Need some help for the Roomba 530

[tomnjerry]

I purchased a manufacture refurbished Roomba 530 (90 days manufacture warranty) from woot.com and got it today. Unfortunately, it seems do not work properly out of box.

Problem:

Charging was fine, but quick. The 'Clean' light turned to green in 2 hrs. (Don't know exact time, because I left home for 2 hrs and it turned green before I came back)
I clicked the Clean button to let it work. However, it moved forward for ~0.5m and then moved within a very small area about 15cm by 15cm, moving and rotating clockwise and counterclockwise. After ~2 minutes, it stopped, the red alarm light flashed continuously and the alarm BEEPED NINE TIMES. I tried to let it dock itself by putting it just in front of the home base and click 'Dock' buttun. However, it repeated the same thing. Moving in a small region, rotating and then stopped and BEEPED NINE times.I changed the iRobot, the home base several different places within the room and itjust behaved the same. I also reset the machine by pressing Dock and Spot together for ~10s until it restarted, no help.

I opened the back cover and found the battery pack be hot after the short 2 minutes run. I estimated the temperature to be 40C-50C.

Any suggestions? Seems the error code is the bumper sensor, but I checked it and found it moved freely and was quite clean.

[mfortuna]

The first thing you should do is ignore the green charge complete indication and let the roomba charge at least 16 hours. That is a recommended procedure for the very first charge cycle.

I think others have had the 9 beep error and it isn't always the bumper.

Let it charge for 16 hours and try again. If you still have problems arrange for a warranty replacement.

[tomnjerry]

Thank you so much for the fast reply.

I will try to charge it longer. However, because it is not a brand new unit, I guess the battery pack is not necessarily a brand new one and don't need to be charged fully. When I opened the back cover and took the battery pack out, I could tell that it is not quite new.

[ShaneBridges1234]

i woot'ed one to and i am in the same boat. sometimes i swear i count 10 beeps, but everyone else says 9. it appeared the re-furb came charged, but will try the 16 hr, no other options at this point!

[RoombaRules]

Hey there tomnjerry,

It's difficult to know what specific issue is causing this because it's refurbished (there could be multiple issues). I tend to agree with mfortuna's post. But just to expand on it a little, I should note that this basic rule of thumb of charging something for a long time the first time you use it (or if you haven't used it for a long time) applies to most any electronic device. While it's not as important as it used to be, this practice is still useful even with modern electronics. It is important to note that BEFORE you do this long charge, it is helpful to completely and totaly drain the battery of all it's energy. No harm is done if you don't do this, and you can reap even more benefit if you repeat this cycle 2 or 3 times, but it kind of depends on your level of patience.

Couple that advice with a good thorough cleaning of the robot and another few reset cycles (holding the Spot and Dock buttons like you mentioned), and you should be all set.

Good luck,

~Seth

[mfortuna]

Did you have to remove a little plastic tab to get the roomba going? Hopefully they didn't leave the battery in it and connected while it was on the shelf. That is not good for the battery and at least for the 400 series, not always good for the roomba.

[tomnjerry]

Hey there tomnjerry,

It's difficult to know what specific issue is causing this because it's refurbished (there could be multiple issues). I tend to agree with mfortuna's post. But just to expand on it a little, I should note that this basic rule of thumb of charging something for a long time the first time you use it (or if you haven't used it for a long time) applies to most any electronic device. While it's not as important as it used to be, this practice is still useful even with modern electronics. It is important to note that BEFORE you do this long charge, it is helpful to completely and totaly drain the battery of all it's energy. No harm is done if you don't do this, and you can reap even more benefit if you repeat this cycle 2 or 3 times, but it kind of depends on your level of patience.

Couple that advice with a good thorough cleaning of the robot and another few reset cycles (holding the Spot and Dock buttons like you mentioned), and you should be all set.

Good luck,

~Seth

Thanks a lot.

I am charging it right now, ~9 hrs already. Will wait for another 8 hrs and see whether there are some improvement.

[tomnjerry]

Did you have to remove a little plastic tab to get the roomba going? Hopefully they didn't leave the battery in it and connected while it was on the shelf. That is not good for the battery and at least for the 400 series, not always good for the roomba.

Yes I did. And I opened the back cover and removed the battery out once to prevent any residue inside.

Thanks.

[tomnjerry]

My update:

I charged the Roomba for ~16hrs and tried it again. This time it showed some improvement. It could move normally in a spiral way until bumped into something. Then it returned to the old track, dance within a very small region and then stopped with 9 beeps.

