My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

Dr4gul4

30 meters short on my boundary wire, and not enough for return loops. Should have ordered more wire. Let's hope the grass doesn't grow to much between now and Thursday ��

louis346789

I used standard multi core 2.5 mm electrical cable. It worked fine and it's red so I can find it.

Dr4gul4

louis346789 wrote: »

I used standard multi core 2.5 mm electrical cable. It worked fine and it's red so I can find it.

I'd have actually done that but I think I only have a loop of 25meters to hand .. typical really .

bauney

General question to all.
What level of grass are ye using and what ye find best? Please indicate mower model .

Reason I ask is that my 430x started cutting from around 7/8 but I noticed it quiet flattened and not really having that cut look as the grass seemed still longish. I have since lowered it to 5 and the difference is huge, the grass doesn't appear as flattened and the grass seems properly cut (if you get me). Just wondering what others are doing.

Shaunoc

450x level 8 a couple days ago. Will go to 7 in a week or two. Will change blades then too

Roen

430x. Level 5. Have that flattened thing going on too. Dropped it from 10 over the course of three weeks.

staples7

5 is is what I’m at currently. I think 4 would be as low as I go but haven’t got there yet. I brought her in for a few days as there was nobody at the house and a huge amount of growth since Friday ( also fertilised the grass last week) so will take 3/4 days before it’s anyway even again

deadl0ck

As a follow up I went and checked the information screens and was looking at the S Model service guide.
It seems that the mower was not getting any charging voltage or power:

It also had "+2" for the charger source with, according to the guide, is "Unrecognised".

I decided to plug it directly in to the power box withough the long joining cable (as if it was winter charging) and it looked much better:


So I spoke to dealer last night and he said that the long cable can sometimes cause weird issues and to plug the mower in at the base directly with the power box (I've set it up to be rain proof).
So I did that last night and it's back to battery balancing (which could be for real seeing as I've been screwing around with it so much) but when I go into the charging menu it says "+2" for source for about 10 seconds then changes to "0" for "Base station".
Here's a video:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/toqvHrVVdHa63tDp8

Does that look normal(ish) ?? It seems to be fluctuating a lot for power and current....

Moreilly

lads, have the new 430x running since Saturday, very impressed with the way it has got a handle on the lawn as the grass was a bit long starting off, have about 2200 Sqm of lawn and it's now all under control, was running it on max hight. Great little machine. Larry has worked hard

Moreilly

quick question, on weather like we are having today... are ye running the mower?, seems to be a excessive amount of grass build up in the wheels and quite a bit under the deck...

bauney

yeah, usually if i lower the cut levels or if i haven't cut in few days, i find a lot of build up of grass around wheels and under the deck. so much i would have to clean it every other day.
so i try to let my mower out only when its dry (e.g. after 11am when any dew is gone). However, in the west of ireland, we cannot be guaranteed alot of dry weather so i have to clean it. i just turn over the mower and clean wheels and pick off grass and wipe around with dry cloth anything left. 5 min job.

KCross

Moreilly wrote: »

quick question, on weather like we are having today... are ye running the mower?, seems to be a excessive amount of grass build up in the wheels and quite a bit under the deck...

KCross wrote: »

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.

As said above, its generally only an issue at the start of the season where there are alot of clippings not yet decayed into the soil and so it gets stuck on the mower.

Once it is on top of the job and the initial cuttings are decayed it becomes less of an issue as the amount of clippings will be small.

However, I, like bauney, tend to time the mower to run from 11am to give the dew a chance to disappear.

If there is heavy rain due I would park the mower but light rain I let it at it. It's out today!

gizmo555

KCross wrote: »

However, I, like bauney, tend to time the mower to run from 11am to give the dew a chance to disappear.

Just curious to know what difference you find this makes?

(I have mine set to mow late at night, partly so it'll recharge at the night rate electricity tariff, but mainly so it's not in the way during the day. The grass is invariably damp or wet, but it still seems to mow perfectly well to me.)

bauney

Originally, my timers were set say from 8AM in morning to 10PM for times. (I have a habbit of only letting the mower out when myself or other half are around the house)
But depending on time of year, i find the grass is very wet from the dew in the morning time so as a result the clippings would be sticking to wheels and underneath. so i opted to wait until the dew would be dried out e.g. by 11am or so.

Obviously this might be different in middle of summer when there is no dew but that is what i am doing now. it results in less cleaning of the mower. just my very unscientific observation after 8 months of happy automowing :-)

KCross

gizmo555 wrote: »

Just curious to know what difference you find this makes?

(I have mine set to mow late at night, partly so it'll recharge at the night rate electricity tariff, but mainly so it's not in the way during the day. The grass is invariably damp or wet, but it still seems to mow perfectly well to me.)

It will mow fine at night but I find I have to clean it more so I switched it to the daytime.

Do you need to clean yours at all?

gizmo555

KCross wrote: »

It will mow fine at night but I find I have to clean it more so I switched it to the daytime.

