iRobot Roomba 650 Operation & Maintenance Review: imagine having an extra hand to help you keep up with daily cleaning

The transshipment of iRobot Roomba 650’ s original package weighs 14 pounds and the freight is about 400 RMB. Plus, I bought insurance for it, so eventually, I spent less than 2300 RMB. The box is so big that it is almost as wide as a tea table. It is also very heavy, it weighs 6.5 kilogram including the box (14 pounds).



IRobot Roomba 650 is so useful for it has a handle. But it is said that IRobot Roomba 595 does not have.



IRobot Roomba 650 is 34 centimeters in diameter and 9.2 centimeter in height (including the round receiver’s height)





Lifting iRobot, its wheels can stretch as long as that.





You will wonder whether it is my iRobot which costs me so much and was used only a week. Of course, it is. It might be the result of stucking and struggling under sofa that it is so dusty and its face-plate has been scratched. But things are going to be used.

(一) preparation for use

1. Attention that if the power supply is not wide pressure, please prepare a pressure switch socket or you can modify power supply on your own. (American standard is 110v while our country’s voltage is 220v using international standards.) My older brother has read bblqs’s posts, so he replaced the capacitance and allergy resistance of 650 according to law. (Sorry, I am really a layman. It should be Varistor.) (These professional terms are like a bible to me, but to my brother, it is just a small case.) Ps: He also asked me to remind everyone that the U.S. plug has a slightly wider side and needs to be flattened before it can be inserted into a domestic two-pin socket. Power transformation method was innovated by the forum super moderator bblqs. You can get more details on the article “iRobot Roomba which was bought oversea, if it is 100-120V power and is directly inserted into the 220V socket, the result of the reformation is a loud noise following the power reimbursement. There are two common solutions: The simple one is the use of 120V to 220V transformer such as Bulls P1W which is suitable for consumers with less capable hands. Another method-MOD original power supply, turn 120V to 220V that is to remove the adapter back of the four round rubber pads and you can see the screw without damage open the adapter and replace the components. The costs are less than 10 RMB, this can be completed in any general electrical repair shops.”

Charging base and power source.

The power is 110V.

The pressure reducer my brother lent me before changing the power. On the left is the original 650 capacitor(200V) and the allergic resistance (which was intended to be varistor). On the right is the replaced capacitor(450V) and the varistor.

Measure the height of the home sofa and chest of drawers at the bottom of the height. If you want the robot to drill into and clean, you can buy some table pads and raise the height of furniture under the premise of the safety.

It cannot drill into the chest of drawers, but the sofa in study can be drilled into pressure-free. The sofa in living room is only 8-centimeter-high so it is easily card, because its body can go in easily but the receiver cannot. Zaizai’s car also stuck iRobot’s receiver.

Comb the wires, cables, tie them well, if possible, also raised 10-centimeter suspension. In fact, before receiving the machine, I could not think of any cable at home which need to organize. Later I always turn with iRobot, seeing him drill through the sofa in study and is scattered on the back of the living room TV cabinet power cord, cable line stuck, where it would struggle half a minute every time. It has a detached design, if in one direction it cannot go on, it will rotate reversely and get rid of it. So, finish the cable is not to save it but to save valuable power to make it do cleaning effectively.

Follow iRobot and see where will be a hindrance to its work. Put bumper strips on the floor lamp pole and the floor fan base. For instance, my bedroom has a floor lamp (the halogen lamps bought in IKEA, whose base is about 12 centimeters and the pole is as large as a pen. Every time, iRobot ‘s side brush which is close to the center of the hard-plastic part will hit the light pole, where it will entangle dozens of seconds, but after I overstrike the light pole near the base part of the bold, iRobot was no longer got stuck.

If there is a gap of more than 1.5cm in front of the room, in order to let the iRobot in and out smoothly, you should make some changes accordingly.

If the room-door-drop is more than 1 centimeter, it is easy for iRobot to pass by.

The bathroom door is two centimeters high, so, it certainly cannot get in. You do not need to worry about forgetting close the door. Some net-friends showed that we do not need to use another virtual wall, just nailing a batten to block the toilet is also a good way

Adjust the voice prompts. Its default reminder is  English (such as charging  your Roomba), and this can be adjusted into Chinese —-however, the Chinese female voice is not as good as the English female voice, which appears to be a bit low.

Choose a suitable place to place the charging base. Find a place with no obstacles within 1.5 meters so that the robot can return automatically.

In space with water on the ground, remember to place a virtual wall, or set a door frame toprevent it from flooding and being worthless.

IRobot Roomba 650’s key explanation about function.

Receiver:  it will be seen on the charging dock, the virtual wall, and the host.

