My Roomba 571 (purchased in 2009) can no longer go back to the home base.
It seems to detect the signal from the base no problem, but once it’s on top of the base, it just jiggles a bit and comes off of it. When I manually place the Roomba on it, it does not charge.
I cleaned the metal springs on the base and metal parts of the Roomba to no avail.
Can this problem be repaired?
Hi Julie,
Thank you for your post.
Roomba charges no problem if connected directly without the base.
Now, how do I check the voltage? Electrical equipment is not my forte.
The voltage coming from the home base is 2.8V, so I’m assuming it’s the Roomba itself.
How do I proceed from here?
Was your robot purchased from RobotShop? If so, we can repair it under our 5 year warranty. You may contact us via our support center for an RMA number and mention this thread.
If not, we suggest purchasing replacement parts for your robot. As mentioned, it could be an issue with the motherboard or the small charging jack. We do have manuals to replace Roomba parts.
This problem could come from the home base itself, the robots motherboard, battery or charging cables. All these problems are fixable.
How long have you had your robots battery for? A Roomba battery usually lasts about 1.5 to 2 years with proper care. How long does it clean for before it tries to go back to the home base? We suggest trying to charge the robot without using the home base. By plugging the robots charger directly into the side of the robot.
If this works, we suggest verifying the output voltage coming from the Roomba home base when plugged in. You should have approximately 2.8V from the home base and 22V from the charger itself.
This would be a good start in determining the issue.
You will need a voltmeter if you would like to verify the voltage coming from the home base. This will help you determine if it is defective. If it is not then the problem lies with the robot itself. The problem would be either with the motherboard or with the robots side charging jack. This may sound bizarre since the jack appears to be working properly but, we have seen this issue before.