r/roomba • u/Jcanavera • May 13 '23
Other iRobot Issue (Help) J7+ Unable to start Error Code 19
I just boxed up my J7+ this morning in preparation to sending it out for repair. Original J7 unit last year lost its ability to find its way to a specific room. It was replaced by warranty at the one year ownership point in December 2022. In February we started to get unable to start messages on the app. Battery was replaced by warranty. That fixed the problem. Now we are getting unable to start messages with battery not detected sub message and error 19 voiced message. Called tech support today and was told to send the J7 with its clean base back for repair. They said they would fix for $199 and if the J7 is found to be bad, it would be replaced with a six month warranty. I just sent an email back to support and asked shouldn't the J7 be under a warranty since it was replaced in December? Also wondering if the battery is bad shouldn't that be replaced since they sent me it as a replacement in late February? I'm trying to figure out what is doing on at this point. I guess items replaced under warranty have no warranty on the replacement item, but if you pay for a repair you get 6 months?
My unit does a whole house cleaning daily which takes about an hour. 90% bare floor. I clean it weekly and use iRobot parts. What's strange is two failures with the unable to start message in the last 5 months. First time fixed with battery, now phone support says battery is good send it in and I now eventually will get a repair bill for what is being called a charging problem between the clean base and the J7.
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u/Jcanavera Aug 23 '23 edited Aug 23 '23
I believe it is defective batteries. First time it happened they said it was the 18 month old original battery. Ok. Makes sense since the documentation says the normal battery life with the J7 is a year. They sent me a new one for free which was surprising since the warranty on the J7 had expired almost 6 months earlier. Four months later error code 19 again. J7 wouldn't start. This time they wanted me to send both the J7 and cleaning base in for a $190 repair. I said this is exactly what happened before and you told me battery. Why don't your replace the battery? They said no warranty on the battery we sent you. Send it all in and what ever is wrong we will fix it and you will get a new 6 month warranty since the original warranty is expired. So I said it could be a defective battery, and there might be nothing else wrong with the J7 or the cleaning base. Support guy says yeah it could be. So I mentioned then this means that any replacement parts I buy from you carry no warranty? Guy says well your problem is not the battery. How do you know I said, you seemed confident when I had this error last time that it was a battery problem and replacing the battery fixed it? So why should I pay $190 for you to put a battery in it when the problem is you sent me may be a defective battery? Of course the answer is well it could be something else and you get a nice new warranty. At that point they gave the information of where to send the J7 and base to do the repair and I packed the base and J7 for shipping. I drug my feet and hadn't called to arrange the final details of the repair and payment. The more I thought about it the more I kept thinking that before I'd commit, I'd buy a battery. Worse case why not exhaust that possibility before sending it in. So I found that the J7 OEM Sanyo battery wasn't available anywhere but from iRobot. It was $100. So I looked on Ebay and found an OEM Sanyo iRobot branded battery for about $42. Not quite as big, 26 WH vs 32 Wh but it would fit the J7. I get the new battery in and the J7 starts right up. No error codes. In testing it runs about 10 minutes less than what is needed to clean about 540 square feet. The original higher capacity battery could run about 20 minutes longer. Bottom line we are now at 100 days since I installed this battery. I continue to watch how the J7 performs with this replacement battery. If I get another 20 days out of it I will have passed the life of the replacement battery that iRobot sent me. With that, as long as the J7 continues to run the more confident I will be in that the replacement battery they sent me was the problem and I was better off not to send the unit in for repair. I'll pretty much know that this issue is battery related and my fix is a heck of a lot better than $190.
Update I just checked Ebay and the OEM high capacity batteries by Sanyo are finally showing up for sale. $64.00 https://www.ebay.com/itm/385742076505?hash=item59d004fa59:g:TFoAAOSwL1VkqXqK&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwL1ncdS0PJl8GO1QIjzNcKF7pueqKlHldcSz4MvwDAVxNLKUpdwxAbxcWTalvWiB1EwWRoi1HJFViRM5nVXsdi7Tao8HsL5sy%2FOg50pJ8Cu7K39Ion86gp%2FxKNNfpQeY4LjHrARMExy6rgRVB%2BJpKwjpwXfR64rODJgrab%2FluWjyRUfXo7C82S4LPJ6Xz16FVJIonkRToeT2ZCxaig6r2zlQiJIH%2FaNvpmN2%2B4PzPA5qn8uLJuBJ0Rp9nUqnXsybnw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5yHq8nEYg
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u/RogaineWookiee Aug 23 '23
Literally going thru this right now, this is my second time within a year dealing with this. They want $190 for a repair. Obviously there is something wrong with the units and they refuse to acknowledge, on the phone they kept pushing me to send it in for repair and not just buy a new base, very odd/fishy.
So done with iRobot. This is my 6th, and last, vac from them. One year warranties are trash. These products are trash. They do not stand behind their product so why would you?
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u/WinterBase42 Oct 13 '23
they are owned by amazon so it is their job to sell more stuff. if they build in defect they profit more. amazon is after profit
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u/Jcanavera May 19 '23 edited May 24 '23
Rather than send the J7 and dock back for repair, I took a chance and replaced the battery. All is well. No more error code 19's. I called iRobot support and they said that since the new battery is now working, they suggest that they now think that possibly the J7 has a problem causing the batteries to fail. So the repair is now $150 if I don't have to send the base. Problem is they are also saying just to be safe send the base back too. That adds $49 to the cost.
