Marc's Blog: computers - Keeping Track of How Much Your Roomba is Really Working

2013/12/09 Keeping Track of How Much Your Roomba is Really Working

π 2013-12-09 00:00 in Computers, Linuxha

I have had roombas with a scheduler that sends it to work, or often send my roomba to work just before leaving somewhere, but my old Roomba used to get lazy when no one was around to watch it, and would get back to its charger quickly.

With my new roomba, I even setup 3 zones with virtual walls, and I really wanted to have an idea how long my roomba went out to see how much work it was doing and how its battery was doing over time.

In the end, I ended up using a DS10A door/window sensor and glued a magnet on top of my roomba, which closes the contact when it goes back to its dock. I then have misterhouse code that kept track of how long I left my doors opened to also keep track of my roomba and long it goes to work, as well as warn me if it doesn't make it back to its dock after too many hours:

My mailbox now shows:

Chg: Roomba Just Left                                    
Chg: Roomba Just Returned after 41.1 mn                  
Chg: Roomba Just Left                                    
ChgTmr: Roomba Left longer than 300 mn                   
Chg: Roomba FINALLY Returned after 2881.1 mn

That way, I know when the timer worked, how long my roomba worked, and whether it got stuck somewhere or not. Ok, it'snot perfect, it would be nice to know when it crossed the zones, and how long it ran before getting stuck. This sounds a lot more involved though, maybe later.

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