My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

Bluefoam

I'm not sure I'd like to cut the gate. There is a certain point where this could become a bigger project than necessary... I think cutting the gate is across that line.

Bluefoam

I'm not sure I'd like to cut the gate. There is a certain point where this could become a bigger project than necessary... I think cutting the gate is across that line.

KCross

Dr4gul4 wrote: »

Does anybody have safety concerns RE: theft. I googled a bit, but found no real detail

That comes up regular on this thread.
It's a concern, but no reported cases on here yet.

The mowers usually have a PIN that renders the mower useless to anyone else if its stolen and it has an alarm that goes off as soon as its lifted off the ground.

Neither are any use to you if the mower is gone but at least it has those deterrents.

The newer ones also have GPS locators so you can track it once it is robbed.

Dr4gul4 wrote: »

... or thought about building a modest garage to house their grass nipper yet I googled a bit, but found no real detail

Some people do that too. Not sure if that makes it less likely to be robbed as it will spend a large portion of the day out and about anyway but it all helps I suppose.

Recent post here where the owner put it under the deck... neat
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=109777890&postcount=1097

And another one here
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=104600392&postcount=332

denismc

Dr4gul4 wrote: »

Does anybody have safety concerns RE: theft and or thought about building a modest garage to house their grass nipper yet I googled a bit, but found no real detail

I went a Husqvarna exhibition recently and the main guy said they have had only 2 reports of stolen mowers out of the thousands they had sold in Ireland.

Apparantly one was stolen by one of the members of a well to do golf club in a bit of drunken shenanigans.
Maybe that was sales pitch, but they really are useless unless they take the charging station as well.

fanzhiyidan

I've bitten the bullet and ordered a Husqvarna 315x from a local dealer. Supply and install.
Decided against doing it myself in the end, combination of lack of time and the fear of not installing it correctly and tearing my hair out.

So, I've seen it mentioned that some people have been able to put an automower on their house insurance, any idea what companies will cover this (without it having to be housed in a garage) as my policy is up for renewal shortly.

KCross

fanzhiyidan wrote: »

So, I've seen it mentioned that some people have been able to put an automower on their house insurance, any idea what companies will cover this (without it having to be housed in a garage) as my policy is up for renewal shortly.

Zurich and 123.ie
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=109592250&postcount=992


Just ask them all I suppose if they will cover it. Just make sure you explain it's not just a "lawnmower". You need to tell them its outside and unsecured.

staples7

My home insurance is up this week, I had heard that Allianz cover robotic lawnmowers (I’m currently with them).they advised they will cover up to 5k if locked in shed. Out in the open up to 650. So not great really.

On a side note has anyone noticed that if automower is removed from lawn that gps will switch itself off after about 5 hours (regardless of battery power left) I’ve tried this 3 times with same result. On the map you will see something like ‘automower disconnected - last known location’

KCross

staples7 wrote: »

On a side note has anyone noticed that if automower is removed from lawn that gps will switch itself off after about 5 hours (regardless of battery power left) I’ve tried this 3 times with same result. On the map you will see something like ‘automower disconnected - last known location’

If you open the hatch (but dont enter PIN) does the GPS spring back into life?

I can understand the mower going into a sleep state after X hrs to ensure the battery doesnt go dead but opening the hatch usually brings it out of sleep mode.

I dont know if the GPS comes out of sleep though. Maybe its only the LCD panel fires up.

staples7

Ill try that out, if the misus is going shopping later in the week ill put automower in her car and see what I can track and for how long.

I know that switching unit off and on re-triggers GPS whenever I see an X next to mine on the dash. But I dont know if unit can be tracked with power switch off. I assume not. Ive a feeling that relying on the GPS alone for security is not a good idea

deadl0ck

I'm having terrible issues with my Robomow RS622 - it's about 3.5 years old.
Last October I had to put in a new battery as it was constantly battery balancing - seemed to be fine and worked away until I took it in.
Got it serviced for the winter and and when it got back from service it started battery balancing again (even though I had charged it up fully before the service).
Anyhow - it went out after 2 days of balancing for the first cut of the season (I had already mowed back the grass with my mother's ride-on) and it mowed for about half an hour and then couldn't find the wire signal.
I tried re-calibrating the wire sensors but it kept failing. I brought it back to the dealer - he replaced the front board (even though I had put in a front board under warranty about 1.5 years previously) and it seemed fine.
I got it home and the battery balancing started again - it went out eventually and mowed for about 30 minutes and stopped - looking for wire signal again.
Took it back to the dealer along with power box, charging head etc and he replaced the front board again.He checked it all with my full set up and all seemed good again.
Got it home last night and put it out - went 30 minutes and just stopped. I went over to it and it was dead - turning it on and off did nothing, but taking out the fuse reset it. I sent it back to base and it died again, this time removing the fuse did nothing. I put it back on charge and it came back to life.
I'm now talking to the dealer about a main board replacement, and a replacement of the wiring harness that connects everything to the main board. This is gonna be about 350 excluding VAT.
Getting really fed up with it - unreal for something that I paid over 2K for less than 4 years ago.
Any suggestions ?

