Upgrade Your Old Roomba to a Smart BotVac for $5

Arduino Sketch:
github.com/thehookup/MQTT-Roo...
Required Arduino Libraries:
www.airspayce.com/mikem/arduin...
github.com/jfturcot/SimpleTimer
github.com/knolleary/pubsubcl...
Configuration.yaml Additions:
github.com/thehookup/MQTT-Roo...
customize.yaml Additions:
github.com/thehookup/MQTT-Roo...
NodeRED Flows:
github.com/thehookup/MQTT-Roo...
NodeRED scheduling node:
www.npmjs.com/package/node-re...
Wiring Schematic:
github.com/thehookup/MQTT-Roo...
Parts:
ESP-01: amzn.to/2qVB2p8
PNP Transistors: amzn.to/2FaUfrS
Buck Converters: amzn.to/2K7FY33
Roomba upgrades:
Lithium Battery: amzn.to/2JnbGbp
Brush Upgrades: amzn.to/2qVDTOB
Tools:
Soldering Iron: amzn.to/2JUP3Mm
USB to TTL Adapter: amzn.to/2Hak9BW
*As an Amazon Associate I earn a % of qualifying purchases at no cost to you.*
Roomba OI Document:
cfpm.org/~peter/bfz/iRobot_Roo...
Meh, I'll just buy a new one:
Ecovac Deebot N79 on sale: amzn.to/2HtjGab
Use promo code JIP49E29 224.58- 64.60 = $159.98
(not good for high pile carpet)
Support my channel:
Patreon: / thehookup
Tesla Refferal Code: www.tesla.com/referral/robert...
Music by BenSound.com

[@sairao4492]

This is such a thorough video, thanks for all of the information. I love that Roomba puts out such a friendly API, it makes their price tag a little more reasonable.

[@eliset7512]

So far so good with this vacuum. kzbin.infoUgkx8ISPQRRAfpAaX4msGjyodObTBnlj4T5g I was a little concerned to find it seems to be all plastic, but the reviews were good, so I'm hoping for the best. Very easy to assemble Recommened, and only attachments I've used so far work well, and are easy to use. Doing a good job on the new carpet in my bedrooms and stairs. Works well on the hardwood on my main floor too. Reasonable weight and cord length. I already knew from an earlier review that it wouldn't fit under furniture, but I can use my Eufy for that, so no problem - the high traffic areas that need a stronger suction was really what I bought this for. If it continues as it's started, it will be a good buy and well worth the money. I have had two Shark Rocket stick vacs in the past that are super easy to use, but the motors just don't last well, even with scrupulous cleaning of the filters. I'm hoping for better with this Bissell.

[@tofutodd1]

Thank you for the great videos! Just put this together with an ESP-12E that I had and my old Roomba 530. Works awesome. Keep up the good work!

[@Palmolive360]

Rob, you're a legend! I've just HA-enabled my old Roomba 785, just the fact that I'm now able to block it from cleaning when I'm home, has saved my year... Thanks!

[@ehorlyck]

This is awesome! I've spend hours looking how to do this. Thank you!

[@xesrochers]

Awesome! Great video. I love my roomba, but we are not on a regular schedule and sometimes it was starting when we were in the house (a bit a a nuissance) . I assemble my kit yesterday and thanks to home assistant automations and your great video, we now have a roomba that only kicks in when we leave the house. Mucho thanks| As Mike stated below "I salute you. New home automation king"

[@tamaskifor1094]

I am even later to the party than Søren, but I also want to thank you this inspiring video. It made me start learning electrical engineering. At the end I managed to implement this project with a Roomba 681. I am now ready to develop it further to get notification on my watch, when the Roomba is finished with cleaning a room.

[@TheHookUp]

Awesome, this was a super fun project that I learned a lot from too. Congrats on your success!

[@Raptorsirrationalinventions]

Check out the areovac bins made a huge difference to my older roombas. Thanks for sharing this I was about to start developing my own!

