Dolphin backing into walls and getting stuck.

[GaryParr]

It seems Captain Carl (my Active 30) has taken to backing up to walls and, well, staying there. I took a short video to demonstrate...

Drunk Captain Carl Video

He basically just tries to back through the wall for 15 minutes or so before finally getting himself out, at which point he just backs into a different wall and hangs out there for 15 minutes. This didn't happen when I got him, only started within the past couple of days as far as I know.

Anyone know how to snap the little guy out of this?

 

[cowboycasey]

I just got an active 60 last week, it sure looks like they changed the design of the rear scrubber wheel for the 60.. mine has 2 little 1/2 inch foam round pieces connected to it.. it says it is used for climbing the walls...

I can not tell from the pictures on the Maytronics site for the Active 30 but I do not see it on your video..

Here is mine..



You can call and Marina pool and get the parts.. Looks like you would need 2 each of 34 and 36 to retrofit yours..

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[GaryParr]

That's interesting. My Active 30 is new this year, only a month or so old and supposedly the 2021 version. I wonder if those foam bits are one of the premium features you get with the 60. Anyway, here is a stupid question... does your 60 climb walls backwards? I would think the upwards-firing water jets on the 60 (the 30 only has one) would prevent that from happening just like it does on mine. At least, that's what seems to keep it from climbing walls backwards. If that jet wasn't on I'm sure it would go up... and then flip because nothing was holding it to the wall.

 

[SecoSteve]

I've had an Active30 new as well for about a month too. Mine never climbs the wall backwards, only forward. At least not in front of me. I've only seen the front of it out of the water at the waterline. I think mine knows when it's going backwards up the wall and stops. My wall/floor meeting point is more curved than yours, so maybe yours is not getting up the wall a little bit before going forward and "thinks" it's still moving backwards.

 

[GaryParr]

Yup, I've got some parts that are more curved due to the way the floor was dug out, but around the shallow end especially it's a bit more of a drastic transition like in the video. Every time it hits those going forwards it climbs just fine. When it was new, I'm pretty sure it would hit these spots going backwards and quickly realize what was happening and start moving forwards again. This whole "hang out and make one spot really really shiny" behavior seems relatively new.

 

[SecoSteve]

That's too bad. If that keeps up I'm worried you'll start to wear out the treads and rollers. Did you try to send that video to Maytronics and get their opinion?

 

[cowboycasey]

mine will back up the side about 45 degrees then stops and goes back forward... It looks like yours is trying to do the same thing but because of the transition and not getting traction it keeps trying thinking the pool got bigger somehow... I wonder if there is a time limit for going one way, once it hits that time it stops and reverses..

 

[GaryParr]

I did reach out to Maytronics support last week but haven't heard anything back from them. Interesting to note, I stopped Carl while he was stuck and then re-started his cleaning cycle without moving him. The first action of the startup self-test seems to be to run backwards for a couple feet. Since he couldn't actually go anywhere during that self-test, he moved forward and tried again. Since then, he seems to "understand" those situations and, for the last few cycles at least, hasn't gotten stuck for more than maybe 30 seconds. I'll keep and eye on him to see if this is a legit fix for the issue or just a fluke of good luck before it starts happening again.

 

[MITBeta]

In the video it looks like it's bouncing around a lot. I wonder if the pump impeller needs to be cleaned so that it can produce more down force and therefore more traction.

 

[GaryParr]

In the video it looks like it's bouncing around a lot. I wonder if the pump impeller needs to be cleaned so that it can produce more down force and therefore more traction.

That's a good thought, I'll look into it. My instinctive thinking is that the impeller is pushing down on the same end of Carl that is trying to climb, and that "bouncing" is due to the conflicting forces... it gets a little traction and starts to climb, but then the downward force of the impeller overcomes the friction and pushes him back down. Rinse and repeat. But, if the impeller was pushing out a little more force perhaps it would never get the traction to climb in the first place and thus make Carl aware that he's backed into a corner.