iRobot Roomba Battery Guide [2024]: reset, charging, replacement

Here’re some questions you may have about Roomba’s battery & Roomba battery replacement.

FAQs About Roomba Battery

Having a robotic vacuum cleaner can help you to accomplish your household chores like cleaning and vacuuming much more easily and conveniently. Here are some of the very frequently asked questions regarding Roomba batteries.

How many years does a Roomba battery last?

If you are using your robot vacuum cleaner at least once every week and keeping it on its designated charging station, then the battery can last up to 1 to 2 years (according to robotshop forum). To make sure that your Roomba’s battery life lasts for a long time, you have to store it in a dry and cool place. Make sure to keep it away from the direct sunlight or any heat. The heat can damage the battery reducing the longevity of the battery. Also, make sure to charge the battery followed by your use. Waiting for several days and not charging on time can damage the battery.

Can Roomba battery be replaced?

Yes, you can replace the battery of your Roomba and it is quite easy to do (check instruction on irobot.com). All you need to do is to unscrew the 2 screws present the battery door and then remove the door. Now, you have to remove the old battery and install the replacement battery. Make sure that the logo if iRobot is facing upward when installing the replacement battery. You have to charge it overnight.

Do Roomba batteries go bad?

With proper care and maintenance, the Roomba’s battery can last for several cleaning cycles before you will have to replace it. But the batteries can go bad before that too if you don’t take proper care and don’t follow the instructions in the right way. As mentioned above, you have to keep the cleaner away from any heat source as it can harm or damage the battery. Keep your batteries regularly charged to make sure the battery is working well. The batteries can naturally go bad when they are stored separately from the robot and are not charged timely.

Why won’t my Roomba go home with low battery?

This is one of the most commonly faced issues. Don’t worry as the solution is quite simple. You have to verify whether or not there is any buildup of debris on the charging contacts of your Roomba or the home. Wipe it properly to ensure there is not dust or debris. Also, you can unplug the cord of the base and plug it back again to ensure that it properly inserted. Keep the base on hard surface against a wall. Press and hold the ‘Clean’ button for straight 3 seconds for cleaning all the previous cleaning jobs (check instruction on irobot.com). Now, turn on the cleaner and it will work fine.

How often should I replace my Roomba battery?

The battery of your Roomba can last for about 100 cleaning cycles. Usually, the battery will give its best performance up to 2 years. After that, you will have to replace the battery. You must replace the battery to ensure that the robot cleaner is working fine. With low capacity and performance of the battery, the cleaner can break down. Hence, it is strongly suggested to replace the battery every 1.5 to 2 years.

Best Roomba Replacement Battery

Looking for the best replacement for your roomba’s battery? Here it is. And that’s why.

Powerextra 4.0Ah 14.4V Replacement Battery Compatible with Roomba R3 500...

【BATTERY SPECS】Battery Type:Ni-MH / Voltage:14.4V / Capacity:4000mAh. Battery charge error fix method please see the product description.(REPLACE ROOMBA BATTERY, NOT ORIGINAL)
【SUPERIORITY】Replacement Product, work as Genuine Parts. Safeguard features against overcharging, over discharge, over current, provides short circuit protection and steady voltage circuit, all of...
【WIDELY COMPATIBILITY】Easy install and it fits Roomba well. Compatible with Roomba R3 500,600,700,800,900 Series 500 510 530 531 532 535 536 540 550 552 560 570 580 595 600 620 650 660 700 760 770...

1. How to Charge iRobot Roomba?

iRobot Roomba, one of the best vacuum cleaning devices in the market, has a simple charging mechanism. Roomba should be charged overnight before the first use. In case a lithium-ion battery is used, overnight charging is not needed. You can just place it on the Home Base and it will start working.

The best thing about the iRobot Roomba is its self-charging mechanism. Roomba generally has a run time of up to 2 hours, after which it will automatically move to the home base to charge itself and resume cleaning thereafter. The Roomba also enters a special refresh charge cycle when it senses that its battery has discharged significantly.

While charging, some robots flash their CLEAN indicator red/amber and some turn off all indicators after a minute and continue the charging. The home base also has a power indicator which may either be lit continuously or light up every 4 seconds, depending on the model. Normally, the charging time for an iRobot Roomba is around 3 hours. When the CLEAN light on the Roomba lights up solid green, it means that the charging is complete.

2. Tips: How to Extend Roomba battery Life?

Do you know that it is possible to avoid having to replace your Roomba’s expensive battery? You may also keep your Roomba from vacuuming when you are away for a long time. Are you looking to extend Roomba battery life?