[@palmtree44444]

I salute you. New home automation king. 👑

[@JonBoehm]

This is fantastic. THANK YOU. What I really want is to generate a log of RUNTIME and STOP_REASON. Since they only run when I'm gone I don't get good feedback of how successful they were. I want to keep track of battery health or keep an eye out for system/sensor failures. I've had a small fleet of Roombas with simple automation for years now. I use an IR blaster to kick off a clean cycle when the house alarm arms.

[@robr3978]

Awesome video, thanks for taking the time to put this together!

[@kenmcmullan9330]

"The Roomba Tx pin doesn't output a strong enough signal ... so we've gotta boost it up a bit ..." The Roomba serial port operates on 0..5V. So above 2.5V is "on", below 2.5V is off (thresholds notwithstanding). The ESP operates on 3.3V so anything above 1.65V is on, and below 1.6 is off. If the Roomba outputs a 2V off signal, you can see that the ESP still sees that as "on". What I think your saturated transistor does is to drop the "off" to nearer zero Volts. It's an encouraging video and (except I'm using a level shifter and planning to flash with TASMOTA) I'm essentially following it.

[@srenelisiussen581]

Sure, I'm late to the party, but just wanted to give you a virtual high five for this amazing project. Fitted it to my Roomba in a couple of hours and it was working. Great job. I really enjoy videos like this, making some everyday stuff we alle have in our houses, work with Home Assistant automation. How about a project to accurately measure the water level in our Delonghi espresso machines. It's so annoying that these machines only have a reed switch in the bottom saying empty. I believe we all, regularly push the button, get three drops and then the machine stops. Would love a great solution for this common problem.

[@PatrickSullivanJ]

This is awesome! I didn't even know this was possible

[@billpayne4502]

What an amazing video. Great cadence, great info, cool implementation.. love it!

[@Pablogogo]

your videos are fantastic, thank you for uploading such clear and precise instructions, you sir are a top class educator 👍

[@geektoolkit]

Your videos are so awesome....you do a great job of not only explaining, but providing additional stuff like the code and electronics diagrams, and your editing is really well done. Thankyou for this, I have an old Roomba that I was trying to figure out what to do with it, but with this I'm going to try to do these upgrades (including the battery one...that's cool to know that's available!). I'm even excited about the idea of being able to have it play some songs...I may get the R2D2 skin and have it play imperial march if I get super into it :) Thanks again, and please keep up the great work!

[@TheHookUp]

Haha, thanks. Have fun!

[@BuddyPride87]

Great video. I just purchased a Refurbished Roomba 595 for $139 - which I thought was a pretty decent deal. Now if I can update its features that would be great!! I wrestled with paying so much money for the more advanced models. I haven't used Home Assistant or Node-RED before, so this would be my first project! It should arrive next week sometime, so wish me luck!

[@TheHookUp]

Good luck!

[@KerboOnYT]

Great video, well done. We have a fancy new Roomba but I might have to pull the ancient one out of storage and start playing. :)

[@TwanJaarsveld1]

Stil can't get over the fact that this 14yo Roomba is now fully locally controllable using home assistant and the brand new ones only work when there is cloud

[@nickyjaden]

Love it! Now I'm gonna make my Roomba Alexa compatible! Thanks for the research! :)

[@maxreynolds679]

Excellent video, thanks

[@jojo9982]

Thanks for the hook up!

[@pillzrevil]

I dont understand any of this but I am glad there are people in the world who do :-)

[@claustrox]

Thank you very very much for all your video ( subscribed )! . I am totally newbie in this stuff only 2 days I have installed home assistant. But finally I did it!!!! Thank you very much you are a pure genius !

[@babakhallajian684]

your presentation is awesome

[@TheHookUp]

Thanks! My premiere skills are slowly coming back to me.

[@marcusk7855]

Hey that's the one I have. Good to know I can hot it up.

[@AllanKobelansky]

Posting from the future. Well done video. Thanks for posting.

[@dukefleed3721]

Can you help me , I have some problem to solve

[@timhomstad]

Great vid and impressive tinkering!

