Neato plugin question

[mikee123]

I am currently testing the Neato PI, installed yesterday and its found my robot, shows the maps. I can also send a start or stop which is working. What isnt working is the Dock command. I guess it might not be supported with my robot ? I have the BotVac D5 connected.

[stefxx]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for evaluating my plugin! I do not own a D5, but I noticed that on another Connected model, I needed to Pause first, before it would Dock. Can you test if that works for you?

I guess I could build this into the plugin so it would automatically Pause before it attempts to Dock. It would be great if a D3 owner could test the same so I know which models needs this.

Thanks!

[mikee123]

I will test tonight and let you know.

[mikee123]

Pressing pause, the dock will send the BotVac back to base. Even though it has docked, the status in the PI is undocked. I had the same yesterday, then 5 Minutes later the status changed to docked. All other feedback from the bot seems to be fairly instant though.

The problem with the docking status could be me. I had moved the charging base by a few inches. I could not get it to charge, no matter how I moved the BotVac (I pushed it back into charging position, at least thats what I tried to do). I then turned it off and on again. Then it lost WiFi. So had to delete it from the app, and completely set up again. This happened before when I moved it from one floor to another with its base. It obviously doesnt like its base being moved... still learing as I only has it since yesterday. Seems a bit temperamental....

[stefxx]

Good to know that pausing first makes the docking work. I will try to implement something in the next version that will avoid pausing first.

About the 5 minute delay, not sure why that happens. On the models I have available, the status is updated within seconds. Can you share your frequency settings with me (on the plugin config page, for state, settings and map)?

If your frequency settings are not really off, and we really want to get to the bottom of this, I need debugging info. Please enable debug and capture just before you press the "Dock" button until the status changes to "Docked". That might be to much to post on the board, so PM me and I'll give you an email address to send it to.

Thanks again!

[Vladimirkousa]

I just installed plug-in and trying to set-up Neato D7 bot.
I am having issue with step #3 "Generate security token"

May-14 11:58:39 AM Neato Failed To Get token: Attempted to access a missing member

I started over several times, but no success yet.

Regards,
Vladi

[stefxx]

Hi,

- Did step 1 and step 2 ran successful?
- Did you successfully register the D7 on the Neato website? (can you please doublecheck to see if the registration is complete and all required fields are completed?)
- Can you try to start over from step 1?

If it still fails, please PM me a screenshot of the first config page (with all the keys) so I can look into this a bit further.

Thanks!

[mikee123]

The problem with teh docking status could be me. Mine doesnt seem to like when I take it off the dock and try to dock it manually. I will get in touch with Neato and ask them what is best when you move it away from the dock to eitehr clean it, or clean another floor and want to dock it again afterwards. Doesnt seem as easy and just push it into the dock. (I tried but it would not start charging or display docking)
If there is stil an issue after I will try enable debug and send you the logs.

[Vladimirkousa]

The problem with teh docking status could be me. Mine doesnt seem to like when I take it off the dock and try to dock it manually. I will get in touch with Neato and ask them what is best when you move it away from the dock to eitehr clean it, or clean another floor and want to dock it again afterwards. Doesnt seem as easy and just push it into the dock. (I tried but it would not start charging or display docking)
If there is stil an issue after I will try enable debug and send you the logs.

Ha-ha...
Good luck with talking to Neato customer support...
They are located in Ireland and are not that technical. I spent about 8 hours with them (2 problematic robots, first was sent back for exchange and second has different issues). They will go with you per their check list, including cleaning sensors, checking wheels etc. Mine was right from the box, but I was forced to go thru std procedure. In the end, "0" help

Vladi

[stefxx]

The problem with teh docking status could be me. Mine doesnt seem to like when I take it off the dock and try to dock it manually. I will get in touch with Neato and ask them what is best when you move it away from the dock to eitehr clean it, or clean another floor and want to dock it again afterwards. Doesnt seem as easy and just push it into the dock. (I tried but it would not start charging or display docking)
If there is stil an issue after I will try enable debug and send you the logs.

When I take my Neato upstair and need to dock it manually again, I put the Neato about 10 cm from the dock and push it gently to the dock until the battery icon starts flashing. That confirms that the docking was successful.

Also, I released a new version today that should enable docking without pausing first. If you have the time to test, that would be great.

Thanks!

[mikee123]

The dock function works perfectly now. One thing I noticed. After the PI upgrade, my hoover did not react any more to commands from the device nor did they update. Looking in the PI settings, there was no robot listed any more (on page 1), but it was still under robots. Deleting it and rediscover did not find any robots. All I could do to get it back was to re authorise the PI, go through all the setup steps and then it was discovered.

[stefxx]

Mike,

Good to know the docking issue is resolved. However, "loosing" the robot is not how it should be off course. Let me know if this happens again. After every restart of the plugin and/or HS3 it will attempt to renew the token and refresh the robot list, so something might have gone wrong there.

FYI, on the first config page, it shows the actual detected robots. The second page is based on the available HS3 devices. I already added an "Active" column to the second page to indicate if the robot(s) shown are still detected and responding to commands. If the issue of Vladi is resolved (currently in test) I will release this version. It contains a few other fixes as well.

Thanks!

[mikee123]

I'll see with the next update. Not a major issue more an inconvenience. I like the PI, so I have bought it today.

[stefxx]

I'll see with the next update. Not a major issue more an inconvenience.

I updated the plugin today, it is available in the updater. Let me know if the issue re-occurs. I strongly suggest to stop the plugin before updating, as the update is likely to fail if you don't stop it first. That might contribute to the problem as well.

This update is mainly about fixing small issues, as well as fixing the authorization issue reported by Vladi (on Linux).

[mikee123]

What does is the difference between NavigationMode 'extra care' and 'normal' ?
Also what does the modifier device do ('normal' vs 'double') ?