The Roomba robotic vacuum is a great little gadget that does what it needs to do for the most part. However, as with any well-used household product, things can break or go wrong. We’ve put together this guide to give you some tips on how to get your Roomba to stay docked.
When you’re having trouble finding your Roomba’s way home, it might be struggling to find a clear path to the dock. Otherwise, it could be that someone moved the Roomba while it was vacuuming, which throws off its recording of where it left the dock (and thus where it should go next).
The Roomba iRobot vacuum is a smart cleaning robot that vacuums your floors autonomously. It’s a little bigger than a hockey puck and has multiple sensors to maneuver around furniture and other obstacles. Its brushes can agitate and vacuum your carpets, which is especially handy for those with long hair or pets.
There is nothing worse than coming home to a house that hasn’t been vacuumed. While we’d all like to believe that by the time you step through your front door, the floors are spotless, this isn’t always the case. There are a number of reasons why your Roomba might not be finding its home base/dock and we will be going over them below!
Roomba Won’t Dock – Troubleshoot And Diagnosis
Roombas don’t need any human intervention to clean your home. With a built-in vacuum and optical system, they can clean your entire house without initial programming. They also have the ability to return to their charging stations when they are out of power.
The Roomba’s sensors can be thrown off by wobbly or irregular flooring. If your home has a lot of obstacles, such as wires or cords strewn everywhere, it could get stuck in a loop trying to navigate around them.
Roomba vacuums provide optimal cleaning performance in homes that are clear of clutter. If you have wires strewn about or things lying in the middle of your floors, your Roomba may run into issues navigating around them.
To clean more efficiently, Roomba smartly returns to its charging station when it runs low on battery or reaches its cleaning time limit — or if you manually tell it to return.
The Roomba connects to its charger using a special communications protocol. The most recent models are fitted with advanced infrared sensors and can even detect obstacles and other electronics in their way.
1. Check Wall Socket
To ensure your Roomba is running properly, check the Home Base to see whether or not it is plugged into the wall. If you find that the wire connecting it to the outlet has been pulled loose or completely removed, plug it back in and restart your device.
Make sure that the Home Base is turned on before setting up your Roomba. The Base connects to the Wi-Fi network, and so it must be connected to a Wi-Fi router. Check that the base is plugged into an outlet and that the power switch on the back of the base is flipped in the on position (it should light up green).
For some reason, the wall socket may not be providing enough power to receive signals from the home base so it cannot turn on. If it’s not plugged in, the robot won’t receive any signals and won’t be able to find its charging base.
When you turn on your Roomba, you’ll see a solid green light on the Home Base. If there’s no light or if the colour or flashing, there could be an electrical problem — just follow the steps to troubleshoot the issue.
Plug your Roomba into a different outlet. If the charging light turns on, then there is something wrong with the outlet that you were using.
2. Circuit Breaker Issue
If there’s still no power, it may be a problem with the circuit breaker. Walk to your circuit breaker panel and flip the switches on or off. Only one of them should be turned off — if they all are, shut down your entire circuit breaker and wait ten minutes before flipping it back on again.
If there is still no electricity after the circuit breaker tests okay, you may need to call an electrician.
Confirm that your circuit breaker for the outlet is turned on. Then confirm that your outlet is connected to a power strip, which is in turn, plugged into an electrical outlet.
When you’re unsure of what to do, find someone who is more experienced than you . Don’t do the job yourself unless you really know what you’re doing — hiring an electrician can cost a little bit of money, but it’s worth it because they’ll get the job done right.
3. Charger Cable And Plug Damage
It’s always a good idea to check the length and condition of the Roomba Home Base charger wire.
The wire should be intact and extend to the full length of the charger, with no bends or exposed wires.
If the cord has these deficiencies, it will not charge the Roomba Home Base efficiently and your Roomba Vacuum will malfunction, leading it to not dock properly. Check the plug as well for any bends or damage.
Look for evidence of wear or damage on the plug and cable to indicate whether it’s the cause of your problem.
If your Roomba is not working as it should get in touch with iRobot customer support to see what they can do for you. They have a wide range of options at their disposal, including scheduling a repair, sending you a replacement device, or giving you a discounted repair service.
4. Virtual Walls
It’s a lot like having your own personal secretary — in fact, the virtual walls from iRobot help Roomba remember its location and return to it afterward.
By using IR beams, these devices keep your robot friend from getting lost or stuck in a room; each device communicates with the robot, allowing it to avoid restricted rooms to keep things tidy.
Virtual walls are devices that are intuitive and easy to use. They create invisible barriers on your floor so that you can block entry to specific rooms or areas, keeping your Roomba in the right place and away from danger.
As long as your Roomba is connected to WiFi and has a clear signal, you shouldn’t have any trouble. However, you should also take into account that your Roomba might get stuck behind furniture or walls, in which case it might forget how to get back to the Home Base. To fix this, simply make sure that your Roomba finds its way out of these tight spots with a little bit of patience and manual assistance.
If you place a virtual wall between the Roomba and Home Base, your Roomba will not be able to cross the infrared beam and will die out because it would constantly bump into the virtual wall.
On your virtual wall device, be sure to check for any that are placed in between the Roomba and the Home Base. If there is one, remove it. Also, make sure to remove any large physical object that blocks the Roomba from docking at the Home Base.
5. Dusty Charging Contact Points
One of the most common problems you might find while using your Roomba is a dirty contact point. Contact points, also known as IR eyes, are a common problem among electronic devices and there are a number of ways to clean them.
Even though your Roomba goes through rigorous testing before being released to the public, sometimes small bugs slip by. Small dust particles can stick to the contact points on your Roomba’s charging dock and prevent it from recharging properly. It’s important that you clean your Roomba’s charging contacts using a soft cloth, like a toothbrush or a cotton swab.
A build-up of dust on the charging contacts can prevent your Roomba from docking and recharging properly.
To clean the contact points on your Home Base and Roomba, place both devices in a safe area where they won’t get stepped on. Unplug the Home Base from the wall socket, then use a dry cloth to wipe down the electronic contact points between the base and your Roomba.
Clear out any bits of dust or debris you find on these contact points — as well as revealing a clean, polished look that will make your home feel cleaner.
Using electronic contact cleaner and a cloth, clean the Roomba’s contact points. These two simple steps ensure all contact points are squeaky clean, easing the robotic vacuum’s movement around your floors.
6. Roomba Blocked By A Physical Objects
Even the best Roomba will run into trouble when it hits a physical object — especially large ones that it can’t navigate around.
A number of large items placed in close proximity to the Roomba can interfere with its ability to navigate back to the charging station. Be sure to move heavy objects — including vases, coffee tables, chairs and cabinets — away from the docking area so that the device can return and recharge itself.
7. Do A Reset
If all else fails, it’s time to reset your Roomba.
To reset the Roomba, plug the Home Base charger directly into its unit. Hold down the CLEAN button for about 10 seconds and release it when you see “r 5 P” in blue text. A beep will sound to let you know that the reset has been successful. Try operating the Roomba again to make sure it works normally.
Final Thoughts
We hope the tips in this post will help you solve your Roomba won’t dock problem. So next time it happens, you won’t feel so helpless.
Following them was an easy way for us to get past the problem, and we’re confident that it’ll work just as well for you.
If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out to us in the comment section. We love hearing from our readers and solving their problems.
Hi there! I’m Sam Hendricks, and I’m a repair technician and expert. I created this website to help people like you save money and time by fixing your own appliances.
Over the years, I’ve seen people spend a lot of money on unnecessary repairs or replacements. That’s why I decided to share my expertise and create easy-to-follow guides for fixing appliances on your own.