[@RogerStocker]

As Always: Just awesome. ✨

[@javierayzaparra7956]

Buen video y muy bien explicado. Después de probar entre varias programaciones me he quedado con esta.... aunque le he añadido el pause para poder parar el roomba en cualquier momento. Tengo un Roomba 650 y no me hace falta conectar el cable para tenerlo despierto. Gracias por el aporte

[@d3str0i3r]

anyone that wants to do this just for the experience and doesn't care about the price, you can get the $200 roomba create on the iRobot site and then buy the cleaning parts separate, benefit of this is they send you the documentation for everything and the bot is loaded with optimized software for modding/hacking if the price is what you're worried about get a deebot, it's got most of the new features for about the same price as a used roomba and that's on their entry model, more in the roomba price range also gets you mopping, and a charging port with built in rechargeable handheld vacuum that the robot can automatically empty itself into

[@lsdave]

Great Video, i modified your arduino sketch and added the OTA update capability. Makes it easy if the wifi network needs to be changed or any other changes that you might want to do. Might also add a web sever for the wifi manager and manual control from a browser instead of MQTT.

[@AndreaFlorio]

can you share your code?

[@MegaNunox]

Very good video & idea, big thanks

[@Arachnosoft]

I bought several Roombas for "parts" (three 581s and one 521) a week ago, as I wanted to get a real opinion on robot vacuum cleaners without, either, investing a huge price (like the €450-500 they cost ten years ago, OMG) or going for a cheap, generic brand model without any support for spare parts or documentation. I'm truly amazed by the high repairability rate of those things. I've been able to disassemble all 4 of them without any doc, just with a pair of screwdrivers (including that Y shaped one for the brush motor). I replaced and exchanged the brush motors, the dustbin fans, the LCD and button panels, the handles, the top cases without ANY problem and knowledge of those appliances. I was wondering what was the purpose of that DIN shaped connector I discovered while removing the upper cover, and now, thanks to YOU, I know. Although I'm an all-purpose IT developer, I'm not experienced enough to play with those electronic writings and components, my most complicated experience being with my 2012 Raspberry Pi... But you earned a new subscriber thanks to your extremely informative and crystal clear video. Nice footage, nice explanations, perfect video cuts. Well done, and keep the good work up!

[@ThunderDraws]

wow that's awesome! great job!

[@VAKUL-DC]

Awesome..Need More! More! More! of these. I have been looking into making non-smart devices at home - washer/dryer; basement water leak detection/mains shutoff.I was shopping for a gas water heater, HDepot had one for $150 more for wifi /alexa/ect option. please let us know if you have integrated ESP in other devices at home. Trying to get my 3d printer calibrated so i can make your door sensor - already ordered the missing parts from ali. thanks

[@ericbowman9487]

Hey Rob, great video. I am running into some strange results that I cant seem to track down. I have a Roomba 650 and I purchased the same items you used in your build. I have everything connected, the commands from HA work fine, but the 0-5 "charging state" values are coming in on the roomba/battery topic (but sometimes I see values that look like battery values, like 93), and the roomba/charging topic seems to float between reporting a value of 240 and 248. (For now I do not have the keep alive pin connected just to try and simplify the troubleshooting). I found the data sheet for the 600 series and verified that the pins on the connector are the same as the 500 series. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

[@delu7716]

Finally I get it working. But, if I would like to drive the roomba (left and right) in order to drive toward the right room? I have read the oi interface manual but I am stuck..

[@NiklasNoren]

How did you hide the ESP:s and such under the panel, is there space?

[@claustrox]

I dont' know if you can help me. I have 2 roomba I changed in the sketch of the second one "const char *mqtt_client_name = "Roomba" to ""Roomba534" "but I can't make the battery and status work. What I have to change in node red for use another device? Is the change in mqtt_client_name the only thing that I have to change in sketch? In node-red roomba/charging roomba/status roomba/currentstatus e roomba/commands are alle green and connected . And I can receive all the messages listening to roomba/charging etc.. Can you help me?

[@dronenb]

You're the man, thanks!

[@timben2773]

Awesome work, thanks a lot for the video! I have a Roomba 772. Could you maybe comment whether the 700 series can be modified similarly?

