Hello!
I am having trouble with my Roomba Discovery 4210 (13 months old), I recently replaced the battery and after the first full charge/discharge of the new battery which was completely successful (unit ran fine for approx. 100 mins), on the next charge of the unit I was unable to get the unit to power on. Pressing the power button gives no light or tones from the unit whatsoever. Plugging charger in again makes it appear to start the charging cycle from new (takes it a long while for power light to turn green, anyway). The unit was cleaned with compressed air between uses as it always is, I thought perhaps a bit of dust/dirt has gone in between the power switch so opened it up to clean it more thoroughly but no luck. I replaced the old battery into the unit and am experiencing the same issue (the old battery would only hold a charge for a few minutes but did work) so I do not believe it is the new battery causing the problem. I reset the unit, replaced the NEW battery into the unit and set it back to charge, I notice it did take much longer to charge than it normally does, the power light did not turn green until approx 16 hours had passed, and then same problem, cannot get unit to power on at all. All external metal contacts have been cleaned with rubbing alcohol to ensure the battery is making good contact (including the ones under the brushes). Hubby checked the charger to make sure it was getting enough voltage/amps and we think it’s ok (I can’t remember what the readings were), I can check it again if I can find his multimeter! iRobot say replace the unit. Two others on this forum had what appeared to be the exact same problem and they were advised to replace the motherboard. We have done this and it has not made any difference whatsoever. Any other ideas or any suggestions on something else we can try? Thanks for any help!
Hi Vahon,
I think the charger is the problem, I just rechecked the voltage with the multimeter and it is getting 11.8DC – obviously not high enough now that we know what it should be!! Thanks very much for the information, I will check into getting a replacement charger. Have a great day & thanks again!
Pam
Good morning GPMANOR,
Welcome to the RobotShop Forum!
It seems something is wrong with your robot’s charging system. If you take your multimeter to the charger (that plugs into the wall socket), you should be getting 22.5VDC approximately. When the charger is connected to the home base, you should get across the base’s terminals 4.5VDC approximately.
If the readings you get are correct, then we’d suspect the motherboard. Considering you’ve replaced it already, it most likely isn’t that. There are two other possibilities it may be. First, it could be your control panel’s buttons that has stopped functioning. When you said you cleaned out the power switch, you meant the button on the robot that says ‘power’, correct? If that’s cleaned out and nothing on it or it’s control board looked obviously damaged, then we’d ask you check the terminals where the battery plugs in.
On the battery you notice there are three terminals on the one end. Two are recessed and in line with each other, while the third one is on the side and is just a plain rectangular metal contact. The corresponding contact on the robot itself (it will be a flat rectangle with a circular ‘bump’ sticking out) sometimes can get loose and will make poor contact with the battery. It should have some flex/spring to it, but shouldn’t push in and stay in, otherwise, again, the contact will be poor and the robot may not turn on.
If that’s not the issue, then we’d suggest a repair service. You can find more information on it here.
Hope this helps. If you have any questions, let us know.
Thanks,
Hi GPMANOR,
Glad to have been of help. Let us know how that turns out in the end.
Thanks,
