I bought a used Roomba 400 series and purchased a new battery for it. If I go through the battery reset process by removing the battery, holding the power button down for 5 seconds and charging it for 16 hours, the battery charge light is green and the robot cleans for about 40 minutes. If I let it dock or I connect the charger cord manually without the reset process, the charge light is orange as soon as it starts cleaning and it will work for about 10 minutes max.
Is this normal for this model? Again, it works fine if I reset it everytime but I would like the docking process to work.
Thanks for the reply. Yes it seems to run about 40 to 50 minutes no matter how long it is on the charger. Do you know what the reset does? It seems like it is related to the charging system since the reset must allow the battery to get a full charge otherwise it won’t. I haven’t found any info on what the reset actually does. Maybe it resets a charge timeout.
I have an old battery but it will run only for a few seconds on a full charge. Are you saying that 40 minutes is not normal either?
If I try to charge it normally after a reset and 72 hour charge it will get worse each time. The first run after the normal charge it may run 20 minutes and then 10 minutes so it is getting worse not better. If I reset each time I can get 40 to 50 minutes.
I am using a yellow APS NiMh battery not a NiCD so I’m not sure if that makes a difference in the charging procedure.
The only downside to the reset each time is that I can’t use the self docking process.
Something is for sure wrong. Considering the battery is getting charged, it seems that it’s not a problem with the robot’s charging system. It seems more like a battery issue. Doing the robot reset and letting the battery charge for that amount of time may account for why it runs for 40min versus the 10min you get for a regular charge through the home base.
If you were to reset the robot and then leave it instead on the home base for 72 hours, would it run for 40min too? If so, then likely the issue is the battery. Also, since you have a new battery, do you also have an old battery? You may want to test this with both and see if there is a difference.
When you reset the robot what you’re doing is resetting the charging cycle. This may help the robot to resolve any charging issues it may be having. After resetting the robot and charging it for 72hrs, they usually recommend to run the battery down and then recharge it normally and then run the battery down again (and repeat a few times). Usually doing this will help you get more life out of the battery.
In your case it seems that it will only run for 40 min after a reset, vs just charging normally. One thing you can check is if after resetting and running the battery up and down a few times, does the battery runtime from a regular charge (no reset) increase at all? If so, then you may just need to keep using the battery and it should improve.
10 min is not very good, while 40 min is still a little low. Usually even one of the blue NiCD Discovery batteries will run for about an hour. You may also want to make sure that your brushes (including the brush bearings), filter, and wheels are all clean, as debris and buildup there causes the motors to work harder, which drains the battery faster.
From our experience, if a Roomba is able to charge the battery, the problem is not with the robot or motherboard, but more the battery. Considering your battery is new, you may want to look at getting it replaced under warranty.
At this point we suspect the battery, even though it’s new. If the battery was bought from RobotShop, just email us via the Support Center with the order number, or some information so we can find your account, and someone will take care of getting your battery replaced.