[@01schahal]

Hi ..thank you so much for details instructions. I am able to see all roomba communicating in HA but the Roomba Status is showing an Unknown ..can you please direct me what should be causing this. I can turn on off Roomba and can see the charging percentage

[@sjekiere11]

Awsome idea

[@BrianBlakGuldager]

Hi Frank Nice video have seen it a couple of times now and think its time to go for it. My old 560 is going to have a new life. If you were going to do this today yourself, would you do anything diffrent?

[@blueeyesvideos]

How would I get this to work in homekit using Homebridge? I'm hoping as long as the vacuum is hooked up to the Wi-Fi I can send commands through my Json file. Any ideas? A video would be terrific

[@GadgetsGearCoffee]

Does this work with the 860 too? under the handle of the 860 there is a serial port and what do you mean by hook up a voltage source for the ESP-01. As someone that's never tinkered with this, all of this sounds rather complicated because I don't even know the basics.. :(

[@ThatOneGuyGreggers]

Is there a way to do this but to connect it to SmartThings?

[@DanieleVelardi]

Which app used to config scheduler? There is for Android and for iOS?

[@angeryitalianchef7251]

I have a 600 series so I can't use it but I have similar thin gs like I got a remote control and I just run my Roomba every day, 2 times a day but some times it just dies in the middle of the floor

[@dexterweb]

this is genius!

[@tushardadwal9023]

Awesome video Rob. I have learned a lot from your videos specially node-red and home automation. thank you for creating such inspiring videos. I have Roomba 655 and I'm able to start and stop it from my HA app. But the only problem is that it does not start cleaning or listen to my commands while on the dock. I have tried reconnecting it several times still the same issue. Can you please help me with this?

[@seymore1532]

Any way to wake up a dead 510 Roomba battery? Was rarely used since new, don't want to buy a new battery if possible. Thanks

[@DanieleVelardi]

I don't found it in video: you have to change ip address of mqtt broker in flow of node red...

[@jareza]

Hi, quick question, would the ESP-01 could be interchangeable with the ESP 8266? Im asking because I also want to do the motorized smart blackout thingy and will have a spare ESP 8266 for the roomba: In case It is compatible the USB to TTL adapter would not be necessary right? Im asking because I love your videos, I dream about accomplishing one of your projects but I have never even used a soldering iron. I want to tackle these two projects in order to learn more about the things you do. Thanks1

[@olarenik1527]

Def check/clean the brush for hair - friend/I both have long/thick hairBISSELL PowerFresh Steam Mop Canister held more dust/dirt than I expected. Makes life easier!

[@pxgardiner]

Thanks for the video - very helpful in getting it working. Did you have any issue with sleep? Mine (805) will only work if i set the baud pin low for a half second or so to wake up the roomba. If I do that, it will consistently take commands, but otherwise it mostly ignores them. Also, I can't receive anything at all from the tx pin. Is that what happens without the transistor?

[@xirtama]

Great project! I'm waiting for the parts now to upgrade my 770. Does anyone know if the "dustbin full" sensor is available? I'd surely like to be able to send a push notification and/or return to dock when that happens. I've googled for it and also reviewed the OI specification docs, but couldn't seem to locate it.

[@TheHookUp]

I haven't seen that sensor in the OI, no.

[@stephblackcat]

I wonder if there's any way to pull a map from it's sensor data, then tell it which zones you want it to clean...

[@mathiask2143]

Hi. My old Roomba 772 has been working flawlessly from HA since i did this upgrade thanks to this great video. But I have one small problem. From time to time the Roomba decides to leave the dock because of lost connection to the dock and starts moving around in search for the dock it just left. Sometimes it would be useful to just stop it where it is. Especially at night. The "stop" command sets it to returning-mode, witch its already in, and I can't figure out how to make it just stop where it is. Similar to pressing the round button on top of it. Maybe its called "pause"? Any tips on how to do this?

[@christopherjohn333]

I dont know if youre still looking for an answer but you could use the power command which is uses the serial sequence 133. This command shuts down the roomba in its spot.

[@alefau97]

I connected the cables as per project but the esp does not turn on .. if I connect it to the usb it works correctly .. what can I do?

