Noisy 581 with new BLACK BRUSHES

[poconogal]

I just received my new all black brushes and I'm wondering if anyone who also switched to those black brushes noticed a difference in noise? I cannot believe the racket Roomba is making now. This is the first run with the new brushes and the noise started with the new brushes. Roomba is actually vibrating while moving. It's not noisy on the area rugs, but on the wood floors it sounds like a tiny jackhammer rattling away! Aside from the noise, the new brushes seem to have fixed the long skinny dog hair line issue I was having, so I guess I did need new brushes. I did notice that the new black bristle brush is a tiny amount larger in dia. than the brush that came with the green CHM. Don't know if or what that'd have to do with the noise though.

[vic7767]

I have installed the black brush pair into both a Geen CHM and a Red CHM. Neither one causes the noise you are experiencing or the CHM movement. Double check the installation of your brushes. Something else is wrong with your CHM.

[mfortuna]

Make sure there is no play sise to side. The square end of the brush may be jumping out of the square part of the drive gear.

[geekgranny]

I'm getting ready to run a whole pack of 500's right now. (Ben, I pooped out last night. ) I have one refurb 530, Red CHM, that came with the black brushes and, yes, a bit less hair collects on the ends, and it is much easier to clean the ends, and it seems hair doesn't seem to work into the gear box as much. One Labradoodle has a good amount of extremely fine undercoat and they are blowing their puppy coats right now so lots of fine hair about 1.5" long. They make terrific hair bunnies. I've had the refurb 530 for a while; one of the Woots from last year, and I haven't taken notice of extra noise with those. I'll take note of the sound and I'll switch the blacks out to another 5xx, or two, to check for noise in them during the time they are running. The rest of the 5xx's have Blue CHM. I replaced any of the Red CHMs, on ones that came with the Reds, a while back, when the Blues came out. Will report back. BTW... I haven't sent any in to "Vic" for bearing mods, yet, but really need to do so soon.

Another BTW... I moved the three Trilobites from upstairs to downstairs, last night, and ran two missions each, (upstairs is very difficult carpet that is so stressful on the Roombas) to preclean the hair that has built up downstairs, as I haven't Roombaed in a week , and, yes, they certainly deal with massive amounts of the hair, with no problems or extra maintenance (almost no maintenance on Trilobites anyway), but they certainly don't get the dust and dried mud up nearly as well as the Roombas. In all the time I've had the Trilobites, all purchased at very low prices btw, I hadn't run them on the downstairs tile.

gg=alice

[poconogal]

The brushes are in the way they should be. There's no way to install them wrong... and this did not happen yesterday with the other brushes installed. These new brushes are somehow causing this. There is actually a mark on the plastic, a large mark, in the area where the dirt detect spot is. It runs the entire length of the brush, seems the brush it rubbing on that when turning. I think it's due to the the fact that this brush is a tiny bit larger than the green brush that came with the CHM. On carpet, its absorbing the noise and vibration so it's only making a racket on the hardwood. I have another brush that I just got with another Roomba that I just bought on Ebay. (Gosh these things are addictive!) I'm going to put that in my 581 and see how that goes. Reason I got the new brush was because I noticed that some dog hair was not being picked up, which was very unusual for this 581 with AeroVac! With daily use though, I guess I wore the brush out in a month...

[TechGuy]

I just received my new all black brushes and I'm wondering if anyone who also switched to those black brushes noticed a difference in noise? I cannot believe the racket Roomba is making now. This is the first run with the new brushes and the noise started with the new brushes. Roomba is actually vibrating while moving. It's not noisy on the area rugs, but on the wood floors it sounds like a tiny jackhammer rattling away! Aside from the noise, the new brushes seem to have fixed the long skinny dog hair line issue I was having, so I guess I did need new brushes. I did notice that the new black bristle brush is a tiny amount larger in dia. than the brush that came with the green CHM. Don't know if or what that'd have to do with the noise though.

Your new black brushes cause the vibration on your new 581. I think that one or both black brushes are out of balance. I would call iRobot for a replacement.

[poconogal]

I'm getting ready to run a whole pack of 500's right now. (Ben, I pooped out last night. ) I have one refurb 530, Red CHM, that came with the black brushes and, yes, a bit less hair collects on the ends, and it is much easier to clean the ends, and it seems hair doesn't seem to work into the gear box as much. One Labradoodle has a good amount of extremely fine undercoat and they are blowing their puppy coats right now so lots of fine hair about 1.5" long. They make terrific hair bunnies. I've had the refurb 530 for a while; one of the Woots from last year, and I haven't taken notice of extra noise with those. I'll take note of the sound and I'll switch the blacks out to another 5xx, or two, to check for noise in them during the time they are running. The rest of the 5xx's have Blue CHM. I replaced any of the Red CHMs, on ones that came with the Reds, a while back, when the Blues came out. Will report back. BTW... I haven't sent any in to "Vic" for bearing mods, yet, but really need to do so soon. ...

gg=alice

Hello Alice! Glad to make your acquaintance, I've read your posts with interest. I too live in the country with lots of dust, off a dirt road and have a long gravel driveway. Three Dobermans and a cat complete my mess-making recipe! I am building my army now... 2 Roombas (581 and 560), 2 Scoobas (5900 and 380) 2 Cleanmate QQ2s, which I like to send around area rug perimeters after Roomba sometimes leaves a bit of dog hair during transitions. I also use them in the bathrooms for the cat litter on the floor, etc.

I await your results with the black brush on your 5xx. Thanks!

Connie

[poconogal]

Make sure there is no play sise to side. The square end of the brush may be jumping out of the square part of the drive gear.

I'm going to check that, Mike. Thanks.