It's pretty clear that something is wrong with the bumper sensor, right?

[vic7767]

It's pretty clear that something is wrong with the bumper sensor, right?

Yes, and it is a common failure on some production runs of the bumper sensor assembly. Your sensors are sealed IR pairs so debris is not the issue. You may consider a defective IR diode or possibly a cold solder joint. If still under a warranty, contact iRobot for warranty support.

[tomnjerry]

It's pretty clear that something is wrong with the bumper sensor, right?

Yes, and it is a common failure on some production runs of the bumper sensor assembly. Your sensors are sealed IR pairs so debris is not the issue. You may consider a defective IR diode or possibly a cold solder joint. If still under a warranty, contact iRobot for warranty support.

Thank you so much.

I called iRobot and the lady was nice. She said they would send me a replacement unit. However, the replacement unit will be without battery.

[tomnjerry]

i woot'ed one to and i am in the same boat. sometimes i swear i count 10 beeps, but everyone else says 9. it appeared the re-furb came charged, but will try the 16 hr, no other options at this point!

ShaneBridges1234, have you got anything improvement after charging? If not, you'd better call iRobot to get the defective unit replaced.

[vic7767]

I called iRobot and the lady was nice. She said they would send me a replacement unit. However, the replacement unit will be without battery.

But now you will have a spare CHM, Side brush, two Drive motors, and a Vacuum dust bin. Not to mention an extra PCB and other parts to use on your new warranty replacement later on.

[tomnjerry]

[quote'"tomnjerry"]I called iRobot and the lady was nice. She said they would send me a replacement unit. However, the replacement unit will be without battery.

But now you will have a spare CHM, Side brush, two Drive motors, and a Vacuum dust bin. Not to mention an extra PCB and other parts to use on your new warranty replacement later on.

You mean I can have 2 Roomba with the replacement one? That sounds great!

But my expectation is low, one working unit is enough for me.

[ShaneBridges1234]

mine was no different after charging 16+ hours. guess i will call.. this is my 3rd roomba, my 1st gen stopped working, my 4th gen refurb only lasted a few months (sounds like i have to solder some surface mount diodes to fix that one) and now my 5th gen is DOA! these things sure are a pain, but i keep buying them cause with dogs, they are a must have!!!

[don_xvi]

Sorry to hear you guys are having problems with your woot, I got one as well.
I was also surprised at how quickly the charge indicator went to green, so I ran it (also suspecting it may have had a significant charge when shipped, and yes, I had to pull out a battery tab when I got it) but wasn't sure I got a very long cycle from it, so I let it charge for 24 hours and lost interest when it hit 53 minutes of runtime. It turned green again quickly, I'm not certain this indicator is very accurate or useful on mine.

Unfortunately, I wasn't impressed by all 4 screws holding the bottom plate on being loose, one trying to fall completely out. I'm staying positive iwth it and anxious to run it again tomorrow !

[tomnjerry]

Sorry to hear you guys are having problems with your woot, I got one as well.
I was also surprised at how quickly the charge indicator went to green, so I ran it (also suspecting it may have had a significant charge when shipped, and yes, I had to pull out a battery tab when I got it) but wasn't sure I got a very long cycle from it, so I let it charge for 24 hours and lost interest when it hit 53 minutes of runtime. It turned green again quickly, I'm not certain this indicator is very accurate or useful on mine.

Unfortunately, I wasn't impressed by all 4 screws holding the bottom plate on being loose, one trying to fall completely out. I'm staying positive iwth it and anxious to run it again tomorrow !

Hi,Don_Xi,have you noticed this item may be indeed Roomba 540, not 530. I got that feeling because I saw the model on the bottom is 540 but seems be scratched/wiped almost invisible purposely. You may try the lighthouse and remote on it.

[ShaneBridges1234]

interesting on the 540 model number, i can see 530 scratched out on mine... going check the screws to see if maybe something is just loose... Tech Support was closed for today, so will have to call tomorrow.

[ShaneBridges1234]

i called and they are sending me a new one, pretty crazy that they do not want you to return the old one. So now i get to take it apart and play... (aka try to fix it).

[don_xvi]

I don't see any sign of where a model number would have been on the bottom of my unit, but I suspect once these are remanufactured they all have 530 level innards. I haven't followed the 500 series info on here too much before, are the models differentiated by different electronics or just programming ? Regardless...

I'm jealous of you guys with problems now ! I had been thinking, "Boy, I'm glad I don't have problems with my robot like these guys" but I wouldn't mind having a partsbot ! Of course, mine's been cleaning while you're waiting !