My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

redlough

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119430572#Comment_119430572

Yes, I thought it was Irish company so need to go back to drawing board.....maybe I just need to buy the Worx battery

https://mybuildingsupplies.ie/shop/tools-hardware/tools/power-tools/power-tool-batteries-chargers/20v-worx-power-share-battery-4ah/

redlough

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119430572#Comment_119430572

Was wondering what height you have the mower at? I have at 50

Happy_Harry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119431407#Comment_119431407

Whilst searching for feedback on Dutch sites yesterday - came across a B&Q kind of store in Holland selling the 6Ah for €99 or the 4Ah for €60.. tempted to wait but now also not sure I can take it on a plane at all. May have some friends coming over with a camper van though :)

Happy_Harry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119431481#Comment_119431481

The highest at present - 60. Like I said my lawn is very thick with thatch and I think if I would cut lower it would look very yellow very quickly.. I will use this weekend to do a bit of raking with an electric rake and potentially scarify after, but it always make my lawn look like a mess for months..

redlough

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119431719#Comment_119431719

I ran the tractor over it first and took off a huge amount of grass. With the spikes on the wheels they are supposed to act like an aerator so hopefully will get a nicer garden with constant cutting etc

Was going to wait till spring and top up with grass seed as well

On the battery I think I will just buy from "mybuildingsupplies", already down 40 quid so might as well go with safer option

Happy_Harry

I have decided to start cutting it a bit lower so now at 50, and indeed the thatch is more visible, just couldn't get myself to the back- and heartbreaking job of scarifying, promised myself I will do that next spring.. Maybe I will cut it to 40 next week or so once the hot weather has passed.

BTW - I added 2 kg of diving weight at the back of the mower and 1 kg in the battery compartment. For 2 days now no more need to rescue the wee fecker because of stuck or outside boundary errors. Downside is the drain on the battery - noticed up to 20% reduction of mowing time.

Zenith74

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119350529#Comment_119350529

Just thought I'd follow-up on this in-case somebody else is thinking the same thing. In the end I went with a 430X from Donegan's in Cavan who came and installed it yesterday, €500incVAT to bury about 600m of perimeter/guide wires and leave the mower charging ready to mow. To go with the Husqvarna installation kits and install it myself it would have cost €500 for the kits, then the time to install myself (quite a bit of guide wire would needed to have been buried even if I left the perimeters on the surface). Going with a non-Husqvarna roll of wire (referenced in this thread) and stakes I'd guess I'd have got the parts for €200-250 but still had to install it. So I think the installation service is well worth it tbh, all done in less than two hours.

FWIW I have a 1m wide passage way down behind a garage that the mower is having no problem navigating, perimeter wires down both sides of it and guide down the centre.

Pique

Does the mower not come supplied with the guide wires etc.?

witnessmenow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119337447#Comment_119337447

Well we have one of my answers, the classic 500 stopped working last week. Everything looks fine, no errors, It just doesn't start mowing, even if I manually try start it. Amazon have said they will refund me for it if I return it (they will also refund me for return postage) , but I have contacted Yardforce first to see if they have any suggestions.

Thud

Worx shortcut(s)

I hadn’t seen this and thought it might be of interest to Worx owners, if you have the off limits module installed you can add shortcut or multiple shortcuts to send mower home by just laying two small seqments of the magnetic strip across the boundary wire, i havent tried it yet but will report back when i’ve set it up

https://wiki.worx.com/en/shortcut

EletricMan

Anyone know what's the run time on the 315x. Only have mine set up this week. Seems to be only 20mins from when it leaves the doc to when its back charging again. Seems to spend more time on charge than anything else. Also it returns with 35% battery left.

oleras

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119525253#Comment_119525253

Have you tried a factory reset ?

https://support.yardforce.eu/en/support/solutions/articles/80000430488-how-do-i-do-a-factory-reset-on-my-robot-mower

Bedouin79

Lads anyone servicing Ambrogio mowers in cork. Not the guy the in the mallow they are just a sakes team and not a great one.

on a second note anyone have a problem last week with the major thunder and lightning.

KCross

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119534677#Comment_119534677

on a second note anyone have a problem last week with the major thunder and lightning.

I haven't had any problems recently but I was advised for my Husqvarna to use a surge protector as the docking station is somewhat weak to power surges as well as the power supply itself. I've had both replaced at this stage but not since I started using the surge protection.

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119530621#Comment_119530621

I have a 315 and usually get about an hour of cutting before it returns to base. Mine will always head back at about 35% too, think that's standard. Is yours working particularly hard to cut very high grass? That might partially explain the short cutting time, but it still seems way too short.

bauney

Keep us posted on how the grass looked and recovered after lowering the cutting height.

I have a similar problem with lots of thatch grass. Once I cut it lower that 6 (husky 430x) its noticeable yellow.

