Severin RB7025, Dirt Devil Spider (M607)

This page needs a lot of tidying up.

Severin RB7025 and Dirt Devil Spider (M607) are identical[1].

There is also a chance that Dirt Devil Libero (M606) is quite similar.

In terms of custom firmware, these are the most hopeless vacuum cleaners that could ever be found.

Description

Let's list some of the problems:

Basically, that's enough to understand that any further reverse-engineering is a waste of time. But here is a pinout anyway:

Pinout

Pin Type Function pullup/pulldown active Comment
1out green LED high
2in bumper or sensor +5V low
3out buzzer requires PWM, also 1-pin connector on the board is connected here
4power VDD
5in battery low +5V
6out vacuum and side brushes high
7in top lid
8out left wheel forward high
9out left wheel back high
10?battery charged probably input, when charging “high” means “charged”
11power VSS
12out right wheel back high
13out right wheel forward high
14out red led also connected to unpopulated port, no idea what these port do (both are connected together)

Some “pullup/pulldown” and “active” cells are empty. Filling those has no practical value because nobody is going to attempt to reflash it anyway (and if somebody does, you will probably figure it out yourself).

Photos:

https://files.progarm.org/severin.zip

Comments:

Port 10 is likely output, since pulling it HIGH stops charging. The charging cycle doesn't stop by itself.

I guess ports 5 (batt low) and 14 (red led) could be shorted, so that low battery means the corresponding led turns on. On the other hand, keeping pin 5 connected to a microprocessor means you can start the return-home-procedure.

-- Thijsmans 2018-06-13 20:37 UTC

I think you are overly harsh. Sure, the Dirt Devil is cheap and basic, but if anything it makes it more suitable to hack. I replaced its chip with a WEMOS D1-D2 to give it wifi (http://paijmans.net/Dirtdevil) and the next step will be a LOLIN32 so I can add IR capabilities, some more bumperswitches and use all the inputs... wish me luck!

-- paai 2018-10-01 07:52 UTC

paai, I agree with you! This was written in context of this project, with the idea of creating a somewhat universal solution for many robotic vacuum cleaners. If the goal is to have a hackable robot platform, then perhaps it is indeed suitable. Thank you for your comment!

-- AlexDaniel 2018-10-02 20:55 UTC

As I see it, the Dirt Devil offers all you need for a robovac: it goes back and forth and it sucks (it sucks dirt, that is). So I don't have to do complicated engineering: it is all there.

I am not good at engineering or even electronics, but I am a good programmer. Adding extra bumperswitches, feelers, IR detectors, is relatvely easy. I can send the data to a PC to be processed or use the intelligence of the Arduino or whatever.

Only disadvantage: at ths moment the top of the Dirt Devil looks a bit like the roof of the CIA building with all extra IR stuff that I attached to it.

Paai

-- paai 2018-10-05 19:32 UTC

If you are still reading the comments, the Dirt Devil has been hibernating on the top of a cupboard for some time. But with Corona and lockdown I needed a new distraction and now I am replacing the WEMOS that is based on the esp8266 with a LOLIN32, which is based on the esp32 and which has a lot more pins to attach stuff to.

-- paai 2020-10-31 15:30 UTC

Interesting! Thanks for getting back :)

This website has been doing fine for many years, until it was trashed with spam in 2021. I'm restoring everything now, but I'd probably have to lock it for the time being while the aggressive spam attack is going.

-- AlexDaniel 2022-04-02 11:23 UTC