[@jespera.nielsen1693]

Always enjoy your videos. So much inspiration for the automated house :o) Being more of a programmer than a hardware techie; whats the main reason for using jumpwire between VCC and EN (CH_PD)? Main reason for asking is, that my favorite ESP module is Wemos Mini D1 which seems to lack a EN pin. So if it could be avoided I could use my favorite. If not I have to use another board. Again. Thansk for so much inspiration. You and DrZzs is among the best!

[@TheHookUp]

The d1 has a permanent connection between vcc and en, so you don't need to worry about it.

[@deputyd0ng694]

I have this running in MQTT, with a 2N3906 transistor as shown. MQTT is showing the device and its states, HA shows the entities, however in MQTT explorer, the battery is saying "No Data". Also, any commands I ppublish to it manually, or by using the HA switch, the roomba does not respond to. Itss a roomba 805, according to my research, the pinout on the interface is the same.Should I be using a different transistor? Any other idea?

[@Wheemer]

A bit late to the game but just got this working. Thank you.

[@TheHookUp]

Awesome to hear it still works!

[@Wheemer]

@@TheHookUp I noticed when I first turn on the roomba switch it just lights up but doesn't move. If I hit the switch to on one more time, then it comes to life and starts cleaning. Have you ever seen such behaviour? Your insight would be great. Thanks again!!

[@Wheemer]

@@TheHookUp Nevermind, I see the comment below concerning the issue.

[@mirek3542]

I replaced the old Ni-HM battery with a Li-Ion battery with BMS, and now the iRobot 780 vacuum cleaner doesn't recognize it when charging. Error 1, what to do with it?

[@stanfordwells8266]

This is a awesome project, only thing is that the battery info doesn't seem correct always at 100% status and charging stays at 255, not getting the 1-5 status, could this be cause I'm using a esp32 instead of esp01?

[@JustinDiener]

I just got this up and running on my roomba. A one thing I noticed along the way are that the OI documentation seems to say that it is not necessary to put the roomba into safe mode before issuing the cleaning command. The cleaning command can be issued from any mode, and automatically puts the roomba into passive mode. I did not test this, though.

[@TheHookUp]

I figured it couldn't hurt.

[@brycemyles2010]

I've been working on this project for a few weeks, it's a super neat idea... however I keep getting the error "cannot declare variable 'espClient' to be of abstract type 'WiFiClient'" every time I go to compile the code? anyone have a solution?

[@TheHookUp]

Try updating your esp8266 boards manager.

[@martingradev]

Thanks for the video! Is there enough room under the top cover for these parts, or you fitted them somewhere else?

[@TheHookUp]

I fit them under the cover

[@matthewjones7414]

Would a BD682 transistor do the job?

[@henk-janberghorst6313]

Thanks for sharing this nice project I using it on a Roomba 606, this type goes into sleep mode after 5 minutes, so i have to send the start command twice. After sending it the first time, the Roomba wakes up, after the second command (5 seconds after the first fire) it starts cleaning. I made a script in HA that does the job, so you can start cleaning with one push in HA Kind regards, Henk

[@TheHookUp]

Nice solution! I posted a different file on the github page for the 600 series that pulses the line every minute to keep it awake too if you're interested in that.

[@henk-janberghorst6313]

Nice I will look for it :-)

[@paolocortenova955]

Hi Rob, awesome video...Inspiring! a little question about the transistor, can I use a BD534 or a BC327? are both PNP... I've a couple of them around ;-)

[@TheHookUp]

Yes, that should work fine

[@albertocelano5402]

Hi, know you why I'm not able to send mgs to my Roomba 871.... I've followed your great video and I've all stuff like you but my roomba don't start with NodeMcu or Arduino (I'm trying with only commands before to use MQTT)... could you help me ?thanks!

[@zdoranns]

Bravo!

[@stevenfogland9972]

Hi, wondering if you've built a charge dock for your bot?

[@LaneLarson]

Genius.

[@robertvanoverbeeke6968]

Awesome and inspiring video! I bought the gear, connected it all up. Installed a MQTT broker and client. I receive the following after I publish "start" to roomba/commands: checkin roomba = Rebooted charging = 0 commands = start status = Cleaning However it doesn't start. Shortly after, status changes to "Dead Somewhere" What do I do wrong?

