectors. I did find that it was short sighted though so took it apart and took the top off the lidar and also removed the dome from the top case. I then put the top case back on and connected it up to control software. Sure enough very short sighted. I then slackened the screws on the rx lens slightly(not the laser but the larger lens) and started by turning it slightly clockwise and re-tested with software. I kept repeating until it started to get worse again and then backed it anticlockwise a bit to get the best position. I put the cover back on and also the dome on the top cover and put back together. This solved the lidar short sighted issue.

I did have another issue where it would start to follow the walls until it bumped into something then it would wonder off randomly into the middle of the floor. This was caused by one wire on the wall sensor plug being broke and only just making contact until the bumper was pressed. After that fix the neato runs great and has done for the last week with daily cleans.

Hope the lidar part helps you.