Customer Reviews

iRobot Advanced Power System Ni-MH Battery, 3000 mAh, 17373

5 star:		(117)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(27)

 

 

I have owned a ROOMBA Discovery for about 3 years and am just now finding it necessary to replace the battery. Sure, I had major problems like many others with short battery life beginning when the unit was about 14 months old.

I did a bit of research and found a discussion group that listed a good "try this before you panic" solution. Reset the ROOMBA and refresh the battery. And it worked! How?

Run the ROOMBA until the unit stops. Let it sit for about 15 minutes and try running it again. Do this until it no longer will start up. Then, remove the battery. Flip it over and hold down the POWER button for 20-25 seconds. Release. Flip back over and insert the battery. (I also took this opportunity to thoroughly clean all of the contacts with a Q-Tip and a little rubbing alcohol - letting it dry completely before putting the battery back in). Finally, I plugged the power supply directly into the ROOMBA (not the docking station) and let it charge for 3 days.

NOTE: It may be necessary to do this 2 or 3 times (for a total of 9 days with no ROOMBA), but that time is cheaper than a replacement battery.

Magic. The battery went back to its 50+ minute running time for another 9-10 months or so. At that time I did the refresh thing again and got back to more that 40 minutes running time.

Finally, after a total of 3 refresh/reset cycles, the battery is just tuckered out and won't go longer than 8 minutes no matter what I do. And that's fine... I've had hundreds of good carpet-cleaning runs with the unit. Now, for about half the iRobot cost, I am ordering a new battery from Amazon and expect years of additional use from my ROOMBA.

So, for those who haven't tried this and find that even a new battery doesn't seem to make their ROOMBA run right, give the above a try. It not only does a refresh on the battery, it also resets the ROOMBA so it can take advantage of the power. Can't guarantee it for everyone, but it sure worked for me.

I have now had to order my third battery for this Roomba. Like another poster the first one died within a year. This time it lasted about 1 1/2 years. At $50 a pop that is ridiculous and, after reading complaints here and on other sites, makes me wonder if it is planned that way, a vacuum conspiracy. As funny as that sounds, it is also based on experience. I have given two Roombas for Christmas presents and the same thing happened to them. They both went down before 6 months was up. I have yet to read a review in which the battery lasted more than a year. If this was a car company they would be under Federal investigation. They know they've got you over a barrel and I'd be willing to be that they earn the vast majority of their money through replacement batteries, etc.

Well, since the thing is worthless without it I am forced to buy yet another battery. That's three in less than three years. There's definitely something fishy going on here. How else can you explain the fact that they keep producing defective batteries? As I said, in any other industry this would be enough cause for a recall.

On another note, the vacuum works great when it works. But we are now approaching the point in which we've paid more for the replacement batteries than we did for the entire vacuum package. Not good business and if this battery fails I will not buy another.

After having my roomba for about 2 years, the battery got to the point where it only lasted about 10 minutes per charge. After trying the method by another reviewer to extend its life (a method which, for me, didn't do anything), I decided to fork out the money to buy a new one.

I couldn't be happier with my decision. Since replacing the battery, it's like I have a brand new roomba again. Rather than 10 minutes, it can go a few hours at a time before it gives up and goes to its dock for a recharge.

This is the first replacement I had to purchase for my Roomba Discovery. I have had the Roomba since Christmas 2006 which was a good two years of running the Roomba 5-6 days a week. I recently acquired (2) Dogs, Rott & Lab so the Roomba has been working over time picking up the hair before the battery life started to wane. I did try re setting and that gave me some shelf life, but alas it was time for a new battery- well worth the money!

The battery itself works like a new one, what else can one expect from a battery, so there's not much to say. However I agree with the other people here. I had this Roomba not quite 2 years and used it maybe every 1-2 weeks to clean under the bed and sofas. It's ridiculous that the battery died after such a short time. I was thinking about buying a new roomba instead of the battery, but when I learned that I would have the same problem after a year or two I decided against it and bought the battery instead.

I purchased this product while Amazon was reviewing their accuracy of description and/or quality of their stock. Because of this, my iRobot battery came from the additionally listed retailer Shopxtreme. It is definitely not an iRobot OEM battery as the iRobot number and picture here suggests.

