I have just aquired a Roomba Discovery 4210, it did not work and was absolutely filty so I have taken this apart cleaned many of the parts but its still not working, I have:
Taken the cover off and bumper and cleaned the cliff sensors and the wall sensors,
Removed the cover of the wheels and cleaned the motion sensor
Cleaned all filters and dust box
Run the diagnostic tests on it - all fine
However it is still behaving eratically it works fine for a few seconds and then moves back and forth in a tight zig zag pattern. If I hit the bumper then it moves direction.
I have a feeling it may be the bumper sensors however I am not sure why this wasnt picked up with the tests and then why it responds to taps on the bumper.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as its a great piece of kit however I would just like it to work. I am based in the UK if that helps pointing me in the direction of parts etc.
I have had a look at it again, when going along a wall to its right it keeps turning towards it a tiny bit then moving forward. Also if I touch the bumper at the front it turns left if I touch the left side of the bumper it turns left and then if I touch the right side of the bumper it also turns left.
The wheel drop sesor seems to identify one of the wheels is down although this could be due to me not putting the connections back together right.
I was looking for the bumper IR sensors although the only ones I can find are for the 500 models, any ideas where I can get the 4001 sensors from?
Well I do not have a complaint for my iRobot Roomba Discovery 4210 robot vacuum. Instead I have high praise for it.
I bought my 4210 back in 2005 as a refurbished unit for $200.00 that came with the robot, a battery, a APS Fast Charger AC Adapter and 2 Virtual Walls but no Home Dock. After about 2 years or so the battery pack wore out. So I rebuilt the battery pack myself and I am still using that battery pack today. After about 3 years the original air filter wore out so I bought replacements and put a new one in my 4210 and I am still using it today. I also found on Kijiji a complete set of 1 new yellow APS Battery, 1 APS Fast Charger AC Adapter, 1 Home Dock and 1 dead black Standard Ni-Cd battery pack (that I can rebuild into a APS NiMH battery pack myself) for $60.00 as a complete kit.
I also bought a 700 series Maintenance kit which included a main brush (fits the 4210 perfectly), 3X 3 legged side brushes (fits the 4210 perfectly), beater brush (did not fit, but a small modification to the beater brush and it fits perfectly now) and 6X 700 series air filters (useless to me so I tossed them).
I clean the 4210 regularly and every couple months I completely disassemble the robot and clean and lubricate everything inside the robot. So over the 9 years the robot has cost me a complete total of $470.90 to keep running. That includes all taxes plus $200.00 for the 4210 refurbished kit, $40.00 for the 12 pieces 1.2V 3000mAh NiMH cells to rebuild the original battery pack. $44.99 for the 700 series Maintenance Kit, 2X $7.99 for 2X 3 piece 400 series Air Filter Kits. $60.00 for a complete set of Home Dock, new yellow APS battery, dead black Ni-Cd battery and APS Fast Charger AC Adapter.
And I am still using my 4210 still and it is still running perfectly after 9 years. I am definitely getting my monies worth.
Sorry to hear that you are having problems with your Roomba. It sounds either to be a problem with the bunper sensors or front wheel drop switch.
When you removed the front bumper to clean the robot, did you clean at the opening of the bumper sensors on the motherboard? Where the two black arms enter? We suggest cleaning the sensors with a compressor or can of compressed air. It is possible that debris is preventing the LEDs from emitting properly.
The other thing to check would be the front wheel. Does it turn and move in and out properly?
Looking forward to more information on your part once the cleaning is complete.
I recently got my hands on 2 Roombas. A dirt Dog and a Discovery 4210. After purchasing a new battery from amazon I realized that both of them are not charging, in the dock or directly connected even that the discovery was pulsating red light, so I had to charge the battery directly hardwired. After searching the internet for couple of weeks I found someone saying that I need to replace U2/U4 Mosfets with (MTP3055V N-Channel Power MOSFET 60V/12A, TO-220).I’ve opened the Discovery up, removed the board and after adding wires and placing the mosfets on top of the battery box I measured with a voltmeter the battery, connected the charger, kept it couple of minutes, took of the battery and confirmed with the voltmeter that the battery was charging.
I hooked up the roomba to the dock, it started to charge and left it on for about 3 hours. After 3 hours the pulsating red charging light turn into green and I became very proud of myself. I haven’t removed the roomba from the dock and I decided to operate on the Dirt Dog too. Couple of hours later after I finished replacing the mosfets on the Dirt Dog I turned on the Discovery and pressed on Clean. To my surprise it turned on, wanted to move and the power button started to flash red. After turning it over I notice that the battery got so hot that it melted thru the battery case and it warped all the battery case. Also it seems that the mosfets got hot because it also melted down the top of the battery case creating 2 indentations.
Does anyone have an idea on what happened? I know that roombas are fairly cheap but it kinda became a personal challenge to fix it after all the time I’ve invested in.
I would strongly suggest to stop using these robots. It seems as there’s an issue with a manipulation you did. A short between the positive and negative (VCC / GND) would likely be the cause of the battery melting.
At this point, I would consider it unsafe to use them, if you want to save yourself from a fire hazard. Replacing the motherboard would likely be wiser. You can find used motherboard on third party website.