[@heineolsen7546]

Hey Rob, thx for the great video, but can I on any way do the arduino skecth in esphome instead ?

[@TheHookUp]

No idea, I don’t mess with ESPHome very much

[@SK-cp5eh]

hi, I loved this, and went on to buy myself a roomba and used a nodeMCU esp8266 to do it. However, my roomba is the 650, and this means i need to do the pulse. So I added the pulse code to my sketch, but now i'm confused... Which pin on the roomba needs to be pulsed?????????

[@TheHookUp]

Pin5, the "BRC" pin: www.irobot.lv/uploaded_files/File/iRobot_Roomba_500_Open_Interface_Spec.pdf

[@theKongston]

Do I need to change the ip adress of the server in node-red? if so, what do i change it to? also, what packages(nodes) do you have on your node-red?

[@wannamikeout]

Hey I was wondering , could it be linked to the iRobot Roomba app for Apple and android after adding the wifi mod to it? Instead of using home assistant

[@asheibika]

I´m wondering... there no problems with the serial TX/RX Signal levels? You connect them directly to the esp, but they have 5v and esp normaly need 3.3 v....

[@burninator022]

Do you have a project where you're upgrading the dc motor?

[@guptanir]

Is there a way to do this using tasmota,..

[@jeremymckenzie9775]

I had this working, following your video verbatim. Recently, I've discovered that the chip has started broadcasting an SSID, but yet it is still connected to my Wifi. Is there anything I can do to fix this, or do I need to try and re-flash the chip? I have reset the chip a couple times, and also re-seated the battery in the roomba. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[@TheHookUp]

I forgot I hadn't added it to this sketch. It won't hurt anything to have it broadcasting an AP (and it's not a hacking risk since it won't actually connect to anything), but if you want to get rid of it you can reflash and add "WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);" to the setup. I've also added it to the github sketch.

[@hamiltongazim7094]

work for roomba 890 ? do you have upgrade for roomba 890

[@DanielNictheroy]

Hi, great video and is working perfect! How can I incorporate the Stasis sensor to your sketch. That would tell if moving forward or not and I think would be a good way to determine if is stuck somewhere before battery dies. Would be nice to also play a noise to find if lost but that would be less important. Thank you!

[@dukefleed3721]

Can you help me to load a sketch, there's a pdf for to do that? Sorry for my bad write in this language.

[@dukefleed3721]

Can I order this upgrade kit, fully assembled and programmed? Which android app should I use?

[@opensourcehome8586]

Hey, Thanks very much for the guide. I am currently able to send commands to the roomba to start cleaning, and do various other activities, however I am having lots of trouble reading any sensor data from the roomba, with an without the PNP transistor. Is there a way for me to troubleshoot the txpin on the roomba using a multimeter to make sure my leads are good? Or do you have any other suggestions?

[@TheHookUp]

I wish there was. It caused me a huge headache. My best advice to you is to leave the battery cover off and pull the battery every time you change code, for some reason it seems to help the TX pin work. Once it's working it stays working, but uploading new code seems to require a battery pull about 50% of the time.

[@opensourcehome8586]

@@TheHookUp thanks for the advice, I took some time to look up the orientation on my PNP transistor, turns out I had it backwards. Now that thats working, im sure your battery pull method will get me out of a couple jams.

[@theKongston]

Excellent video, im trying this now. I dont know if its the library version or something, but this keeps happening: no matching function for call to 'SimpleTimer::setInterval(int, void (&)())'

[@denisgrabocka1269]

Great videos buddy very informative and articulate. I do not have much experience with mqtt but i do use Node Red for my old x10 switches and i do use SmartThings instead of Home Assistant but i like your approach to automating my old series 600 Roomba so now i am on a quest on how to merge them together ....Any pointers if you have any on ST and mqtt will be greatly appreciated . Thanks again

[@TheHookUp]

If you have node red you most likely already have an MQTT broker. I don't know anything about smart things, but node red is really all you need.

[@zsoltszepfalvi5798]

I can get Pro elite, 555, 564, 651, 770, 780 roombas second hand for around 100$. Which one do you Suggest to buy for upgrade? The key features has to be a data interface On the top and a charger on the bottom, right?

