Roomba White Light: Blinking and Spinning | Why?

Did you buy your Roomba recently, and now you are puzzled by the tiny device’s several white lights and indicators? 

In this article, you can get all the details regarding the different white indicator lights on Roomba like pulsing white light, idle white clockwise swirl, periodic white sweep etc.

Keep reading to know more!

Why does My Roomba Have a White Light?

You can see the white light on Roomba on multiple occasions. It is one of the three indicator light colors on the device and indicates various statuses. 

To know why your device has a white light, you will also have to examine how the white light is moving. 

For example, it can be blinking slowly, rotating fast in a circle or solid white light glowing. Your Roomba has a white light when your device is fully charged, charging, starting or updating software.

You should go through our this post, if you are getting “Roomba Map Not Available” message.

What does it mean when a white light flashes or spins?

A spinning white light differs from a blinking white light in meaning. When your iRobot Roomba has a white light, you must first check whether it is blinking, spinning or glowing. 

Usually, the white light on the Roomba does not indicate any problem and indicates the vacuum’s status.

If you observe a certain type of movement of white light on your Roomba, you can refer directly to the table compiled here. The table below contains the white light’s many lighting patterns and their corresponding meanings.

Light Pattern	Light Moving Pattern Description	Meaning
	White light rotating clockwise.	Roomba is starting up or working on its software update.
	Solid White light.	Roomba is fully charged.
	White light blinking on Lower Half of the Ring.	Roomba is idle, charged and parked.
	White light spins and stays at 1/4 of the Ring.	Roomba’s battery is charged more than 15%, sufficiently enough to start cleaning.
	White light spinning to the one-third of Ring.	Roomba’s battery is 33% charged.
	White light spinning to the 1/2 of the Ring.	Roomba’ battery is 50% charged.
	White light spinning to the two-thirds (2/3) of Ring.	Roomba’s battery is 67% charged.
	White light spinning in almost complete circle.	Battery is charged over 85%.
	Waving White light from top left to the bottom right.	Roomba is busy performing its cleaning duties.

Other Light Colors That Roomba Glow 

The Roomba vacuum cleaners from iRobot have a fluorescent ring on the front or in the middle that changes colors and patterns depending on the various events. 

These indicator lights on a Roomba illuminate in different colors and patterns, each pattern denoting a certain function or current status of the device.

For example, the user may detect that the Roomba is presently charging by seeing the flashing white light.

The Roomba models’ have three main indicator light colors; white, red, and blue. It uses these colors to convey different messages.

Though the colors are only three, combined with various movement patterns, they represent more than 20 messages related to device functions and statuses.

Depending on the function it performs or the status your Roomba may be in, each color begins to glow in a distinct pattern; rotate, flash, or solid.

The three indicator colors may generally be divided into the following three groups of functions: 

• White lights indicate that the device performs a routine and normal procedure like full charging. 
• Flashing Blue light represent a distinct process like software updates that happens occasionally. 
• Pulsing Red light on the Roomba vacuum indicate a problem, like a low battery.

The light-indication mechanism of the older Roomba robot vacuum models was complicated, but the subsequent models had a streamlined version that eliminated the difficulty with these light indicators.

Light Color When There is a Problem With the Robot Vacuum Cleaner

The red indicator light indicates the errors and warnings on your iRobot Roomba. For example, If the Roomba’s LED is solid red, you will get an error code, meaning that your robot vacuum is experiencing a certain problem.

To know what exactly this problem is, tap ‘Clean’ button. You will get the cause of the issue, and you can proceed with the proper troubleshooting steps.

Another type of error signal is red light sweeping forward. 

The error indicates that the trash can is full; therefore, you must empty it. 

Clean out the dirt and debris by removing the iRobot Roomba’s trash can. Check to see if the red-light issue has been resolved after emptying bin. 

You can give the Roomba a single restart if problems persist.

Summary

The white light blinking on iRobot Roomba indicates that your robot vacuum cleaner is plugged into its charging station, and its battery is getting charged.

If spinning in a clockwise direction, the same white light means that the Roomba is either starting up or updating the device’s software.

Other than spinning and blinking, there are other motions of the white light as well, such as when the battery is fully charged, a solid white light stays on.

On Wi-Fi enabled models, the iRobot HOME App shows any errors clearly for your convenience.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does white light on Roomba mean?

What white light means on Roomba depends upon how it is moving or glowing.
If the white light is solidly glowing without any movement, it is signalling that the battery of the robot vacuum cleaner is fully charged.

If the white light is pulsing rather than glowing continuously, it is still charging. When the white light rotates clockwise, it starts or updates the software.

What color is Roomba light when charging?

After iRobot Roomba is plugged into the charging station, it starts charging with the indicator light on its base illuminating in a pulsating manner. The white light starts glowing solidly when the charging is complete, and the battery is full.

Should the light on the Roomba base be on?

The light on the Roomba base does not remain continuously on. It goes on for a few seconds when Roomba returns to dock at the base, and it makes contact with the metal contacts, but it turns off shortly after and while the Robot vacuum cleaner is charging, it doesn’t stay on.

How do I know if my Roomba needs a new battery?

You should consider replacing your Roomba battery with a new one in these situations:

• If, after restarting, the battery performance remains unchanged
• Roomba gives Poor performance even after maintenance, 
• Roomba cannot turn on the power light,
• The device has limited running duration because of the battery and suffers an early power loss.