The reasons I know the battery I received is not an iRobot OEM are as follows:

1) Phillips screws, no tamper proof triangular tool screws - like iRobot batteries use.
2) No iRobot logo and "Advanced Ppower" script on battery.
3) The battery is curiously lighter than the one it replaced.
4) A sticker on the battery says 3500 milliamperes.

I purchased the battery for my Discovery Scheduler series iRobot, but I installed it to an iRobot Dirt Dog I knew to be in top working order. Before use, I deleted the Dirt Dog robot's charge memory and installed the battery per iRobot instructions. I then let the battery charge for approximately 36 hours before use.

Despite USPS Priority shipping from Shopextreme, this battery took over a week to ship after quickly reaching USPS distribution in Ma. - in spite of the 2-3 day "Priority Mail" supposedly offered by USPS. Shipping distance was Reading, Massachusetts to Birmingham, Alabama

When I turned on the iRobot Dirt Dog I timed how long it ran and watched its performance. For 1 hour the LED indicator showed green before changing to amber. For almost 25 minutes it continued to display amber before changing to red and returning to the charger. Total run time was 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Considering the Dirt Dog uses less power than the Discovery series, and what I already noted above, I have a questionable attitude about the service life of this battery. Only time will tell.

Update, Sept. 18 2010:

Only time will tell about the above battery, but I needed another for another robot - so this time I purchased directly from Amazon.com stock. No way to really see the difference than to have one coming directly from Amazon stock. It cost about two dollars more overall, but if it comes with any warranty it's better than the one that came from Shopxxtreme - I've seen nothing about any warranty from them.

Update, Sept. 21 2010:

The second battery, purchased directly from the Amazon.com store this time, arrived today. It is the genuine iRobot OEM battery as pictured in the listing here - with the tamper proof triangular head screws and familar copyrighted iRobot logo. So, if you want the genuine "Advanced Power" iRobot battery (like the one that came in new 4260 Discovery series Scheduler iRobots) make your purchase from Amazon.com. My future iRobot batteries will be from the Amazon.com store - just so I will be getting the genuine article at the great lower price offered here. I'll just have to be sure and click on the Amazon.com store link when it is showing.

I purchased on May 2, 2010, and at that time the product was being fulfilled by Alfaoutlet.

I received a generic product and not the manufacturer product pictured. It came with the comment, "Generic product. Higher capacity (3300 mAH). Better performance than original Roomba battery. Satisfaction Guaranteed. [...] Warranty: 6 months." It very much looks like the cheapest possible generic - screw heads aren't perfectly level, some of the philips heads are slightly stripped, the plastic feels cheaper/less sturdy, and feels lighter than the original manufacturer battery.

If I had wanted the generic one, I would have either bought from the many here that are advertised as such, either from a reputable generic, or paid less for a true cheapie.

I have no idea how well the generic will perform, but I bought this one here because I did not want to play generic roulette.

Possibly, since it looks like this is now being fulfilled by Amazon, they will give the real battery. I have no idea. Beware.

I may have forgotten how much juice I got out of the original battery when I first got my refurbished Roomba, but I don't think it was as much as I get out of this new battery.

My original Roomba battery lost all ability to charge after just seven months, which is party my fault. I have cats and used the scheduler nearly every day to clean up after them. I emptied the dust (hair) bin regularly, but didn't keep up with cleaning the brushes and wheels like I should have. I also didn't learn about the battery reset function (remove battery, hold power button for a while, charge fully, drain fully) until it was too late.

With this new battery, I'm going to make sure to cycle the battery every few months and blow out the entire Roomba with my air compressor monthly.

Great price from Amazon, better than my original, I give it four stars only because I can't predict the longevity. So far it's been two months and running strong!

Worked perfectly after a 24 hour charge with the unit plugged in- not on the platform. Charging with the AC allows for a little over 2 hours of use- whereas on the docking base- about an hour.

We got Roomba as a gift 1 1/2 year ago. We used it occasionally, and it worked fine, so we were very surprised when the battery died, shortly after 1 year. Unfortunately, the warranty had expired by then. The company customer service representative told us that we were not using battery properly. WOW! I assume that our relatives - 2 families - also didn't know how to use the battery, since they had exactly the same problem, even before 1 year. It looks like the company found an easy way of making an additional profit. I don't believe they cannot fix the problem - but obviously, it would take more efforts then just to trick customers into paying steep price for the batteries ($60-$70 apiece) all the time.