“How to tell if a Roomba is charging or not?” This is one of the most common questions asked by users. After all, you won’t want your Roomba to stay idle when it is supposed to get charged for the next cleaning session. And you won’t want to get a shock when your robot vacuum dies down even before leaving the Homebase after being there for the whole day.
If you are not sure whether your robot vacuum is charging or not, don’t worry! In this article, you will get to know all the indicators that show that your Roomba is charging.
Robot vacuum cleaners are cordless. This means they get power from batteries. These batteries are rechargeable. Different batteries have different runtime and recharge time. To keep your Roomba vacuum cleaner on its toes, it is imperative that it keeps itself charged when it is on its HomeBase or Charging Dock. But the question here is how can you be certain that your Roomba vacuum cleaner is actually getting charged?
Roomba vacuum cleaner has different models. And different models show different indicators while charging. The following comparison table shows all the charging indicators for 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, i, and s series models.
| Roomba Model | No Battery | Low Battery | Charging | Refresh Charge Mode | Fully Charged | The Indicator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roomba 500 Series | Flashing Red | Red | Pulsing Amber | N/A | Solid Green | Battery Icon |
| Roomba 600 series | Flashing Red | Red | Pulsing Amber | N/A | Solid Green | Battery Icon |
| Roomba 700 Series | Solid Red | Flashing Red | Pulsing Amber | Quick Amber Pulse | Solid Green | Battery Icon |
| Roomba 800 Series | Solid Red | Flashing Red | Pulsing Amber | Quick Amber Pulse | Solid Green | Battery Icon |
| Roomba 900 Series | Solid Red | Flashing Red | Pulsing Amber | N/A | Solid Green | Battery Icon |
| Roomba i3/i3+ and i7/i7+ | Pulsing Red | Pulsing Red | Pulsing White | N/A | Solid White Ring | Ring Around CLEAN Button |
| Roomba s9/s9+ | Pulsing Red | Pulsing Red | Clock wise White Swirl | N/A | Solid White Ring | Ring Around the Lid |
Roomba 500 and 600 series
The Roomba 500 and 600 models show a red light indicator when the battery is low. When the vacuum turns off due to no battery, it shows a flashing red light.
When you put the 500 or 600 series model on charging, it will show an amber pulse in a battery icon above the CLEAN button. And finally, when the Roomba 500 or 600 model is completely charged, it will show solid green color.
Roomba 700 and 800 Series
When the Roomba 700 or 800 series model battery is completely drained, it will show a solid red color. When it starts to charge the solid red color will turn into a flashing red light. A solid green light will show up when the Roomba is completely charged.
Roomba 900 Series
When the Roomba 900 series model battery gets low, a battery icon will appear on top of the CLEAN button pulsing in a red color. The robot vacuum will move back to the Home Base for charging. When the charging starts, the blinking battery icon will turn amber. This charging indicator light will turn off after 1 minute to save power.
Once the Roomba 900 series model is fully charged, a green-colored battery icon will appear on top of the CLEAN button.
Roomba i Series
When the Roomba i1, i3/i3+, or i7/i7+ is on a low battery, a pulsing red circle will appear around the CLEAN button showing that it’s time to charge the battery.
When it starts charging, a pulsing white light will show around the CLEAN button.
Once the Roomba ‘i’ series gets fully charged, a solid white light will show up around the CLEAN button.
During the charging, the indicators on Roomba i1/i1+ and i3/i3+ will remain on. The indicators on i7/i7+ will turn off after 1 minute to save power. You can visit the Home App to check the charging status.
Roomba s9/s9+
When the Roomba s9/s9+ model is on low battery, a red-colored circle will start to blink around the lid, indicating that the battery is too low to start cleaning.
A red ring sweeping clockwise will indicate that the battery is charging but the charging is still low (under 15%).
When the battery charging goes above 15%, the red circle will change to a white circle sweeping clockwise indicating that the Roomba s9/s9+ is charging. This pulsing light will disappear after 1 minute to save power. To check whether it is charging when no light is on, you can check the iRobot Home App.
The s9/s9+ will show a solid white color ring when the battery is fully charged.
What To Do If Roomba Is Not Charging?
If there are no lights on the Roomba showing that it is charging and there are no indications on the Home App as well, the following steps should be taken to ensure that it starts charging.
- Check the cord of the Home Base for any damages.
- Try charging in a different electrical outlet.
- Check the charging contacts of both the Roomba and the Home Base. If there is dust and fluff build-up on the charging contacts, clean them properly. This dust might be obstructing the flow of electricity.
- Check the caster wheel of your robot vacuum for any debris, fluff, or hair stuck in there. If there is a debris build-up in the caster wheel, Roomba will not be able to reach the charging contact on the Home Base. And if there is no proper contact between the Roomba and the Home Base, it will not charge.
- If your Roomba is producing a charging error, take notice of which charging error is indicated. Then consult the charging error message chart.
- You can also reboot your robot vacuum. Rebooting will, sometimes, resolve the charging issues.
- If after doing everything you can, the Roomba is still not charging, you should contact iRobot customer care.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Roomba light stay on while charging?
The charging light indicators will turn off after one minute of charging in Roomba i7/i7+ and s9/s9+ models to save power. You can visit the iRobot Home App to check the charging status. The charging lights will stay on in all of the other models.
Why is my Roomba blinking green?
If the CLEAN button of your Roomba is showing solid green color, it means that the battery is fully charged.
What does the red light on Roomba mean?
If the red light is sweeping downward around the CLEAN button, it means the dirt bin is full and it is time to empty it. Your Roomba will not start cleaning again if its dirt bin is full. The dirt bin should be emptied after every cleaning session.
If the red light is blinking around the CLEAN button, it means that the charging is too low to restart the cleaning task and the Roomba needs to recharge its battery.
How to reboot Roomba?
To reboot Roomba 500 and 600 series models, press and hold the SPOT Clean and Dock buttons simultaneously until the Roomba goes into restart mode (around 10 seconds).
To reboot Roomba 700, 800, and 900 series models, press and hold the CLEAN button until the “rSt” appears on the display.
To reboot the ‘i’ series models, press and hold the CLEAN button for about 20 seconds. A white light ring will swirl clockwise around the CLEAN button indicating that the reboot process has started. The reboot process will take around a minute and a half to complete.
To reboot Roomba s9/s9+, press and hold the CLEAN button (for around 20 seconds) until a white light ring appears on the bin lid. This white ring will swirl clockwise around the bin lid indicating that the s9/s9+ has gone into a reboot mode. The reboot will take around one and a half minutes. When the light ring is turned off, it means that the reboot process is complete.
How do I know if my Roomba needs a new battery?
Following are some of the signs that you might need to purchase a new battery for your Roomba.
- If the battery is not holding a charge
- If the battery gets charged but drains very quickly
- If your Roomba gets charged but its cleaning performance has gone down and it refuses to pick up dust
- If your Roomba refuses to start
- Sometimes, cleaning and rebooting your Roomba will resolve battery charging issues. But after doing all of this, the battery is still not charging or working, your Roomba really needs a new battery.
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