NEATO XV-11 robot vacuum Battery Issue 0002 error [FIXED]

[Lorenzo_1]

Had an intermittent, the permanent, battery fault issue on my Neato XV-11 (now about 6 years old).  Symptoms were blank screen and no boot-up - solid amber LED lights around the red Start button when docked to the charger. Buttons unresponsive. Removing and reinstalling batteries ineffective, as were suggested Reset attempts using Start + other buttons.  Batteries were newish and load-tested fine. Tried suggested web solution of plugging USB link into computer.   No joy initially but it did boot when also docked to power station - that's when LED came on and Battery Issue 0002 showed up.  Stripped it down - turned out to have a few problems - bad solder joints on a 100uF 25V electrolytic cap, one leaky 100uF 35V cap and a bad solder joint on a power connector to the main board.  Easy fix and working fine now. Presumably joints failed over time from frequent bumping into objects.  Thought this might be useful to others who encounter this quite common battery fail message.

Worth noting that the various plastic posts into which the multidinous cover screws are fitted do become fragile and crack over time.  Have managed to patch a couple using RapidFix - uses methacrylate adhesive and fine powder to weld/strengthen plastic.  Pays to be gentle with them.  Plenty of online videos about how to strip these units down.

[antohagg]

Do you remember which caps you changed.
Did change the c10 a while ago to solve the boot issue, but now i get battery error all the time.

[Lorenzo_1]

Sorry. Don’t recall. But I don’t think there’s a great many in there IIRC. I had chronic hard-to-resolve NiMH battery problems with mine until I switched to third party Li batteries configured to fit battery compartment. Since then completely trouble free. Strongly recommend switching over.