Roborock Side Brush Not Spinning? Here’s the Fix

A Roborock is equipped with a side-sweeping brush designed to gather dust and dirt from corners and edges. The side brush, which is also known as a corner brush, pushes the dirt towards the suction channel of the robot vacuum. However, sometimes the Roborock side brush can stop spinning. Here’s why:

The Roborock side brush may not spin if there is an accumulation of gunk beneath it, or there is a software issue. Unscrew the side brush and clean the housing. Then, perform a soft reset. If the side brush does not spin after this, replace the Roborock side brush motor.

Remember, dust and dirt would no longer be collected by the Roborock when its side brush does not rotate properly. If the side brush is not spinning, take the time to fix the issue immediately.

Why Roborock side brush not spinning

A Roborock side brush is not spinning because there is gunk underneath the side brush, the side brush motor has lost its power, or there is a software issue. Here’s what you need to do to fix the problem:

1. Gunk underneath the side brush

The side brush is screwed on the underside of the Roborock. As the robot does its job and collects dust from your house, fine particles will start to accumulate beneath the side brush.

Once the housing of the side brush is packed with gunk, the side brush won’t be able to spin properly. You will need to remove the side brush and clear the housing from all the debris.

To do this, unscrew the Roborock side brush with a Phillips screwdriver. Pick up anything you see from underneath the side brush. Often, it is neglected and full of gunk, including strands of hair.

Once the housing is clean, replace the Roborock side brush and screw it back into place. Make sure the side brush is installed correctly, otherwise it cannot rotate as well as it is supposed to.

2. Side brush motor has lost its power

I’ve noticed the side brush not spinning issue on my Roborock S5 Max. The side brush will spin freely at times, but then at other times the motor stops and the brushes get dragged under the robot.

This may be the first indication that you need to change the motor to the side brush because the Roborock side brush motor has lost its strength. I bought a new motor for the side brush and that fixed the issue.

The Roborock side brush is powered by a small motor. It is hidden underneath the robot’s cover. Once the side brush motor is too old, worn, or damaged, it won’t have enough juice to rotate the side brush.

To fix this issue, buy the Roborock replacement side brush motor and change the old one. If you’re not confident, take your Roborock to the repair shop and ask a mechanic to do it for you.

3. Software issue

Roborock is designed to turn off the side brush if it detects the side brush is caught in something (like carpet, for example). However, this behavior is random. Sometimes the side brush spins, other times it doesn’t.

To get to the bottom of this, I’ve explored many forums and discovered that it’s because of the wiring stuff done wrong around the side brush motor. Either the hardware or the software are somehow detecting all the time there's resistance in the motor, indicating the side brush is stuck, so the safety mechanism stops it.

The problem is, the robot never resets the “signal detection" so its side brush is stuck in the forced stop mode. Unfortunately, the only solution is to perform a soft reset and hope for the best.

Bottom line

And there you have it, the complete breakdown of why the Roborock side brush is not spinning. This issue often happens to Roborock S5 and S6. Clean the side brush and do a soft reset. If both actions still do not fix the issue, you will need to replace the side brush motor with a new one.

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