Fixing the Roomba

I'm willing to try almost ANYTHING once. I never let my fear of ability prevent me from doing anything, that is why I thought I could fix my 5 year old Roomba 560. I had already replaced the front wheel, the dirt bin, the battery and the brushes, so when Alice (the Roomba) was spinning around in circles and going nowhere I thought I could help her out. 

I simply did this diagnostic test in the video, and it was very easy. The fix looked very easy too!!! It took like 3 seconds in the video!!! So for 15 dollars, I went on Amazon and purchased the Roomba error code 9 fix kit. I was more than excited to get going on this project when it arrived in the mail. The paper instructions told me to go to  http://www.roombaparts4less.com/ for the fix instructions. I don't like to read over all the instructions first, that can be intimidating. I take it step by step and start with the first step... then two hours later I looked up and saw this on my kitchen counter. 

And she couldn't put Humpty back together again.

Alice's guts all over the place. An overwhelmed feeling washed over my entire body. I didn't even get to the bumper sensor yet. How in the world was I going to get this all back together? My son was watching me the entire time and must have picked up on my dismay because he started chanting 'Go Mommy, go Mommy, go Mommy.' Well, who can give up with a little cheer leader like that encouraging you? So I pressed on, hoping that if I just stayed with the instructions that I would make it.

Finally getting to the bumper!!!

Here is the chip that needs to be fixed

I needed to look up Soldering instructions because I've only ever seen my mom do it on stained glass when I was a kid. The only thing I can tell you about it is that its HOT and kids get burned. After explaining this to my son several times, I convinced him not to touch anything near the area I was working.

Guess what? I did it!! I replaced what I needed to replace!!!Now I had to but Alice back together. No instructions. Yikes!!!




I have to say, thank the great skies for You Tube and some guy who decided to video tape himself repairing a Roomba. I bet he made this video for the arm chair engineer like myself.  My son loved watching this video with me. He made me watch it several times.

Even though I had 4 screws left over after 4 hours of Roomba Surgery, I had a feeling of accomplishment as I plugged in Alice to charge. Long story short...

Poor Alice, 4 missing screws and the same Error 9 code beep. Looks like the scrap heap for you. Goodbye dear friend.

Grade: F

Skill Level: Advanced

Difficulty Level: Impossible

Frustration Level: High