Use It Often and Keep The Battery Charged	Whenever you are not using the vacuum cleaner, it is best to keep the unit in the charging dock. Lots of vacuuming will keep the Roomba battery healthy. Nonetheless, do not leave the battery in its dock for several days at a time.
Clean the Brushes	Whenever your Roomba cleans up fur, hair, and dust, the dirt gets caught in its brushes. The Roomba will always trap dirt in its brushes because that is part of the job. Your robot will work harder to spin the brushes when dirt builds up. It will, in turn, reduce its battery longevity or life. Remove your Roomba’s brushes at least once a week and clean them.
Keep Your Roomba Battery Cool	This great tip will not only work well for your Roomba but other devices such as smartphones and computers as well. Store your robot in a cool dry environment to increase battery life. Keeping the unit away from direct sunlight will help to also increase the longevity of the battery. Keep your unit away from heat-generating electronics and devices. Ensure to give the unit plenty of breathing space for maximum efficiency.
Use Your Roomba Battery Completely	Draining your battery almost every time will help to increase its life. It is also a great way of maintaining your battery’s capacity. To do this you will have to run the vacuum until the battery gets exhausted. After you get the battery depleted, go ahead to charge it to full again. Carrying out this process a couple of times will help you get the best results.
Put the Roomba Battery in Idle Mode	You can put your Roomba in an idle mode if you are going on vacation. It will help maintain the battery strength and power. You can return to using the battery whenever you come back. Keeping the Roomba battery in vacation mode will help retain its usability. It remains one of the best ways to maintain and use the battery for a long time. You can give it a try now.

3. What to Do When the iRobot Roomba Won’t Hold a Charge?

When the Roomba stops holding a charge, there are some steps you can try to address this issue.

Old Battery	If your Roomba is not charging well, it may be because the battery needs to be changed. You can tell how much a battery has been charged by looking at the icon on the back. If it’s a half-charged icon, you need to change the battery soon. The Roomba lasts up to 400 charges, but only if you use it every day and fully charge the battery as often as necessary. If you don’t use your Roomba every day or if you don’t fully charge its batteries when needed, they won’t last as long.
Wall Outlet	The charging dock may not be getting enough electricity from the outlet plugged into it. This would make the battery in the Roomba not work well. Try charging at a different outlet.
Not Fully Charged	It is possible that the Roomba’s problem is not with itself, but rather with how it was being charged. Make sure that the power cord does not have any kinks or frays, and is plugged in securely to an outlet. It could be that the Roomba wasn’t charging long enough before it started cleaning.
Roomba Wiring	If the internal wiring of the Roomba is damaged, it may affect how long the vacuum cleaner can hold a charge. To check for damage, you can look inside the Roomba yourself. If you’re not comfortable doing this, you can have an expert examine it for you.

Call iRobot Support

First of all, you will want to contact the customer service. Their support staff is excellent. They may not be able to return life to a dead cell over the phone, but they’ll do everything they can to help.

Is your iRobot Roomba side brush not spinning?

First off, they may recommend what is referred to as a 16-hour reset. What this does is tell the computer not to look at the charging depth, but to perform a deep charge.

In order to accomplish this, you will need to take out the battery. Then you would press and hold down the power button for at least five seconds. Sometimes it is good to do it for 15 seconds, but five is usually enough.

Next, you will put in the battery and charge the Roomba for 16 hours at a minimum. Some say it is good to plug in the cord directly, connecting it to your unit, instead of using the docking station. This is in case it might get knocked off of the dock. Some people think it is good to charge it for three days, but Roomba told me to do it for 16 hours.

After the 16 hours are up, if the lamp is green then you just put the vacuum cleaner to the max setting and run it until the battery is exhausted. If the battery life hasn’t improved after performing this procedure, return the device to iRobot and they might issue you a new battery.

Roomba Battery Replacement

The worst-case scenario is you’ll have to purchase a new battery.

Why You Should Use Lithium Replacement Batteries?

Powerextra 4.0Ah 14.4V Replacement Battery Compatible with Roomba R3 500...

【BATTERY SPECS】Battery Type:Ni-MH / Voltage:14.4V / Capacity:4000mAh. Battery charge error fix method please see the product description.(REPLACE ROOMBA BATTERY, NOT ORIGINAL)
【SUPERIORITY】Replacement Product, work as Genuine Parts. Safeguard features against overcharging, over discharge, over current, provides short circuit protection and steady voltage circuit, all of...
【WIDELY COMPATIBILITY】Easy install and it fits Roomba well. Compatible with Roomba R3 500,600,700,800,900 Series 500 510 530 531 532 535 536 540 550 552 560 570 580 595 600 620 650 660 700 760 770...

Lithium replacement batteries are a new technological breakthrough. Instead of being made of the old nickel-metal material, LPI’s batteries are made from lithium, which has become the standard for most products, including smartphones and laptops. Their batteries provide 46% higher capacity (5500 mAh!), 56% longer operating time and much longer battery life. They also have a low rate of self-discharge and no memory effect.

Lithium Power’s replacement batteries remain at over 80% capacity after 800 cycles. One of their batteries is equivalent to four nickel-metal batteries. This means that they are much more cost-effective than the original batteries and all other aftermarket batteries. Best yet, these batteries are fully compatible with the original Roomba charger.

Lithium Roomba Replacement Battery For iRobot Roomba 980/960/890/690/614/900/800/700/600/500 Review

Unboxing Video

Lithium Roomba Replacement Battery for iRobot Roomba 980, 960, 895, 890,...