Cleaning mode:

1. Spiral cleaning: Roomba use spiral way to clean focus area. Every time booting, it will go straight about 1 meter (the direction of leaving the charging pedestal then turn around to the right to carry on. Therefore, The instructions suggest placing the charging base in an open position (against a wall or a solid object so that the base will not shift when the unit comes back to charge) and there is no obstacle within 2 meters of the surrounding area – it is said that the first collision time will determine its work duration(If you encounter the situation that the machine come back to charge for less than two hours, it is no doubt that the battery is broken, but because the charging base is set unreasonable, and the obstacles are too many for it to judge the time).

2, Cleaning along the edge: In the straight wall, cabinet side, I saw iRobot often use this function to clean.

3, Cross-cleaning: Roomba will do cross-cleaning to ensure that some areas can be cleaned for more than 4 times.

4, Garbage detection: Roomba can detect where garbage exits more and will spend more time to focus on this position. First time we cleaned the bed and the carpet, our home’s 650’s blue light flashed because a lot of dust was raised.

IRobot pushed out the things which Zai Zai thrown into the narrow space (the so-called space-sensitive period 🙂 from the bottom of the bed.

5. How to do local cleaning: According to my observation, local cleaning (SPOT) probably works like this: Press the button SPOT, the machine will center on start position, and begin doing spiral cleaning, the range extends to about a radius of 1M, and then back to the origin and stops (if it hits something during cleaning, it does not have to be a spiral, but it will automatically shut down after a while). It seems this feature is suitable for cleaning a certain place, so was translated as partial cleaning.

(C) Experience of cleaning up

On the first day of iRobot, because my brother has not brought the voltage transformers, we use the power test 650, and with great satisfaction, it worked for a total of about one hour. Sound is very small, almost the same as the hair dryer, quieter than the big vacuum cleaner, so followed it did not make you feel irritable. It seems that the official voice of iRobot is 59 dB (normal conversation is 40-55 dB, usually decibels vacuum cleaner is about 70dB). Anti-winding ability is really strong. It was stuck by my son’s electronic car and was touched by the small antenna-like receiver, but just for a while it turned out. Bedside the pole in bedroom, iRobot’s side brush constantly trying to turn around but always get stuck, I watched it fight for almost 20 seconds, and I thought it would not be able to get out, while I was about to help, it changed its mind, giving up fighting with the thin pole, reversing and rotating around.

In the living room, it made a hasty sweep, and then with door closed it was carried into the main bedroom to clean. After sweeping for half an hour, it shut down to remind charging. We opened flashlight to see the bottom of bed, in addition to the most distal corner (where there are two stools and a pillow to prevent Zai Zai from rolling down) did not finish, the others are all swept, wiping the floor, it appears to be very clean.

My brother took his buck at night and charged it. When charging, the machine’s lamp is orange, slowly breathing and blinking. After about 3 hours, it turns green, which means the camera is fully charged. (The battery of 650 can work for 2 hours when it is fully charged.)

Some netizens asked: your home is 130-room, when cleaning, is it a one-time cleaning? As for the cleaning effect, a lot of friends say that it cleans very well, we can even roll on the floor directly. Is it so practical? I am still tangled about 380t and 650, one is for mopping and the other is for sweeping.

Re: My house is 130 flats, and is divided into the living room (including the restaurant, it is about 40 entrance corridors. I have tried not to separate the entire block to make a single sweep but costed me an hour, and then the machine sang and stopped), the master bedroom (There are two rooms at all.  The area is about 18 Flat, and cleaning the rooms needs about 30-45 minutes), study (The proportion is 10 flats, and I will spend 15 minutes to do a single cleaning.), and the guest bedroom (The area is 12-13 flats, a single cleaning needs about 20-25 minutes). If you start from the charging cradle, iRobot will clean automatically, and now it will traverse guest bedroom, living room, and then back to the charging station (Normally, 650 works for 2 hours, but because my living room is too big, it will spend more time.). However, it cannot automatically finish all the rooms (this is the original consideration to install the meatball module).

But for the moment I use it (I have mentioned why I did not make a reservation time): Put it in the living room today, starting it from the charging stand, and let it clean the living room, guest bedroom. The next day, before going to work, I will lay it in the master bedroom and put a virtual wall at the entrance. Then it will clean the master bedroom and the main guard (the two places alone will not run out of electricity, so do not take the charging stand). After returning home I carry it to study, and then it complete the cleaning of the entire house.

About the cleaning effect, what I can tell you definitely, is quite good. Comparing with the big vacuum cleaner, its effect is the same. It also has advantages of being able to reach some places where large vacuum cleaners could not reach, such as the edge of beds. However, a large vacuum cleaner is also necessary, because iRobot cannot get into all places and we need a large vacuum cleaner to do regular cleanings.

1. Simply clean up the items on the floor. For example: building blocks, screws, other small pieces of things, and falling rope.

