Roomba’s will play songs, speak the problem, beep and flash it’s LED lights at you to communicate and tell you what is wrong.
Your Roomba playing 4 notes, or it may sound like 4 beeps, is a sign the battery is low, and it needs to be charged.
Most modern Roomba’s will navigate to the charging station and charge themselves, but if they got lost or confused they may never find the home base and thus beep at you.
Roomba Beeps While On The Charger
If your Roomba is beeping or playing a tune constantly while on the charger, then the battery or the charging base station could be bad.
If the Roomba can’t make a good connection with the charging base, it may fall in and out of the charging state and play the charging sound constantly. The contacts of the Roomba are under them, so they get dirty over time. Even if they look clean, a slight film can form and make charging hard.
Follow our guide on robot vacuum not charging here to resolve this issue.
Battery Is Bad
If you’ve cleaned the robot vacuum’s base and connections, and they all seem fine, then it could be a bad battery.
Ideally, you should be replacing your robot vacuum’s battery every 2 years, and the beeping you’re hearing is the robot saying the battery is bad.
If you’ve recently replaced the battery and get beeps, it could be that you installed the wrong battery. Cheap knock off batteries don’t always supply the correct voltage the robot vacuum is looking for, and they will make a fuss.
If you go with non-OEM batteries, it’s best to get the ones that are highly reviewed. If in doubt, always go with the batteries made by the manufacturer, especially if you want to maintain the warranty.
Home Base Is Bad
From my experiences with Roomba’s, while they’re incredibly handy, they can sometimes throw us for a loop with their quirks. If you’ve ensured that the connections on your Roomba and the base station are clean, and you’ve even replaced the battery but that persistent beep keeps going, it might be time to look at the charging base.
Although it’s been a rare occurrence in my circle, the Roomba’s charging base can wear out. A dead giveaway? The charging base LED light staying off. But here’s a neat trick I learned: the charging base emits an IR light. While invisible to our eyes, the camera on most phones can detect it. So, pop your Roomba off its base and see if your phone camera captures any of that flashing light. It’s a handy way to troubleshoot without the guesswork!
It’s also possible the outlet you plug in your Roomba is bad, or the breaker is bad. This will require a professional to fix. Move your Roomba to another outlet to see if it starts working again.
Charging Base Whining Noise
If your Roomba charging base is making a high pitch whining noise, then the inner transformer coils have gone bad and the charging base needs to be replaced.
The charging base uses transformers to take the high voltage of your home and step it down to something the Roomba can use. These coils can go bad over time due to the stress of stepping down that much power, and will make a whining noise when they have gone bad.
Moving the charging base to other outlets and slapping the base will not always fix it, it may quieten it for a few minutes, but overall, you need to get a new charging base.
Charging Error 1
If your Roomba speaks “Charging Error 1”, then it is telling you it can’t detect the battery.
If the battery is not a genuine iRobot battery or the battery is bad it can cause the Roomba to speak this error.
It is also possible the battery contacts are corroded or need to be cleaned.
Robot vacuums can develop a slight film on contacts because of the dirty environment they work in, and this film can make contact sporadic or keep the robot vacuum from working.
Reset It
If nothing else worked, the last thing you can do is reset your Roomba.
There could be a software issue and a reset is needed to fix it, then checking for updates is the best option ahead.
How to reset Roomba:
- Press any button (clean button) to wake the Roomba if it’s not already on, it’s on when the LEDs are on.
- Press and hold the spot and dock button for 10 seconds, or until the LED light turns off or flashes.
- If your Roomba has an app, go into the settings and check for any updates.
Video how to:
Some Roombas require you to hold the clean button for 10 seconds instead.