[Gordon]

... I did notice that the new black bristle brush is a tiny amount larger in dia. than the brush that came with the green CHM. Don't know if or what that'd have to do with the noise though.

I'll bet it could!

A bristle brush may be black, but, the O.D. of the bristles may not be equal to that of another black brush! iRobot may have become aware of the issue which jonduus reveals in his current thread:
http://www.robotreviews.com/chat/viewto ... =1&t=12603
iRobot always changes stuff w/o informing us!

Perhaps we (black-CHM brush owners) should all report their diameters. Mine is about 48 to 49 mm diameter. An easy way to caliper the span across bristle tips is shown in this picture:

[vic7767]

Here's what I measure with a stock black CHM bristle brush.

[geekgranny]

Hello Alice! Glad to make your acquaintance, I've read your posts with interest. I too live in the country with lots of dust, off a dirt road and have a long gravel driveway. Three Dobermans and a cat complete my mess-making recipe! I am building my army now... 2 Roombas (581 and 560), 2 Scoobas (5900 and 380) 2 Cleanmate QQ2s, which I like to send around area rug perimeters after Roomba sometimes leaves a bit of dog hair during transitions. I also use them in the bathrooms for the cat litter on the floor, etc.

I await your results with the black brush on your 5xx. Thanks!

Connie

Really great to be back on board. I too have a long gravel driveway that also catches some water coming down the hill from the newer houses that are only a few feet above me. I should, but don't, clean up many wheel barrels of new silt, several times a year, that makes it all the way to my back yard and pool (love sandbags). I haven't had new gravel put in in at least 10 years so my gravel is well washed. Each year the wash in silt gets worse. Past year, especially with the new, extremely active puppies, the silt/dust/sand, everywhere has been the worst. Virtually all people really can't believe the extreme conditions unless they do some cleaning inside or out, more than once, around here. I just recently spent a few $K on the pool so can't afford to take many measures to alleviate the silt problem. There's always something that comes before the driveway. Being a 'bot addict (inside and out) doesn't help either. The three of us back here in the woods, sharing the first part of drive before it splits off, did blacktop the first part of drive, last year (cost split three ways). And the neighbor whose back yard drains into my driveway, at my front, and drains from his front yard into my front "40" (0.77 acre ) part of the driveway, blacktopped all of his separate drive and car pad areas. That helped some. At least we don't have to constantly fill potholes anymore and less mud on cars.

gg=alice

[Gordon]

Here's what I measure with a stock black CHM bristle brush.

vic, you are showing that measurement with a GREEN CHM as background. Is that bristle brush shaped like those which came with the black CHM? I thought it is that variety under discussion.

Also, in your picture, how are you assured that the caliper tips are set to span across bristle tips? I think the measurment using calipers would have to be done somewhat as shown in this image:

...with caliper blades in (or crossing through) a diametral plane of the brush.

[vic7767]

The glimpse of green you saw was from two green Create batteries used to sandwich the black bristle brush between them. I was using the top of the tool to measure the width between the two batteries. Here is another view more similar to yours.

[Gordon]

Sorry about that, vic -- I should have detected they were battery cases! I just locked in on the color, not even thnking about those screwy Create batt-cases. I had first thought about that same technique (but using APS-batt cases), then decided to go for items that people are more likely to have in quantity around a Roomba/Scooba household, such as ~2' wide rolls of packing tape, you know, always having to pack up RMA robots heading back to iRobot!

Back to that skinny brush now, what can you tell us about its floor clearance (if any) when on mission in its assigned CHM? I mean, if I were to mount that brush in my BLK-CHM, the bristles would not even project beyond the wire-guards, let alone touch the floor.

[vic7767]

One other update before I approach the rubber brush. My caliper tool was flashing the LCD readings at me. I had not used the tool in a while. Flashing is not good. Replaced the battery and the reading more closely resembles your reading. Mine showed 48mm.

[geekgranny]

Black brushes, used in red CHM, then to green CHM didn't seem to produce any difference in sound that I can detect. Actually, if there is any noise coming from them I can't detect it over the other noises that the 5xx's make, even using the quieter Aero-Vac bins. I had my hearing, super-duper tested in 2008 and it is still on the top end even for people much younger than I. I suspect all the ear protection, plugs and cotton I've used, while using equipment, shooting guns, and when music is even slightly loud, or other noisy environments, has really paid off. It would be such a bummer to not to be able to identify birds by their sounds; even wing flapping sounds. BTW... I don't shoot birds, or any other living beings; just targets.

gg=alice

[vic7767]

I installed the black CHM brush set into a Black CHM and the rubber bar brush extends beyond the wire brush holder just about 1/8 of an inch. I then installed the same black CHM brush set into a Green CHM and the rubber bar brush extends just the same, about 1/8 of an inch.

[poconogal]

Sorry, guys, I know I disappeared there for a bit. Since unemployed, I went back to school for medical transcription and was preparing for my midterm. Got a 96 and a huge headache after the 8 page test was completed!

Anyway, I purchased this black brush set on Ebay through Homenvacuum. I've contacted the seller about the brush and noise issue and he did tell me that there are some black brushes that are a bit larger in diameter. He confirmed what my eye picked up. He offered to send me a replacement for free, either a green or black brush, my choice, and told me to keep the original black brush as a spare. Wonderful and honest person to deal with, so I will add him to my very short list of Roomba ebay sellers right under casino187.

[poconogal]

I reinstalled the noisy black brush into Roomba yesterday and discovered that one side of the brush has bristles that are a bit longer than the others. When I manually rotated the brushes a few full turns, I could hear that side of the brush hitting the CHM. From what I was told, that's considered an out of balance brush? Anyway, mystery solved. The seller has replaced the brush and told me to keep the defective one. He said I could trim that longer side a bit and keep as a spare. Thanks all for your input!