anyone have a roomba and a DMM?

beerorkid

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We got a roomba from a bag of crap on www.woot.com and had to buy a charger on ebay. Yesterday our docking station showed up and it is not working. I called support and asked them if I can check stuff with a DMM and they said they do not release that information. The docking station is fine, but I cannot get anything from the contacts on the bottom of the roomba.

If any are willing to check yours that would be awesome.
 
Just plug the wall cord directly into the roomba. I gave up on the docking station after a while - it was fairly worthless.

Speaking of Roombas. I have 2 Roomba sages and an older one (don't know the model off hand) that I am getting ready to ebay with several virtual walls and other misc stuff. Anyone here interested in them?

1 works fine but has been used frequently. The other sage I bought as parts. It does the 'back-up dance'. Usually that means the gears need cleaned.

The 3rd is the older one, and I haven't tested it. I just picked it up from the resale store as-is.

I only say this because I'd bet money you got a used Sage from Woot.
 
Not really sure what to check on it. I am still a noob when it comes to using a DMM. I just figured I would get something checking the contacts. Turned to all settings and got nothing.

it is a 530 roomba. We love the thing. 3 livestock and it slays pet hair. Does a good job in the game room too ;)
 
Roomba is 14.4 volts. Pull the battery and check it with a voltmeter set to DC volts, and on the '20' or '200' setting. While the battery is out, do a continuity check between the battery connector points and the docking station tabs. You might have a break somewhere.
 
Found the break in the chain. One of the docking station contacts must not be connected. nice it came with a 1 year warranty.

Thanks for the help shardian
 
So I called irobot again today.

First time I was offered 20% off of a docking station ($39)

Today when I called I told about the testing with a DMM and finding exactly where the issue was. She said they were going to send me out a new docking station free of charge. I then explained to her again that it was not the docking station. She stopped me and said "I am aware of that, but our first step is to get the new docking station to you and if it does not work we will send out a new roomba.

Seems my friend had an issue with his and they sent out a new one and did not ask for the old one back. He ended up fixing the broken one. Not sure if I will be so lucky, but would not mind another :)
 
I know what you mean..

I'm dealing w/ directv right now... my receiver wont read remotes...

we diagnosed it... they know it, I know it... but they had to send me a new remote first... before a receiver..

so today i called.. and new receiver is now on its way... what a waste of time and money...
 
I always wanted to buy one of those, should I or should I not buy one??

I thought they would suck. I doubted it could do a good job and did not really understand how they worked. Got mine from woot for $8 and had to buy a charger. I absolutely love it. We have a cat and two dogs. It munches hair like crazy. It has a vacuum, edge brush, and two brushes. Thing works much better than I thought it would. We used to use an upright every weekend and ewww. Yeah our carpets got bad. Now we run the roomba 3 times a day in all rooms and it does a great job. It is loud, takes a good 40 minutes to run, and needs lots of cleaning of the brushes to work good. Charges really quick, but you need to buy a new battery every year or so. Can replace the filter bit and the edge brushes. So looking at about $70 a year to maintain.

It made a huge difference in our place. Carpets look better daily than they ever have. Every now and then i will run the upright to get some of the dusty stuff out, but I do not have to empty the cannister more than once, and it does not get much more.

Works good on the kitchen linoleum too. The vacuum part does blow furballs around, but eventually gets them. Running it everyday takes just a few minutes, and makes my crappy carpet bearable. A friend sold his because it was too annoying. We let it do its thing when we are not around or not in the same room, so we hardly notice it.

Watching it do its thing is pretty cool. It has three programs. First just spirals out till it bumps into something, 2nd goes around the edge, 3rd random pattern. It is better to confine it to just one room to get good coverage. It also has sensors for stairs and it will gently touch an obstacle instead of ramming into it. Seems darker objects soaks up the IR so it does hit darker stuff harder.
 
C'mon, someone show interest in my Roomba collection so I don't have to deal with ebay! $40 shipped for everything.

Ummmmm I think I might be down. What does it all include?

Actually I am completely down. Parents in law want one bad. Hit me via PM and we get it done.
 
Done!

They are so fun to mess with. I rebuilt the battery on our main one when it ran out. I bought the 2nd sage on ebay since I knew I could tear it apart and fix it. Then of course the 3rd one at the restore. Then my excitement wore thin and they kept getting pushed back to the backburner for the last year or so. The wife has been on my case to fix 'em or get rid of 'em.

Anyways, PM on its way.
 
I thought they would suck. I doubted it could do a good job and did not really understand how they worked. Got mine from woot for $8 and had to buy a charger. I absolutely love it. We have a cat and two dogs. It munches hair like crazy. It has a vacuum, edge brush, and two brushes. Thing works much better than I thought it would. We used to use an upright every weekend and ewww. Yeah our carpets got bad. Now we run the roomba 3 times a day in all rooms and it does a great job. It is loud, takes a good 40 minutes to run, and needs lots of cleaning of the brushes to work good. Charges really quick, but you need to buy a new battery every year or so. Can replace the filter bit and the edge brushes. So looking at about $70 a year to maintain.

It made a huge difference in our place. Carpets look better daily than they ever have. Every now and then i will run the upright to get some of the dusty stuff out, but I do not have to empty the cannister more than once, and it does not get much more.

Works good on the kitchen linoleum too. The vacuum part does blow furballs around, but eventually gets them. Running it everyday takes just a few minutes, and makes my crappy carpet bearable. A friend sold his because it was too annoying. We let it do its thing when we are not around or not in the same room, so we hardly notice it.

Watching it do its thing is pretty cool. It has three programs. First just spirals out till it bumps into something, 2nd goes around the edge, 3rd random pattern. It is better to confine it to just one room to get good coverage. It also has sensors for stairs and it will gently touch an obstacle instead of ramming into it. Seems darker objects soaks up the IR so it does hit darker stuff harder.


Thanks for all the info ++++
Wow you really wrote down all I ever wanted answered about this thing.
Now I know I think i might try to get one when it is the right price, over here they are extremely expensive.
You got yours for $8 :eek: wow that's like 5 Euro.
 
If you don't cut a deal I'm interested if the light houses will work with my 53x. I am a roomba fan and have a dirt dog for the garage - awesome. The dirt dog does not have a vacuum, just a roller brush - my garage floor has never been cleaner. My only advice for roomba users - clean after every use including pulling all of the dog or human hair wrapped around the roller axles. The front solo wheel should also be removed - pop it out and its metal axle poked out and cleaned as well - there is an indentation around the center of this axle and the hair likes to wrap around it and prevent it from turning. With a little practice you can clean it up including emptying the collection bin a and brushing off the filter in less than 3 minutes. We have a golden retriever and wooden floors in our bedroom and it works well as long as you maintain it after every use.

Bill

Done!

They are so fun to mess with. I rebuilt the battery on our main one when it ran out. I bought the 2nd sage on ebay since I knew I could tear it apart and fix it. Then of course the 3rd one at the restore. Then my excitement wore thin and they kept getting pushed back to the backburner for the last year or so. The wife has been on my case to fix 'em or get rid of 'em.

Anyways, PM on its way.
 
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