Dr4gul4

denismc wrote: »

I went a Husqvarna exhibition recently and the main guy said they have had only 2 reports of stolen mowers out of the thousands they had sold in Ireland.

Apparantly one was stolen by one of the members of a well to do golf club in a bit of drunken shenanigans.
Maybe that was sales pitch, but they really are useless unless they take the charging station as well.

Time to fire up the cement mixer so, and build a fairly deep and stable house for the nipper... when he arrives

KCross

deadl0ck wrote: »

I'm having terrible issues with my Robomow RS622 - it's about 3.5 years old.
Last October I had to put in a new battery as it was constantly battery balancing - seemed to be fine and worked away until I took it in.
Got it serviced for the winter and and when it got back from service it started battery balancing again (even though I had charged it up fully before the service).
Anyhow - it went out after 2 days of balancing for the first cut of the season (I had already mowed back the grass with my mother's ride-on) and it mowed for about half an hour and then couldn't find the wire signal.
I tried re-calibrating the wire sensors but it kept failing. I brought it back to the dealer - he replaced the front board (even though I had put in a front board under warranty about 1.5 years previously) and it seemed fine.
I got it home and the battery balancing started again - it went out eventually and mowed for about 30 minutes and stopped - looking for wire signal again.
Took it back to the dealer along with power box, charging head etc and he replaced the front board again.He checked it all with my full set up and all seemed good again.
Got it home last night and put it out - went 30 minutes and just stopped. I went over to it and it was dead - turning it on and off did nothing, but taking out the fuse reset it. I sent it back to base and it died again, this time removing the fuse did nothing. I put it back on charge and it came back to life.
I'm now talking to the dealer about a main board replacement, and a replacement of the wiring harness that connects everything to the main board. This is gonna be about 350 excluding VAT.
Getting really fed up with it - unreal for something that I paid over 2K for less than 4 years ago.
Any suggestions ?

Maybe the new battery is a dud? It going dead and the reference to rebalancing sounds like the battery is a dud or not being charged properly.

The dealer needs to resolve it and doesnt seem to have a handle on it. Maybe try another dealer?

Is warranty gone at this point?

EDIT: Now that I read your post again.... I'd gamble its not charging properly and maybe your battery replacement last Oct wasnt required as 3yrs is a very short time for the battery to last. You should be getting twice that and more. The fact its doing the same thing again with the new battery suggests the charging is the issue.... does the board that has been replaced deal with charging? Have the other boards or parts (capacitors, inverters etc) that deal with charging been looked at?

deadl0ck

KCross wrote: »

Maybe the new battery is a dud? It going dead and the reference to rebalancing sounds like the battery is a dud or not being charged properly.

The dealer needs to resolve it and doesnt seem to have a handle on it. Maybe try another dealer?

Is warranty gone at this point?

EDIT: Now that I read your post again.... I'd gamble its not charging properly and maybe your battery replacement last Oct wasnt required as 3yrs is a very short time for the battery to last. You should be getting twice that and more. The fact its doing the same thing again with the new battery suggests the charging is the issue.... does the board that has been replaced deal with charging? Are the other boards or parts (capacitors, inverters etc) that deal with charging been looked at?

I'm pretty sure the front board and main board deal with charging.
Warrant was up middle of last year.

deadl0ck

KCross wrote: »

Have the other boards or parts (capacitors, inverters etc) that deal with charging been looked at?

No - nothing like that has been done as it seemed initially that new front board was fixing it

SchrodingersCat

Id agree with kcross here, I would look at the battery next and go to another dealer. Maybe a dodgy battery is causing the other intermittent issues that you are seeing. It sounds like this could be a difficult issue to track down. If you have an AM radio I would check and see if the guide wire is connected properly too.

deadl0ck

I took out the main board last night - it looks fine and all the pins look fine too. I put contact cleaner on all the pins and all the connectors on the loom. I also removed the front board and put contact cleaner on the loom connectors there. While I was at it I removed the 2 "spades" that connect the wires to the charger points and cleaned them too. Finally I put contact cleaner on the battery connectors also in case there was a bit of a dodgy connection there. So basically contact cleaner everywhere except the 2 wheel and 2 blade motor connections. I put it back together and stuck it on charge last night (bloody balancing the battery again). Anyhoo - I sent it out manually about 20 minis ago and it's working fine so far...so we'll see.....

SchrodingersCat

deadl0ck wrote: »

I took out the main board last night - it looks fine and all the pins look fine too. I put contact cleaner on all the pins and all the connectors on the loom. I also removed the front board and put contact cleaner on the loom connectors there. While I was at it I removed the 2 "spades" that connect the wires to the charger points and cleaned them too. Finally I put contact cleaner on the battery connectors also in case there was a bit of a dodgy connection there. So basically contact cleaner everywhere except the 2 wheel and 2 blade motor connections. I put it back together and stuck it on charge last night (bloody balancing the battery again). Anyhoo - I sent it out manually about 20 minis ago and it's working fine so far...so we'll see.....