Do you need to clean yours at all?

Once a week. It sometimes looks a little clogged, but it doesn't seem to make any noticeable difference to the effectiveness of the mowing. Or am I perhaps missing out on something?

Shaunoc

from time to time some grass gets clogged / tied around front wheels. a sharp knife quickly cuts thru that to remove.
thats the only regular cleaning i need to do until blade changing time every 6 ish weeks and good scrub end of year (dec ish). unless i bring it indoors for safekeeping, where it gets a swift brush

staples7

Same - long wet grass will clog up pretty quick. Generally just falls off the wheels in lumps around the garden. Good idea to picks these up as they will kill the grass underneath.

Changed my first blade yesterday as I noticed 1 blade had cracked in half. - Should I be worried this blade is somewhere in the Garden.....

KCross

staples7 wrote: »

Changed my first blade yesterday as I noticed 1 blade had cracked in half. -

I've had one bend but never actually break. Was it a genuine Husqvarna blade or a spurious one?

It must have hit something solid to break it?

staples7 wrote: »

Should I be worried this blade is somewhere in the Garden.....

I suppose, if you have kids on it, yes.
It would be difficult to find now, although as per my comment above, if you have any idea what it hit its likely to be next to that.

staples7

It was the original blade that came with the automower.

Theres plenty of objects it could have hit to be fair. I know there is an accessory for the back of the mower you can get that is magnetic and will pick up and small metal items in the garden

https://www.gplshop.co.uk/automower-accessories/robomagnet.php

Dr4gul4

The cable sage has come to an end .. bit long winded but local supplier said " we can supply any amount of cable to you" ( I wanted about 330 meters to close out the BW and to set up the two RL's.

Landed in and was told they have 500 meter loops, and no way to measure off 330 meters, and it's the heavy grade, and there not sure if you can mix and match.

Took a punt on it as the grass is growing like the clappers, and closed up the BW, set up a single RL and pinned all down. No Loop signal detected. reset the loop signal in the security settings and away we went !.

So far, only one minor issue with a tree that i've looped off this morning, other wise we're up and mowing at max height ... shame the weathers not nicer however

k mac

So the huskie dealer sent a man out to have a look at my lawn and he says should be fine for the robot. Seemed very professional and would do everything involved in the installation including boring a hole in the garage wall to bring out the power for the charging point, basically it would be working when he was going out the gate. Installation including all the kit that's needed would be 400 euro which I think is ok. Only thing is he recommended I get the 430X however my lawn is only 1100 sq meters so I think that it a bit strange. I thought the 420 which can work up 2200 sq meters would be sufficient and is 740 euro cheaper. Whats the big difference between the 420 and the 430X bar the GPS

Dr4gul4

k mac wrote: »

So the huskie dealer sent a man out to have a look at my lawn and he says should be fine for the robot. Seemed very professional and would do everything involved in the installation including boring a hole in the garage wall to bring out the power for the charging point, basically it would be working when he was going out the gate. Installation including all the kit that's needed would be 400 euro which I think is ok. Only thing is he recommended I get the 430X however my lawn is only 1100 sq meters so I think that it a bit strange. I thought the 420 which can work up 2200 sq meters would be sufficient and is 740 euro cheaper. Whats the big difference between the 420 and the 430X bar the GPS

Automow connect, headlights and dual guide wires I think .. altho i've only one guide wire installed right now on my 430x and she's flying it ..

denismc

For those of you that use the secondary area function on your automower do you let it run until the battery runs out?
I am a little concerned about discharging the Li battery fully, I assume there is a little hidden buffer in there somewhere.

ccmp

hi there. Anyone know where you can hire the machine for burying the cable?
Alternatively somebody who does that work. I'm in the cork area.
Mower is the Honda Miimo 520.

Roen

Anyone do anything different with their automower when they spread fertiliser or iron sulphate?
Is there potential for corrosion if you cut too soon after spreading?

k mac

If people had the option of getting someone to install by just leaving on top of the ground or getting someone to use the machine to bury the cable for sixty euro more would you think the extra is worth it or i suppose im asking is it worthwhile getting the cable buried ? Is it of much more benefit , better job?

septicsac

k mac wrote: »

If people had the option of getting someone to install by just leaving on top of the ground or getting someone to use the machine to bury the cable for sixty euro more would you think the extra is worth it or i suppose im asking is it worthwhile getting the cable buried ? Is it of much more benefit , better job?

Definitely bury it and bargain for 60€, what would anyone do for 60€ these days

k mac

Sorry just to clarify its not costing 60 to install its 60 more than the fella that will install it for me and leave cable on top of the ground

Shaunoc

k mac wrote: »

Sorry just to clarify its not costing 60 to install its 60 more than the fella that will install it for me and leave cable on top of the ground

if your lawn is mature that you do not foresee many changes in the future, then bury it.
if you are planning host of changes every year, then its nice to have cable easily accessible