Roomba J7 discharges fast when temporally stored.

[snow_loon]

I recently purchased a Roomba model J7 vacuum. I occasionally need to put it away when my grand children visit. I have twice moved the vacuum and it's base to a closet which has no power outlet. I put the robot on the charger to conserve floor space. Within thirty hours, the robot is totally discharged (it can't even connect!). Am I doing something wrong? Does my I7 have an internal short? Is my battery defective?

How should this robot be stored for a one to two day period without power?

[RTC]

How should this robot be stored for a one to two day period without power?

It can't because the WiFi, etc. communication systems (and thus the microprocessor, memory, etc.) are always powered. Basically only the motors are not powered when it is idle.

iRobot assumes this "standby communication" power use will be made up for by the charging from the Home Base. Without this the battery runs down in roughly 36 hours.

Unless you can run a power "drop" into the closet to operate the Home Base you will have this issue.

Can you either slip a flat extension cord from an outlet under the closet door (hiding this from the kids may take some work)? Or better yet if you have suspended "drop ceiling" tiles (I do) an extension cord can be run in hidden through the celling of the adjacent room to the closet (I have an extension cord and some CAT-5 ethernet running from my main bedroom through the ceiling to other rooms as it is easier than pulling the wires and cutting the wallboard).

[snow_loon]

Thanks RTC. I read your reply and I get the problem. I guess I'm used to computers which put themselves to sleep. I'm betting one of the next generations of robot vacuums will do this. And wake themselves up when power is again applied. I appreciate your input. However I may have to lock the kids up and leave the Roomba alone .

[RTC]

Thanks RTC. I read your reply and I get the problem. I guess I'm used to computers which put themselves to sleep. I'm betting one of the next generations of robot vacuums will do this. And wake themselves up when power is again applied. I appreciate your input. However I may have to lock the kids up and leave the Roomba alone .

This would require a dual microprocessor design: the main microprocessor that controls cleaning and a second low power communications microprocessor (this is how "computers which put themselves to sleep" work: the main microprocessor goes to sleep to reduce power usage while the low power communications microprocessor remains running so that WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. can function and if something "interesting" is requested the main microprocessor will be awakened in response (via interrupts).

That is how PCs handle sleep while responding to network activity when needed.

iRobot I am sure prefers the cheaper and simpler route of one microprocessor and the user keeping the robot charging on a powered Home Base to this (especially since real estate inside the robot is more limited than in a regular computer).


P.S. The microprocessors used in laptops and desktops actually have two "sleep modes": sleep and hibernate. In sleep the microprocessor powers off major power consuming sections that it won't need (e.g. floating point) and continues running simple features to allow it to monitor communications, etc. and waken rapidly. In hibernate the OS system must first save the state of the system (including the microprocessor) to RAM then place the microprocessor in hibernate mode, where it completely powers off except the interrupt system, an interrupt handler then has the OS restore the state of the system from RAM before waking the microprocessor. But such microprocessors are far beyond the "microcontroller" needs of the Roomba.

[neural_network]

Late response, but you can put the bot in a temporary low power state. From the manual: "To put your robot into
reduced power standby mode, remove the dust bin and tap the clean button 5 times. To exit reduced power standby
mode, place your robot on the charging station and tap the clean button."