CE certified and UN 38.3 approved
Fully compatible with all iRobot Roomba Lithium and Ni-MH model series and the original charger
30% more capacity + longer battery life than the OEM lithium batteries

I’ve been using this lithium battery here for the past week and I’ve cycled it five times and I’ve used the stopwatch to measure the performance. This battery, on average, of the five times I’ve actually timed it, lasts about three hours and 42 minutes, which is quite an upgrade to this battery. So it is as promised and when I charge it, it takes about three hours. Three hours and five minutes on average to charge this for three hours and 45 minutes of use.

Contrasting this, which lasts about an hour for this battery and it took about an hour and 15 minutes to charge for Irobot NiMH battery. This is all that is promised here. The other thing I did do was I charged this battery and I left it unused for a week to see if it’ll hold its charge. And even then it lasted three hours and 25 minutes, so it does last.

Whereas for the original NiMH battery, once I don’t charge it and I unplug it for about a week, it totally loses its charge and it lasts about 15-20 minutes. The other thing I wanted to go over with this lithium battery is sort of some of the unexpected things, or when people buy this, they might think that the Roomba would run a cleaning cycle of four hours. Well, the Roomba is actually timed to have a cleaning cycle.

Usually, I believe somewhere between 45 minutes to like an hour. I imagine depending on how many walls it hits or it has some type of algorithm for that. So the best thing about these lithium batteries is you have to run this manually. What happens if you’ll run this Roomba for 45 minutes or an hour and it might just stop because the cleaning cycles over, in which case you have to manually actually push that cleaning button to have run again. That’s something that some people might not be aware of. They might just think that it’ll clean four straight hours. That’s not true.

And mostly the reason for that is more the cleaning cycle of the Roomba than it is the battery. The other thing about the battery is it’ll after two hours, the Roomba light on the top will actually glow amber. And you would think that that means the battery’s running out. Whereas, for the lithium battery, it actually has another two hours of charge that it could run. So when you get this lithium battery, you’re basically going to ignore the lights on the Roomba.

It’s going to be green initially and you’re going to clean it for two hours and then it’s going to start glowing amber. And it still does mean that this battery still has two hours left in it. But again, this battery would be more advantageous for people who actually run the Roomba manually than actually have it on a schedule.

So for me, I used to have the Roomba on a schedule, but after buying this battery, I just decided, well, I’ll just run it manually. I’ll push the button to have it clean. And when it turns off, I’ll put it into another room and I’ll clean that room for 45 minutes and I’ll clean three or four rooms like that in a row because this battery does last a good three hours and 45 minutes. But one thing you don’t want to do is run the Roomba four hours straight.

So what I do is I’ll run it for an hour and I don’t want the Roomba to overheat. I don’t know if there is such a thing, but just as a precaution, I will let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Then I’ll put it in another room and turn it back on. So, those are some of the information about the differences between usage or how you would use the Roomba.

The other thing with the charging. When I plug this in, as I mentioned, it takes three hours to charge, but it still draws the same amount of wattage. I have one of those meters that shows how much energy is being drawn during charging. So it takes somewhere between two to five watts when it’s already charged. So it still draws that same amount of energy as this one.

While it’s charging, just like the original NiMH battery, it still takes 20, about 25 watts to 28 watts while it’s charging. It’s going to kind of take basically the 28 watts in those three hours to charge this one, and 28 watts in that hour to charge this one. And I noticed that it is very stable.

One of the concerns I had was more with the safety, whether this would be combustible or stuff like that. But it seems like the electricity its drawing is pretty even and very steady. It seems fairly safe to assume that this does have some type of regulator or it doesn’t spike or anything like that. I think out of my testing, it’s gone fairly well and I would definitely recommend this lithium battery simply because all the concerns I had, pretty much, I’m happy with.

All in all, definitely I would buy this battery and especially when it does have the 800 power cycles versus the 200 power cycles of original battery.

Video Guide

In conclusion if Roomba’s battery is not charging, you can try this solution.

Two Ways to Fix Old Roomba Battery Problem

4. How to Reset Your Roomba’s Battery?

Are you noticing a decrease in your Roomba’s cleaning cycle or does it take less time to charge than normally? This means your Roomba’s battery is discharging more quickly. In other words, your battery is showing signs of exhaustion. So, here’s a complete step by step guide on how to reset your Roomba’s battery and increase its life.

Instructions to Follow:

Firstly Turn on your Roomba by pressing on the “Clean” button.
Now press on the “Spot” and “Dock” simultaneously for 10 seconds.
Release the buttons at the same time.
You will hear the typical starting sound of the Roomba.
Put your Roomba to charge until the green light of the “Clean” button is lit.

Now your Roomba has been reset and is ready to use. If you follow these simple steps and reset your Roomba occasionally, then its battery will last longer. If this problem still persists, then it recommended that you buy a new battery for your Robot.

All about Roomba’s Battery