I find that if I ruffle the green grass by hand or run about with football shoes (kids) then alot the grass will be uplifted and exposes alot of yellow grass e.g. too much thatch

bauney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119444294#Comment_119444294

Keep us posted on how the grass looked and recovered after lowering the cutting height.

I have a similar problem with lots of thatch grass. Once I cut it lower that 6 (husky 430x) its noticeable yellow.

I find that if I ruffle the green grass by hand or run about with football shoes (kids) then alot the grass will be uplifted and exposes alot of yellow grass e.g. too much thatch

Thud

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119528115#Comment_119528115

The shortcut works very well and is very easy to set up, two strips of magnet and four pegs.

my one issue with the Landroid was it getting stuck on corners of the boundary wire due to it wearing down the grass on the corners. I hard turned off zones and border cut to reduce it, hopefully this will help further

EletricMan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119535002#Comment_119535002

What cutting height is yours at? I had mine set a 4, I have moved it to 7 now. I cut the lawn with a ride on before I set it off for the first time. It has been cutting now a week today. From 8am to midnight.

Bedouin79

Yeah just upgraded to a surge protector had the same problems as yourself. Appreciate the feed back

Happy_Harry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119535139#Comment_119535139

Cutting it lower to 50 was the worst decision I made this year.. As expected it went yellow due to the thatch, but worse is that since a few weeks most of the grass is not growing anymore, especially in the spots with loads of thatch.. I put some fertiliser on and hope for the best. I have now decommissioned the robot.. want all the grass to grow so it greens over , then I will use lawnmower to give it a nice high cut. Then the robot can go back to 60..

Obviously I need to have a proper scarification done, but that is for next spring..

On an aside, I did manage in mean time to get the robot to cross my gravel driveway ( 5-6m).. Quite chuffed with that 😎 Now need to make some custom traffic signs to alert people to the wee fecker crossing..

J@yK@y

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119541410#Comment_119541410

I would be interested to see how you managed to cross the gravel driveway. I have a Worx Landroid on order and face a similar challenge. Thank you!

Zardoz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119444294#Comment_119444294

September is a good time to scarify, there should be good grass growth there once it cools down a bit.

Mid September should be ideal and you don't have germinating weeds to contend with like you do in Spring.

Happy_Harry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119551184#Comment_119551184

Thanks for the tip.Unfortunately I will be away for a few weeks... also I have spent enough time with my lawn in the past months.. bit sick of it to be honest.. Looking for new energy and motivation next spring. I may also look to re-do the whole lawn, as the soil has never been great, and I had a new lawn installed in the back garden on new soil and absolutely love the look of it ...

Happy_Harry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119542738#Comment_119542738

I made mine cross where the the gravel has compacted .. about 5 foot from where the road is- my road has very little traffic (cul-de sac with one neighbour past my house). Hired a kango and dug 2 trenches of about 3 inches deep,8 inches apart.

I had some black pipe (1.5 ") left so I used it up as a duct, used normal insulated 2 core cable ( in case one breaks, have a spare at the ready..). Pipe in about 2-3 inches under surface, fill around with sand/cement mix, used some of the gravel to bed into the sand/cement mix. Then connected it all up and it works !

I did try with just cable under the gravel just to try it out and that the robot would recognise it as a "tunnel" and not a lawn area.

You can see the robot is not filled with joy going over it or back, but he does it still. I guess the key is not to have too deep loose gravel where you want it to cross.

Zenith74

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119489240#Comment_119489240

No. I guess you might already have guide wires down from a previous unit, or you might need 100m or 1000m, you might need pegs to do it surface laid or not if burying it etc. And it's a nice way for them to charge a few quid more without increasing the price of the mower.

brokenangel

Anyone know, I have a Landroid flying away at the moment. I want to give to my parents so I bought myself a cheap SA650 Yard force. I had one before but had to cancel

Just wondering will the wire I have down for the landroid work with the Yard force?

corcadorcha

Now that we are coming to the end of the cutting season. Has anybody seen any deals on a decent robot lawnmower for around a 600/700m lawn? I’m still it sure what to get and would like to have it setup for next spring… The mower needs to get along a small path to part itself if possible

Thanks

Happy_Harry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119541410#Comment_119541410

A bit of fertiliser, lots of rain and warm weather did green up the lawn quite well.. Robot is now fully set up with zones and happily cuts my grass without any interference.. long may it last..

blast06

Hi, i have a McCulloch R1000 for 2 years. Couldn't fault it, does a great job.

A battery problem today though where it permanently displays "Charging" and can't even see how it has progressed. If i drag it off the docking station, the battery seems to be fully flat as it won't even turn on.

Anyone experience anything similar ? I presume i just need to get a new battery ?

This is a pain as i fertilised the lawn a week ago and it's now 'Augusta-fairway' green and looking perfect. Mower hasn't been working for (i'd say) 2 days and it will now be mid next week before i get a new battery delivered so will have to cut it with a normal mower early at some stage which means it doesn't get re-fed with a weeks worth of rich grass cuttings 🤬 #FirstWorldProblems