Why Does Your Roomba Start Randomly?

The Roomba vacuum was designed to take the floor maintenance load off your plate. This small disc-shaped appliance will glide through your home regularly throughout the day, so your floors never feel dusty or grainy.

But what does it mean when your Roomba starts a cleaning cycle off of schedule?

Here are some explanations of why your robot vacuum might start when you least expect it to:

Roombas are smart vacuums that rely on a schedule you set through the app. This way, you can anticipate when your Roomba will start to clean, letting you work its performance around the activities in your home.

Running their Roomba when everyone is away is the best time for most people.

So what would cause a Roomba to start cleaning off of schedule? No, this is not the beginning of some creepy robot vacuum uprising. It’s probably just an error with your settings.

Reasons Why Your Roomba Starts Randomly

1. Resuming an Unfinished Cycle

Your Roomba will return to its base if it runs out of battery during a cleaning cycle. It will charge in the base for the next few minutes or hours until it’s full.

Your Roomba will resume the unfinished cleaning cycle when juicing up. This may make it appear that your Roomba has started on its own at random.

If you’ve got a big space, it’s not unlikely that your Roomba will run out of batter mid-cycle. In this case, you might consider adding a few more bases around your home so it can recharge wherever it finds itself.

This might also indicate a depleted battery health. However, replacing the battery can provide your Roomba enough power to clean your space without charging.

2. Clock Settings

Your Roomba may seem to start at random because its clock is not set to the proper time. To fix this error, reset the time on your Roomba.

The methods for changing the time on your robot vacuum may vary from model to model. Make sure to check your manual to find out how to do it.

Sometimes, you may have to press and hold certain buttons on the unit to clear the time and set the clock and date. Others let you adjust these settings through the dedicated application.

3. Schedule Settings

Maybe you thought you set your Roomba to run at a certain time, but you input the wrong hours. It happens. Before you consider your Roomba broken or malfunctioning, consider the possibility that you set the wrong schedules.

Check the mobile app to see what times and days your Roomba has been programmed to operate. You can change the schedules through the app to get your Roomba running when you want it to.

4. Damage and Failure

Inside your Roomba is various electronic boards and wires that send signals and electrical currents to enable and disable various functions.

Any damage to these electronic parts can result in an undesirable performance, including a sudden change in your Roomba’s operating schedules.

You’ll notice that the problem could be electronic if the Roomba shows other signs of potential damage.

These include:

• Taking longer to charge or not charging at all.
• Some buttons on the unit can’t be pressed.
• Ghost presses various buttons and controls.
• Changes in settings even without human intervention.
• Jerky, buggy, malfunctioning vacuum performance.

While you might be able to get your unit repaired, these electronic damages may warrant a total replacement. Have your unit serviced and consider the advice of your trusted repair technician.

Summary

Your Roomba relies on your schedules and settings for all of its operations. So if it starts to run independently, you should know there’s a problem.

Fortunately, most of these issues can be fixed by tweaking just a few settings. But if push comes to shove, don’t think twice about having your Roomba inspected by a technician.