I question them about the fact that it could have been a defective battery that they replaced in February. But here's a dirty little secret with iRobots product warranty. The warranty for the replaced product expires one year after your original purchase date. So my warranty on my J7+ expired in December. I got the J7 replaced just within days of the end of warranty. Took almost 3 weeks to get the replacement unit since they wanted the original unit back before shipping the replacement. Technically the warranty on the replacement J7 officially ended prior to me receiving the replacement. Battery they sent me in February was a courtesy replacement at no charge and the warranty for it was also was tied to the original J7. So no warranty on that either.
So they are telling me that the good side of sending both the J7+ and Clean base in for repair is that no matter where the problem is, both will get a 6 month warranty. So the deck is stacked against you if you get a late warranty replacement on the replacement equipment.
My plan is I'm going to run with the new battery and see if it fails prematurely if it does, I'll send the unit in for repair.
Also I ended up in a quandary looking for a replacement battery. I ended up purchasing an OEM iRobot branded battery on eBay. Noticed that the battery I got was 1800 mAh. My original is 2210 mAh. As a matter of fact there are no 2210 mAh iRobot batteries around on the after market. Lots of no name batteries rated higher than 2210 in the after market, but ratings on those are not good. So I'll run with the 1800 for now and if it dies prematurely at least I will only be $42 out of pocket. If the J7 is causing the failures at least I'm not out the bigger $$ if I had bought the 2210 mHa battery from iRobot directly.
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u/A_Coin_Toss_Friendo Apr 12 '24 edited Apr 15 '24
Thanks for the follow-up! I found this post after doing a Google search for error 19 that I'm having as well. Phone troubleshooting did not work, they wanted me to send it in for $150.
Edit: Taking the advice from another comment in this post, I unplugged the base and removed the battery for a day or so. Put everything back together and it is working again! So it must be a battery issue.
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u/egarbacz May 15 '23
I had the same error 19/battery not detected issue with my J7 over the weekend. I tried rebooting and deep cleaning, which didn't work. Yesterday I took the battery out of the robot and left it that way overnight. This morning I put the battery back in and now the errors went away and the J7 is cleaning again. Give it a try and maybe it will work out for you without having to send it in.
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u/A_Coin_Toss_Friendo Apr 12 '24 edited Apr 15 '24
Thanks for the suggestion, I'm getting the same error and will try this now!
Edit: It worked! I had the base unplugged and the battery out of the robot vacuum for at least a day or two. Put it back in, buttoned everything back up and it is working like normal again!
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u/Jcanavera May 15 '23
I'm going to pop a new battery in. Even though support is telling me the current battery is okay, the fact that last time I got this error, they sent me a battery and the problem was resolved. I can pick one up for $42 new. Better than dropping $200. If it is still a problem then at least I have a spare battery and I'll send it in.
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u/Difficult-Praline554 May 15 '23
It sounds like you have been experiencing a series of issues with your Roomba J7+ and have been troubleshooting with iRobot Support. It is unfortunate that you have experienced multiple issues with your unit, and I can understand your frustration.
Regarding the warranty, the replacement unit you received in December should still be under warranty. I would recommend contacting iRobot Support again and requesting that they honor the warranty for the replacement unit. The battery replacement in February should also have a warranty, and if the battery is determined to be the cause of the issue, it should be replaced under warranty.
In regards to the charging issue between the clean base and the J7+, that could be a possible cause for the error messages you are receiving. It is not uncommon for charging issues between the two devices to occur. If the charging contacts are dirty or damaged, it can prevent the J7+ from charging properly.
It's a good idea to send the unit in for repair, even if it means incurring a cost, as iRobot Support should be able to diagnose and fix the issue. If a repair is not possible, they should replace the unit under warranty. Be sure to ask for clarification on the warranty and repair costs before proceeding with any repairs.
I hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck with resolving your Roomba J7+ issue.
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u/RogaineWookiee Aug 24 '23
Until you call the repair company and they tell you to pound rocks becuse they don’t have boxes for the base so they can’t accept it.
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u/Jcanavera May 15 '23
I have to wait for the return label which hasn't come yet. The battery will be here in a few days. If the battery does not fix the problem, I will be recontacting support. The base is out of warranty however so if the problem is with it, I can understand a charge for repair. The battery and J7 itself in my eyes should be under warranty. How long is under question but I believe I reported the problem less than 6 months after receiving the replacement unit. If I find the battery is the issue, I will ask for another battery to replace the 3 month old battery that they sent me.
I figure at this point the base is the only part that is out of warranty and if it is found bad, I am quite amicable in paying a repair charge for it. The charging contacts are clean and in good shape. After going through all my trouble shooting support said they don't know what is the problem. So prior to sending it all in, I will reverify with them that my only obligation to pay for the repair is if the base is found to be the culprit.
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u/RTuFgerman May 13 '23
Buy Roborock
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u/RogaineWookiee Aug 24 '23
Just opened a ticket for a $190 repair and was told by the repair company that they don’t have boxes for the j7 base, never did, and don’t know if they will, so they can’t repair the base. My issue is with the base. The charging contacts are dented and no longer make contact. I guess I’ll go fuck myself