Helga was behaving abnormally. Side brush was not spinning consistently, she was very slow and her spot cleaning pattern was not normal, only performing a single pass instead of 2 before notifying me she was finished. I emailed Neato support and they were super quick to respond with some diagnosis and suggestions to try.
Things I tried:
· Remove the side brush and check inside to make sure the silver magnet is in place.
· Spin the side brush with your hand. Does it feel like it has any resistance to it? If you take the side brush off is there any resistance?
· Try powering up your robot and see if that peg where the side brush goes is spinning. (trickier than advertised due to the fact that it shuts off when picked up)
· Remove the brush guard and turn the side brush by hand. There is a small square hole near the side brush. Do you see a small rubber band moving?
· Perform a soft reset on the base by holding down the home/power button for 30 seconds.
After all these, the last one seemed to work. A soft reset was all it took. I tested and the brush was moving powerfully, the speed was increased and the spot-cleaning pattern was back to normal.
Still waiting to hear back from Neato support on what might have been causing it. But sometimes ignorance is better.
Thanks for the quick response, Neato! My wife was devastated when I told her the bad news. We don't know how we managed without Helga's services.
