How to Troubleshoot A Tapo Robot Vacuum When It Won't Pick Up Debris Fully

In case your robot vacuum fails to effectively pick up hair, dirt, and debris, this article offers helpful tips to ensure your robot vacuum operates at its best while cleaning.

Before you start cleaning

To ensure your robot vacuum operates efficiently, be sure that you do the following checks before cleaning.

• Open All Interior Doors so your Robot Vacuum can explore.
• Pick up any loose objects or potential obstacles like wires, clothing, and plastic bags.
• Do not pick up or move the Robot Vacuum during cleaning.
• Roll Away any high-pile carpeting before cleaning.
• Charge your robot vacuum until the battery level is over 20% (the Dock LED will pulse orange).

1. Clean the Brushes, Filter, and Dustbin of your Robot Vacuum

It's important to regularly clean the robot's brushes, filter, and dustbin for better performance at cleaning. Follow some tips to keep your cleaning parts in good condition:

• Remove debris or hairs from the main brush to prevent possible blocking.
• Remove hair that is tangled on the Side Brush.
• Clean the dust and debris off the Filter.
• Empty the Dustbin and change Dust Bag.

Ensure the dustbin entrance is not clogged. If your robot vacuum has an Auto Emptying Dock, please check to see if the Dust Bag is overfilled and replace the bag.

Relevant FAQs to clean parts of the Robot:

• How to Clean the Main Brush of My Robot Vacuum
• How to Clean the Filter of My Robot Vacuum
• How to Clean the Dustbin of My Robot Vacuum
• How to Replace the Dust Bag of My Robot Vacuum (RV30 Plus/RV10 Plus)

2. Put away the objects that are not suitable for the Robot

Robot Vacuums are ideal for picking up most hairs, dust, and small debris. However, there are some items that are not suitable for the robot such as:

Bottle caps, pet droppings, large pieces of tissue paper, plastic bags, or other things that cannot pass through the brush or suction mouth of a vacuum due to their size or shape.

3. Choose higher suction power

Four Separate Suction Powers are supported by the Tapo App. If the robot vacuum is having difficulty picking up some types of debris, try increasing the suction power from the app:

From the Tapo APP –>Tap on Your Robot Vacuum > Slide Up on the Device Page > Vacuum Power > Quiet, Standard, Turbo, and Max

4. Use ‘Spot Cleaning to clean particularly dirty or sticky places

The Spot Cleaning Feature allows the Robot Vacuum to specifically clean a dirty or sticky area, such as the kitchen or dining room, by placing the vacuum in the area, and enabling spot cleaning. The robot vacuum will begin to clean the specific area around the robot.

To Set Up Spot Cleaning:

Open the Tapo App > Tap on Your Robot Vacuum > Tap the Options Menu at the Top Right > Settings > Spot Cleaning

5. Block off the areas that you do not want it to go

There are some areas you probably prefer to keep the vacuum away like places that can easily cause the robot to get jammed or stuck. Fortunately, Tapo Robot Vacuums offer various methods of  setting barriers and isolating areas in which you do not want the vacuum to travel or clean.

For RV10 Series: Use the magnetic strip(sold separately) to outline the specific area where you want to prevent the robot to go
For RV30 Series: With the added Lidar navigation, you can set No-Go Zones with the Maps feature.

FAQ: How to Set Blocked Areas Using No-Go Zones and Virtual Walls for Robot Vacuums

6. Replace any Worn Out or Excessively Dirty Parts

For optimal cleaning performance, make sure to maintain the brushes and parts of the robot or replace the parts as recommended in the usage time in the manual. This will help to guarantee the optimal cleaning performance and overall life span of the vacuum.

*Replacement frequency may vary depending on the actual situation. Parts should be replaced if visible wear appears, regardless of the timing of the last replacement.

# If the Robot vacuum is Not Picking Up All the Hair or Debris:

The most common reason is an overfilled dustbin or the brushes getting tangled by the hair, try cleaning the parts of the robot, removing any visible debris, and untangling the brush.
Hairs set deep in the carpet may be challenging for the robot to remove, in this case, we recommend loosening the hair from the carpet or shaking the carpet before starting the cleaning process.

# If the Robot Vacuum Has No Suction Power:

If the robot vacuum does not appear to be suctioning anything from the floor surface, check to see if the entrance to the dustbin is blocked by debris. If the entrance is not blocked and there are no other visible signs of failure, please reach out to our support teams with a video of the vacuum’s behavior.