IRobot Roomba won't charge

I had the same problem when I renovated my kitchen. With boxes of stuff everywhere it was impossible to use Roomba. When I tried to use it again a few months later, it would stop after only a few minutes work. I had to buy a new battery which cost in excess of $100. Its better to loan it to a friend to be used than to put it into storage.

Lift Roomba off the floor and place it in the center of the room and restart the clean cycle.

If Roomba did not resume cleaning, lift Roomba and turn it over.* Inspect the Side Wheels for dirt or obstructions.

Test the Side Wheels by pushing them in and out and making sure they rotate freely. Place Roomba in the center of the room and restart the clean cycle

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have you tried reset, press spot and dock together

Side wheel error go to Roomba site via this link
iRobot Customer Care Error 5 left or right Spin Roomba side wheels to...

If you're sure the battery contacts are clean and the battery really is charged, then there is faulty circuitry within the Roomba that would have to be repaired or replaced.

Confirm that the battery is inserted with the metal contacts down so they make contact with the spring terminals in the battery compartment.

Visually confirm that the metal contact plates on the battery pack, and the spring terminals in the battery compartment are clean and shiny. If not, wipe with a clean cloth or paper towel, its OK to use a little water or rubbing alcohol on the cloth, if needed, and then dry it.

Visually confirm that the metal contact plates on the Roomba, and the spring terminals on the docking station's home plate are clean and shiny. If not, wipe with a clean cloth or paper towel, its OK to use a little water or rubbing alcohol on the cloth, if needed, and then dry it.

If you have a volmeter, measure the voltage between the contacts on the battery pack If it isn't something in the neighborhood of 14 volts and is 11 volts or less, the battery isn't fully charged.

Reinstall the battery.

For the moment, please connect the power adapter directly to the Roomba rather than the docking station to eliminate one possible faultly connection.

If the battery wasn't fully charged, or you weren't able to test it, try to charge the Roomba and then retest the battery voltage if you can. If the battery voltage was higher immediately after charging, but didn't get to 14 volts, the charger is good, but battery needs to be replaced. If the battery voltage was unchanged after attempting to charge the Roomba, the charging circuitry may be faulty. If there was no light patterns when you tried to charge it, and it was plugged in to a good outlet, then the power adapter or charging circuitry is definitely bad.

If you have no voltmeter and you cleaned the contacts and tried to charge the Roomba and it works, use the Roomba and then recharge using the docking station and see if it was just dirty contacts or it won't charge through the docking station. If it didn't work, you'll need to figure out if its the battery, the charging circuitry in the Roomba, or the power adapter. If there are no lights when you try to charge the Roomba, then Either the power adapter or the Roomba power circuitry is defective, but without a voltmeter you can't find out which one, and there's no way to know if the battery is good or bad, but you know Roomba wasn't trying to charge it. If there are lights when you try to charge the Roomba, then at least you know the power adapter is good. Unfortunately, without being able to test something there's no way to distinguish between a charger that won't deliver a charge to the battery and a battery that won't accept a charge. If you want to take a guess then a bad battery is more common and less expensive to fix.

To extend Roomba's battery life and keep Roomba cleaning at peak performance: • Always keep Roomba plugged in when not in use. • Recharge Roomba as soon as possible. Waiting several days to recharge Roomba can damage the battery. • For storage off the charger, remove the battery from Roomba and store in a cool, dry place. • Blue or black batteries should be stored after Roomba has been used. • Yellow batteries should be stored after being fully charged.
16-Hour Refresh Charge If Roomba has been left off the charger for an extended period, Roomba will initiate a special 16-hour charge cycle. This extensive charge refreshes Roomba's battery and extends the battery life. While charging, Roomba's "Clean" button will pulse quickly. Note: For best results, do not interrupt this Refresh Charge.

Happy Holidays The FixYa Team

Hello
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Thanks

The charging circuit on the main board is fried. This is a common issue. You need some good electronic repair skills, and equipment, to replace the problem components

cor2an,
That sounds like a classic battery failure in the Roomba discovery series. There are sensors inside the battery pack that go bad too. Either way...it's not very practical to repair the battery....the best shot you have would be to order a replacement battery. You just pop the old one out and then put the new one in.

They are available from iRobot for $69 at this link: http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2799714&cp=2804606.3358509&ab=CMS_AccSuper_Roomba400_102308&parentPage=family

There are sources of less expensive (about $35) Genuine iRobot quality batteries also. You could try www.RoboticVacParts.com at this link: http://cgi.ebay.com/OEM-iRobot-APS-battery-Roomba-400-4XXX-Discovery_W0QQitemZ270412120603QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ef5d1821b&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262&_trkparms=|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A30