Tip to help vacuum dock to charging station

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#1

I didn’t have any issues with the vacuum returning to the charging station on hard wood floors, but when I moved it to another floor in my home that is primarily carpet, I found the vacuum would find the charging station without any problems, but would continuously dock, connect for a moment, then move away and begin to dock again. It would do this over and over until the battery died.

I found the issue is that the charging dock, even when pressed up against the base board at the bottom of the wall, tilts upward when the vacuum begins to dock and the charging plates don’t match up correctly. I think this is because of how carpet is attached to nail strips at the edge near the wall itself; the flooring under the charging dock isn’t as flat and solid as it is on a non-carpeted floor.

I placed an object that is approximately 3/4" behind the charging dock forcing it away from the wall slightly so that it’s sitting more on solid ground and away from the nail strip that holds the carpet down and I haven’t had a problem since doing this.

I think an upgrade is needed to the charging dock to remedy this problem in the future but at least, for now, I’ve found a workaround.

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#2

That’s not a bad idea. I stuck something in the back to make it stay up and not lean back because of the baseboard. But it’s still not perfect. I was testing in my Master bedroom at first and so I had the charging station against my closet door, The room is carpet and it worked fine like that. There’s no tack strip or baseboard screwing things up.

But when I moved it to where I had my Roomba, which is under furniture, out of the way and mostly hidden, that is when I started having issue with it docking. I got it where it kind of works, but now I’m thinking about getting some thin piece of wood large enough where I can mount the charging station onto on one end, and the Vacuum can drive up onto that. So also like being on a hardwood floor. The Dock wouldn’t get bumped around, etc.

The biggest issue I have is it gets close, does the whole spin thing and backs up a little bit, but not enough. or it backs up and makes contact and it seems just fine but it for whatever reason doesn’t like it and pulls forward only to start all over again.

#3

Mine is doing the exact same thing. You can see that it is connected after backing up, but then it leaves and tries again and again and again…I put a pen behind and it did seem to help a bit, but I think I’ll throws book behind it or something and hopefully that will help. As it stands, I have to hold it to the dock until it stops moving. Hopefully WYZE will address the issue through software sometime.

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#4

Thanks! My vacuum works great, but docking usually takes 4-5 attempts. I did as you suggested and she docked first time!

#5

I’ve used double sided tape and it’s solid yet still takes five or six times

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#6

My vacuum dock is on a hardwood floor, but it still takes many attempts to dock. Wyze replaced it after I sent a video of the problem, and the replacement has the same problem. It may be a baseboard issue; I’ll try that suggestion.

#7

I don’t think it’s a very good dock. It doesn’t weigh much. There’s almost no bottom base like my Roomba one had. My Roomba worked just fine where I had its dock, which is now the same place I have my Wyze Dock. The best of course is on a hardwood type floor, but even then, it could slide around as it’s trying to dock. So even then I’d put velcro on it and velcro it to the baseboard so it’s solid.

There’s things I like about it and things not so much. The price point is good. But the dock is a little weak. So is the Storage container for the garbage it picks up. It’s really pretty small. On the other hand, unlike my Roomba, I like the virtual walls on the app. Where as my Roomba had lighthouses you would have to place to block it. It really kind of sucked. Seeing where the Wyze is going, on my iPhone or iPad is nice. Having it not just randomly bounce around my house like the room, but instead, go in straight lines where it can and get every inch basically that it can is really nice.

My biggest issue is still docking as it’s not only doing it on the carpet. But under a Furniture piece. The 2 front legs are about 3 feet apart that it has to go between to get to the dock. The Roomba could do it. If the Wyze can dock, it can do it. But it does tend to move around. The Wyze does its spin to backup, just hits it, and then pulls away once again over and over. Sometimes it makes it. I need to make something that will firm it up to the wall so it doesn’t move around. I have it dock here as it’s out of the way. I don’t have the Wyze just sticking out from a wall to get tripped over or stepped on, or something like that.

#8

Same backing up docking issue here, failed docking, rinse, repeat. Almost daily it will run itself out of batteries trying to dock itself.

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#9

I have this same problem. It never has a problem finding the dock, and can always back itself up to the charging contacts (although it is usually crooked), but it almost always decides it needs to move away and try again. Sometimes the status will even update and say it is charging before it moves away. This is a big problem.

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#10

I’ve glued the charger down with double-sided tape. I can see the vac back up and I can see the contacts retract, but it still doesn’t recognize that it is connected. After many tries it usually succeeds. I’ve tried wiping the contacts on the charger with a damp rag just before docking, and that might help as it has docked on the next try a few times.

#11

You didn’t glue the charger down if you used double sided take. You used double sides tape to hold it in place. I think a better option is Velcro. I buy large rolls of this stuff and use it for all kinds of things. I have some ideas I just haven’t had the time yet to try. Right now I have it temp rigged where it can generally get it around the 3rd try. I also have mine where it’s parked under furniture, and the 2 front legs are kind of close. So not a lot of room for mistakes. Generally though it’s not an issue.

#12

I may have resolved the docking problem. I cleaned the contacts with a strong spray cleaner on both the vacuum and the dock. For the past 6 runs it has docked on the first try.

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#13

@PDCLarry what did you use to clean it with?

#14

I used a generic “orange” spray cleaner from my supermarket (Shoprite). I sprayed it on a paper towel (to avoid getting it into the device insides), then wiped it over it several times. My guess is that there is an oily residue on the contacts from manufacturing, and just wiping the contacts (which I tried also) isn’t sufficient. Either that, or I’ve just gotten lucky.

What drove me to try this I I noticed that when I positioned it manually it frequently wouldn’t contact, either, so it wasn’t just an issue of the vacuum finding the charger.

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#15

We’ve been using canned air to clear the contacts on the dock and the robot

So, this is a clear design flaw in that dust or debris as it vacuum can impact contact and prevent proper docking and charging

Not much I think is possible now but I hope they fix it in future versions

I’m going to try anti static wipe as well

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#16

I ended up fixing the problem by using a little piece of rubber flooring to make a home base mat for the vacuum. Now it has no problem docking with the charger. Wyze needs to work on the docking code so it can dock while on carpet.

#17

That’s a pretty good idea. Of course, Wyze could have made a dock that had a wider base and maybe some weight to it so it would stay in place.

#18

I just bought a second vacuum to use in a cabin and am having the same problem. Our carpet is fairly “cushy” due to the type of padding as well as the type of carpet. In watching the unsuccessful connection attempts it looks like the weight of the vacuum is causing the heavy vacuum to ride lower than the light charging station, which is causing the contacts not to meet. In fact, when I push the charging station down by hand, the “mating” works fine. It seems to me that the contacts should have been made wider to take into account various types of carpet/padding together with the difference in weight between the charger and the vacuum. I will try the flooring idea, but I am not clear what you mean by rubber flooring. Do you mean a piece of linoleum or something like that?

#19

I had some extra flooring from building my basement gym. It is hard rubber flooring that provides a rigid surface and thin enough for the vacuum to get up on. I have had no problems with docking since doing this, works great. See attached pic.

PXL_20210509_161523800
PXL_20210509_1615238004032×3024 3.43 MB

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#20

Brilliant (and good looking match too!) That takes care of the misalignment due to different weights on the carpet. Thanks.

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