2. Pull out the stools which are around the table. Place them loosely and leave room for iRobot to enter the underground areas of the dining table, making it easier for iRobot.

3. Close the bathroom door (to prevent iRobot from water).

4. If someone is at home, put virtual wall at the doorway so that the kitchen door does not have to be closed and access is also convenient. Keep the toilet closed. So, I think one virtual wall is enough.

5. Then start iRobot from the charging seat, and you can take your bag, go out and do whatever you want.

6. When you come home, you will see a bright floor, of course, some rooms may be missed (if you want to test, sprinkle a little flour and you will know where it has not been to) and you just need to carry the iRobot to that room, close the door, let it clean the room, and give it enough time. It seems to aimlessly hit the button of return, but actually it cleaned all the ground.

7. After each cleaning, empty the dust box to keep the effectiveness of the iRobot’s dust collection ability.

8. We can use a large vacuum cleaner to absorb the dust which was absorbed by the filter of iRobot. Filter can extend the use of time. – This is what I learned from Meiya.

9. Do regular deep cleaning for iRobot, such as cleaning the hair which is wrapped around its wheels.

10. Since the virtual wall forms a bundle of 2-meter-long conical lights (the width is about 20-30 cm). So, you can put a ban to keep off its leaving.

11. About the use of virtual walls.

(1) Put the virtual wall at the rooms with high frequency of in and out and with water. IRobot is characterized that the smaller the spaces are the easier to clean. Originally, I thought that 595 has 2 virtual walls, but 650 only has one. In fact, one is enough. For example, the bathroom (toilet and rooms have 2- centimeter-door- frame height, we do not have to worry about iRobot will get into it), and the kitchen door. I generally put it in front of the kitchen door, because of the high frequency of access; so, the toilet can be closed.

As for the place between kitchen and dining room, if the door closed it is not easy to access.

(2) Placing it in the center of the living room, the large space is divided into two small spaces, in this way the cleaning efficiency will be high.

Living room is connected with restaurant, and block cleaning is better.

(3) The entrance of a room: When I just want to clean a room, you cannot start the cleaning from the charging stand. Put iRobot alone into the appointed room to clean.

There are still a variety methods of virtual wall usage, I think you can learn on yourself.

12. About charging. If the cleaning is started from the charging base, iRobot will automatically return to the charging cradle when it finishes cleaning (*) or the battery is about to run out. The charging cradle’s indicator light flashes before the carrot reaches the charging cradle, when iRobot dock successfully, the charging point will turn to green. (* Is mentioned earlier, due to large number of obstacles that iRobot will form a judgement of small space, so it thinks the cleaning is completed, and came home to recharge.)

The use of scheduled reservation function. You must keep iRobot placed on the charging base, otherwise, it will not be able to automatically recoil when it starts to run out of power.

At present, a-130-flat house is enough to meet our needs. At present, there is no purchase of meatballs (ROWALL) module, intending to use the original way for a period of time before deciding whether or not to increase the meatball module.

Third, the 650 maintenances

IRobot’s design is very thoughtful, the buttons you can press are all put with yellow labels. So, although I did not take a closer look at how to remove the brush, it is easy for me.

The first is to depress the yellow button on both sides and removed the metal frame.

Remove the brush, glue brush, hair wrapped on the cleaner, and comb off the catty with the other side of the cleaner.

Small yellow lid can be removed, if the operation is in the bathroom, remember not to let the small lid roll down to the sewer. Near the cleaner’s circular hole is a blade, you can cut off the winding hair. Dump dust out of dust box.

Clean filter with a vacuum cleaner. Filter clogging will reduce the vacuum efficiency of iRobot.

Dust-absorbing filters look new. This method is learned from the evaluations of United States and Asia bought 650 products, a net friend mentioned, so you can further reduce the frequency of supplies purchasing. This is Better than the effect of washing (after washing, remember to dry before putting back, iRobot not like water).

1. A good way to padded furniture: use wooden elephant chess. The cost was only 20 yuan with good quality and beautiful shapes.

Now that I’ve lifted the living room sofa with an elephant, I love charging the iRobot at the bottom of the couch and making an appointment from Monday to Friday.

2 About iRobot’s battery care: usually put iRobot on the base charging standby, although the machine is on the base, the green light does not means charging instead that orange is charging, so do not worry about overshoot. If you will go out for more than 7 days, remove the battery because iRobot will not shut down completely (even if you press and hold the key).  iRobot can have a deep discharge once a month, that is, do not start from the charging cradle, remove the iRobot and then long press the cleaning button to shut it down, and then boot, let it work until no power.

Finally, I would like to specially thanks bblqs forum’s super moderator bblqs, because there is a lot of knowledge coming from him. Also thanks all friends who have helped!