I keep getting a message that the brush is stuck. However, the brush starts turning and then the message comes back. I have removed the brush more times than I care to say. There is nothing in the brush. I have clean it thoroughly. I have even tried another brush. Nothing will make the Neato change. The robot will move from the base and start up, as it starts the motor gets faster and then the message comes up that the brush is stuck… Don’t know what to do with it. This is the second problem we have had with this product. Beginning to think I made a mistake in getting the Neato…
I have the answer to the ‘brush is stuck’! The motor shaft under the brush that attaches to the turning belt will get clogged with hair. You need to purchase a seam removal tool. The one I bought has a long curved blade and a long thin handle. It is called ‘Havels Ultra-Pro Seam Ripper’. Use this tool gently sawing back and forth, slowly rotating the hub with the belt after the brush is removed. Then use long tweezers to flip the cut debris out. It takes some work and patience, don’t cut the belt! But once you are used to this maintenance you can fix the ‘brush is stuck’ error message.
I recently purchased an XV-21. It arrived before christmas, but sat around until christmas day. Once given, I helped the recipient set it up. I put the recharging station against a wall and plugged it in. I pulled out the XV-21 and turned it on using the internal switch mentioned in the manual. I set it against the charging station and saw that it was recharging. I set the time. Then I waited for it to finish charging. It only took 45 to 60 minutes. I was expecting 2 to 3 hours. The indicator light around the start button was solid green, so I pressed the button. The display which had been off turned on, but the unit did nothing else. I pressed the button again. The unit moved out from the charging station about one or two inches, the vacuum motor turned on, but then everything shut down and the display showed the same message the OP has discussed. I pulled out the brush and inspected it. It was clean. No dirt, dust or hair. I inspected the belt and belt drive area. It was clean as well. I put the brush back in and placed the unit against the charging station. I selected “stop cleaning” from the pause menu, then I pressed the start button again. Same results. It moved out from the charging station, started the vacuum, then shut down with the same error message. Again I inspected the brush, belt and belt drive area. They were all clean. I reinstalled the brush and turned off the unit, waited a few seconds and turned it back on. I set it against the charging station and set the time again. It displayed a solid green light again, so I pressed the start button. Success! It worked and went about cleaning the room it was in. I thought all was well. However…
Today, I tried to run it again. I got the same behavior and error message. This time there was dirt, dust and hair to remove. I removed it and tried again. Success! I used it to clean several rooms.
I will be using it again tomorrow. I will let you know if I experience more of this behavior. I will be cleaning the brush before I make any attempts this time around.
bought xv21 about one yr ago. occasionally used though. was working fine. went on vacation abroad for one month and came back neato started showing…my brush is stuck. please clean the debris. cleaned it thoroughly multiple times…no luck. read various forums and tries to find the stuck hair next to the black belt but all clean. also replaced the ends but it is still showing the same message. Please help. not happy with the purchase.
I was getting the brush stuck message and like everyone else checked the brush and even took it out to find nothing significant. I searched and came across this forum and read about hair causing the problem. Yea, right - I’m pretty handy and already checked and found very little of anything. I don’t know why but I took it apart again, this time even the orange caps/gears and brass bushing. Guess what - there was hair wrapped around the parts.
Rotate the rubber belt too - sure enough after half of a turn there was a small clump of hair.
These robots are sensitive little buggers and they don’t lie! We’ve had our Neato for a few years and love it - great product!!
Mine did too on a refurbished during it’s first run. The problem was that the metal to metal part of the bushing at the end of the brush by the belt seized. I pulled it apart and put some spindle oil “3 in 1” on it and on the other end as well. The bushing is inside the orange end cap about 3/4 inch diameter. Les see how long that lasts. Have to be careful not too much oil or it will catch dust. I’m disappointed there should have been a bearing there not a bushing.
After my research below, I believe this error could read: “my brush motor is turning more slowly than it should”.
After using tweezers to pull hair out of the brush motor several times, I finally could no longer get rid of this error. I have a Golden Retriever, and tons of hair.
I finally decided to take a good 2 hours, put on a Neato “teardown” video from YouTube, and took the whole thing apart. That’s what you need to do to get to the brush motor. Most of my time was spent trying to cut and pull the hair off of the little stem that the brush gear is attached to. There was hair wound around the motor stem, and stuffed between where the gear meets the robot housing. Luckily, I was able to get it all back together and it works again.
I have a dream that there will one day come a robot that does not succumb to dog hair like it’s kyrptonite.
Thx to the forum, did fix the issue. I cleaned a brush 3-4 times but the ‘clean brush’ error kept coming up. Finally, took a tweezer and pulled the hair off the grooved wheel over the motor shaft. Works fine now. I am not sure if I want to keep doing this everytime, this is stuck, have not seen this issue in traditional vacuum cleaners.
I found a quick hack solution as well that is easier than using tools or opening the whole Neato body to get to the motor shaft:
Get the brush out
Free the motor belt
Under the motor belt, spray “WD-40” in and around using the long thin WD-40 nozzle - that’s where the motor shaft is. The thing will turn bubble there - let drain
Manually with a paper towel, turn the motor belt about 20-25 times, leave then for 10 min
Repeat the steps 3.-4. 2 or 3 times. Each time WE-40 will dissolve more stuff (dirt or hair) - it will start coming out through under the motor belt - clean that with the paper towel (repeat as much as needed until as much dirt comes out as needed).
Neato will start running - let it run for 10-15 min and the repeat steps 3.-4. to clean the dissolved dirt & hairs
Hint: hairs or thin threads stop clinging to the motor shaft while solid dirt turns into watery substance after couple of WD-40 applications.
I have dealt with the brush stuck error on several occasions… most of the time it was a result of living with four hair farming girls that had shed enough hair to make blankets for the entire 101st airborne… this morning it was different. No matter how much cleaning I did to the brush, bearings and rod it kept saying stuck brush. After tearing the entire unit apart I put it back together minus the brush and components. After closely examining the bearings and the rubber receivers to the metal inserts I noticed the rubber receivers were worn on the edges and had a raised edge on them from wear. I tested them and examined them and compared to pictures. Sure enough it could be possible to slow the brush enough to send an error message due to drag inside the brush end. I’m talking about the orange end recievers that are soft rubber with tiny metal caps inserted. I decided to razor off the raised edge and boom! Back in service. I hope this helps someone as I have found several fixes online before. Check the orange receiver!!! GOOOD LUCK
We are sorry to hear that you are having problems with your Neato. The Neato is a very reliable robot and we have a very good warranty so we will make sure you have a functioning robot in a timely manner.
There are a few things that we would like you to verify before we go ahead and exchange your robot under warranty.
Please verify that both orange and brass bearings are present and well installed at the ends of the brush.
Please also remove the brush and verify near the drive belt to see if there is an accumulation of hair or dust. Please clean this area with a pair of tweezers as needed.
What type of flooring is the Neato cleaning? Is it hard floors are carpet. If carpet, how high a pile? This product is not recommended for cleaning high pile carpet. If the carpet is too high, it will cause over resistance on the robots brush motor and this will make it stop with an error.
If the problem persists, please contact us via our support center and we will proceed with the exchange of this product.
Sorry to hear that you are having issues with your Neato. In this case, it is possible that your robots brush motor is defective. We suggest that you verify if you robot is still under warranty since it will most likely need to be replaced or repaired. If your robot is not longer under warranty, you may consider replacing the brush motor yourself.
Thank you for these suggestions Meghan. The hair on the motor is hard to get to without taking the robot part. It seems like you have have found a good method to do so. It is certainly a good trick to use for the maintenance of your robot.