[@RichVincelette]

awesome video, this has been on my todo list for a while but your video may have given me the bump in motivation needed to actually do it! question, how much more (time or coverage) do you find (or guess) the roomba cleans using your "charge and resume" automation? I don't think these older roombas know where they left off (I think the brand new ones with mapping capabilities do), do you use light houses (Virtual Wall) in your house? thanks again

[@TheHookUp]

I don't have any virtual walls set up, but I can tell you that in a single pass the roomba will clean about 75% of my downstairs, with 2 passes there are roomba tracks over every square inch every day. This summer I'm going to be working on a virtual wall project using nodemcus.

[@RichVincelette]

The Hook Up thanks for the info! Also excited to see where you get with making virtual walls!

[@robertperkins4909]

@@TheHookUp Did you ever do the virtual wall project?

[@GeorgeMaicovschi]

Can i use a darlington transistor instead of a pnp one if that’s what i have laying around? :)

[@TheHookUp]

my guess is no as it may result in too much gain, but I don't think you will damage anything by trying it out.

[@franciscojsanchezmba]

I would be content with the app and wifi no need for schedule. Thank you

[@mrFractures]

I saved ~$300 following this video. The only difference in my hardware setup is that I used the Adafruit Feather Huzzah board which has an integrated logic converter on the RX pin and ftdi module. I used the 3.3V signal from the Huzzah board TX pin directly and so far it is working fine. On the software side I didn't implement the Node Red black magic. Instead I used a simple HA automation for daily cleaning schedule. The one thing I would like to incorporate into the Arduino code is to publish a "Docked" status. Right now I can only see when the Roomba starts cleaning and returning.

[@TheHookUp]

Can you see the battery %? The code has status for docked and battery %, but you'll need to have the PNP transistor to make them work.

[@mrFractures]

The Hook Up I do see a battery percentage status but I haven't validated the data. So far I only recall seeing 100% and 120% which is odd. I think I had to change the HA sensor definition topic from currentStatus to Status (or the other way around...) before I started seeing values.

[@TheHookUp]

MQTT topic roomba/charging should have your docked and charging status in it.

[@mrFractures]

I defined a HomeAssistant MQTT sensor like this: - platform: mqtt name: "Roomba Charging" state_topic: "roomba/charging" But I am getting non-sense values(10,46,248,241,33) instead of the 0-5 range expected. If I take only the first digit of each number (1,4,2,2,3) then it sort of makes sense(Reconditioning,Waiting,Full Charging,Trickle Charging). This is the code that publishes the charging status(unmodified): String temp_str = String(battery_Voltage); temp_str.toCharArray(battery_Current_mAh_send, temp_str.length() + 1); //packaging up the data to publish to mqtt client.publish("roomba/charging", battery_Current_mAh_send); Why do we need "temp_str.length() + 1" and not just "temp_str.length()"? Could this be related to the board that I am using?

[@mrFractures]

But really what I wanted to say is Thank You. Your content is great.

[@MikeErickson1082]

Hey Rob, awesome video. I just set this up to control my 500 series and it is working great. One question though: If I manually start the Roomba via the button, the status does not update via MQTT to "Cleaning". I can see that this is only done when calling "void StartCleaning()". Is it possible to have the ESP query the status periodically via the serial interface, and report that the roomba is cleaning, if it were manually started without automation? Thanks!

[@TheHookUp]

Not possible to my knowledge.

[@michaudjp]

Replace ESP01 by ESP12, add shock/vibration sensor in the loop ,monitoring for voltage drop over some time period (prevents false positive) then update MQTT advertising roomba is now alive. Use HA to handle the rest.

[@davidchui4373]

Fantastic video. I was looking around for MQTT enabled robot vac videos. I am sourcing around for a refurbish Roomba. Are there any other robot vacs that supports MQTT?

[@TheHookUp]

Well, it's technically not the robotvac that is supporting MQTT, it's the microcontroller. The more important thing is being able to control the vac with a microcontroller. I'm not aware of any other brands that have a serial port on them, but they might exist.

[@davidchui4373]

What's your opinion on a new wireless Roomba with home automation?