Has your Roomba i7’s full bin light blinked even after emptying the bin? Don't worry. Although that red flashing indication is quite annoying, it’s easy to get rid of.
In most cases, you might have dirty sensors. The full-bin sensors are located behind the Romba bin. However, you could also have dirty, full bin sensor ports and a dirty air filter.
Remedying all of these issues and restarting your Roomba is the best way to clean Roomba i7 full bin sensors. Here’s how:
How Do I Clean My Roomba I7 Full Bin Sensor? -Step-By-Step
Step 1 - Identify And Locate The Full Bin Sensors And Ports:
The first step is to identify the full bin sensors. There are 2 of these sensors on your Roomba i7 with 2 inner and 2 outer ports.
A common cause of your full bin sensors giving an error is only cleaning the two sensors without cleaning the ports. In reality, you must clean the ports, too, if you want to get rid of the error.
The 2 full bin sensors can be found right under the dustbin. Once you remove the dust bin, you can find the sensors on either side of the dust bin compartment on the Roomba.
To be more specific, one of them will be in the upper right-hand corner and the other in the upper left-hand corner.
These sensors look like small black rectangles. And you might overlook them the first time around since they might be covered in dust.
Your Roomba also has sensor ports. These are small rectangular cavities where the sensors stay seated once the bin is in place. Again, there are only 2 ports but two sides of the same port: the inner and outer sides.
The inner ports can be found on the dustbin itself. When you remove the front cover of the dustbin, you can see small rectangles on the inner side of the surface.
And if you look at the exterior of the cover, you’ll see two cavities right in front of the inner ports. These are the external sensor ports.
Step 2 - Empty The Roomba I7’s Dust Bin:
Once you’ve identified the sensors and ports, it’s time to open up the Roomba i7’s dust compartment. It’s recommended to remove the parts such as the rollers and brushes to clean them up. But to clean the sensors, you'll need to empty the dustbin.
Start by manually emptying the dustbin into a trashcan and washing the dustbin with warm water.
It is the first step, as the automatic Roomba empty bin option sometimes doesn’t work. You can find this option by pressing home and looking for the “Empty Bin” button on the iRobot home app.
Step 3 - Wipe Down The Full Bin Sensors And Ports:
A microfiber cloth is all you need to clean the sensors and the ports. Of course, you can use any other type of cloth as long as it’s clean. But microfiber cloth prevents any microscopic scratches from appearing on the sensors.
If you don't have a microfiber cloth, use a soft towel. Avoid loose fabric as it’s generally very degrading to the sensors.
Make sure to clean the sensors and ports thoroughly. Even the tiniest speck of dust collected during a cleaning session can cause a full bin false positive error message.
Step 4 - Check If The Full Bin Sensors Are Clean:
After cleaning the sensors, you can test out the sensors by checking the red full bin indicator. If it’s still on or blinking, your full bin sensors are still not working fine. You may need to clean them until the error message goes repeatedly.
Check if the error occurs with or without the dustbin reseated. If the error only occurs when the dustbin is in the Roomba, it’s most likely that the sensor ports need cleaning.
Step 5 - Clean The Air Filter:
Another common reason your Roomba i7 gives a full bin error is that the air filter isn't clean. The air filter can be found on the side of the dustbin. It looks like a rectangle with white gratings that may be dusty and clogged up.
This filter absorbs most of the dust from the air leaving the Roomba. As a result, it prevents you from inhaling dusty air that may cause asthma or allergies.
However, the air filter needs to be cleaned over time (rather quite frequently). You can do this in one of several ways. One way you can do this is to tap the air filter against any hard surface, preferably a garbage can. It should remove most of the dust.
Another way you can clean it is to run a vacuum on the filter to suck out any dirt. It is a much more effective method as it goes deep into the filter and will help unclog any dust.
You can also opt to wash the filter with water and let it air dry.
Step 6 - If Your Full Bin Sensor Still Has An Error:
If you have thoroughly cleaned out the full bin sensors, ports, and even the air filter, but the error persists, you might have a bigger problem.
There can be several reasons why the error persists. But the most probable cause is that the sensors have stopped working thoroughly. Of course, you could also fault the circuitry that connects the indication light to the sensor, but that’s very unlikely.
A simple fix to a persisting error is to reboot the robot. Do this several times to see if the error stays. If it doesn't go away, you’ll need to bring the robot into iRobot Customer Care.
Why Does Roomba I7 Keep Saying Empty The Bin:
The Roomba i7 showing full bin errors is quite common, even with an empty bin. There can be several reasons for this:
- The Roomba i7 full bin sensors aren't clean. Clean them up with a microfiber cloth.
- The full bin sensor ports aren't clean. Wipe them down with a soft cloth.
- The air filter next to the dustbin is dirty. You can tap it against a trash can or vacuum the dust.
- You may need to reboot the Roomba a few times.
- Finally, if all else fails, it may be due to an internal fault with the Roomba and its sensors. Take your Roomba i7 to iRobot Customer Care immediately
Wrap-Up:
Having the full bin light come on even after emptying the bin is a major annoyance. And it’s incredibly frustrating when the clean button doesn’t work on your Roomba app.
Luckily, there are a few ways you can fix the problem. First, you should clean out the full bin sensors. It should be your priority.
Then, it would be best to clean out the full bin sensor ports (2 at the front and 2 at the back of the bin cover). Finally, you should clean out the air filter by tapping it or vacuuming it.
If all else fails, you have no choice but to take your Roomba to customer service.