It sounds like you are fairly handy with them: would you have a multimeter to measure the voltage across the cells in the battery after a charge and after some use? They should all be at roughly the same voltage. If not, then the battery might be bad.

deadl0ck

SchrodingersCat wrote: »

It sounds like you are fairly handy with them: would you have a multimeter to measure the voltage across the cells in the battery after a charge and after some use? They should all be at roughly the same voltage. If not, then the battery might be bad.

Yeah - I have a multimeter - I'll see how it goes after this. It mowed till it need ed to charge and it made its way back to the base station. It's balancing again, but if there was a bad connection somewhere before this the battery may need to actually balance correctly so we'll see how it goes this time.

SchrodingersCat

Thats good to hear that it is working, at lease for this one time.
When you say "its balancing again", do you mean that the robot keeps reporting that it has to re-balance the battery? It shouldnt have to do that that often, only maybe once after the battery hasnt been used in a while. If so, I would be very suspicous of that battery. However, I am surprised if it is the battery that the dealer didnt recognise that fault. They are a common part to fail. My Flymo mower had the battery fail too.

deadl0ck

it's a new battery (from about 6 months ago) and it did very little work as it went in for the winter not long after getting it.
The previous battery kept balancing and eventually it was 6 or 7 days without even going out.
We reckoned at the time that it needed a new battery (even though it was just over 3 years old at that point).
This new one has been doing a lot of balancing again so that's why I suspect the motherboard or a bad connection.
I cleaned the spade connectors that are connected to the charging points last night in case there was a bad connection there.
It could be part of the charging electronics that's going too (I presume these are on the mainboard).
Anyhow - I'll see how it gets on this time. Problem with the balancing is that it can take a couple of days.....

StoneyRiver

Hi Everyone. Really enjoying this thread, thanks to all for their experiences.

I've decided to go for an Automower myself. Lawn is 2200M2 so i was thinking the 430X would be ideal as it has a max cutting area of 3200M2. The dealer i was talking to thinks the 430X would struggle with this area as my lawn is broken into two sections and would be running 24/7. He suggested I go with the 450X. That's an extra 1K! So i guess my question is, has anyone with a similar lawn size/configuration had issues with a 430X? I attached a graphic of the lawn with proposed guide wires to each section.

All feedback welcome. Thank you.

KCross

I’ve the 430x and about ~3000m2 of lawn and it has no issue keeping up. Keep the €1k in your pocket!

islander222

I've noticed that my automower isn't fully engaging with the charging station. When it returns to the station it connects a little but then tries to push itself further in but you can see the connector head lift a little but the mower does not get fully connected. It's about one third connected (i.e. I can still see alot of the copper connector remain visible). I haven't figured out yet if it's causing an issue or longer charging times.
Should i be concerned? Or is there anything i can try adjust on the station to help it get fully in there ?

KCross

The last time I serviced it they put copper grease on the connectors on the docking station so that they spring in and out easier.

Are your connectors “springy”?

Also, is the docking station flat from front to back? If it’s not level it won’t get a clean connection.

Could you post a pic of what it looks like when docked. I can compare to my own then.

bauney

Hi, I have a 2200 sq meter lawn in a similar shaped lawn. My 430x is coping fine. It only works typically from 10am to 10pm for around 4/5 days a week. No hassle for it at all.

septicsac

430x should do the job. Have similar size but went with 450x, it was 600 Euro dearer, but runs faster and copes easily so would expect it to last longer, I also needed the Xtra guide wire with the 450.

padraig.od

KCross wrote: »

The last time I serviced it they put copper grease on the connectors on the docking station so that they spring in and out easier.

Are your connectors “springy”?

Also, is the docking station flat from front to back? If it’s not level it won’t get a clean connection.

Could you post a pic of what it looks like when docked. I can compare to my own then.

How often are you servicing yours?

Moreilly

Lads, the 430x was let loose yesterday, impressed so far, grass is a little longer than i would have liked starting off but seems to be coping
Question is, with the grass being a little long is it still ok to run it at night/early morning as the grass itself is very wet from the dew. i was going to run it 24/7 for the first few days....what do ye think... ?

KCross

Moreilly wrote: »

Question is, with the grass being a little long is it still ok to run it at night/early morning as the grass itself is very wet from the dew. i was going to run it 24/7 for the first few days....what do ye think... ?

It wont do any harm but I find I have to clean it more underneath if the garss is wet because it sticks to it, particularly the wheels.

If the grass is fully cut and the mower is just maintaining the grass its fine in the wet but for the first cut of the season there will be alot of clippings and it tends to get stuck to it more.... it still manages though.

KCross

padraig.od wrote: »

How often are you servicing yours?

You are supposed to take it in once a year for the software update. I havent got it serviced this year. Its running fine so I think I'll leave it till next year.

Its not like a service of a petrol mower where there is oil, filters etc. Its more an inspection and a software update.