My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

Zzippy

Ketron wrote: »

Ground is fairly dry at this stage, just been watching it over the last week and can see tracks forming, trying to nip it in the bud if it's possible.






It's not varying the distance from the guide wire at all, it's following it dead center all the time. I thought it was supposed to vary between 0m and 1m? Have the corridor width set to max (9 in the app) on all three guide wires.



Plenty of space to follow the wire, the narrowest space it moves though is about 5m and the guide wire is in the center of it. The narrow bit is only a couple of meters before it widens up again


It's an odd one, other than that its working perfect.

I've just noticed that too, the mower (430X) is following the same track every time and wearing tracks in the lawn. Default settings, nothing changed, it used to vary the route a bit but now seems to be sticking very closely to the guide wire. Strange one.

KCross

Zzippy wrote: »

I've just noticed that too, the mower (430X) is following the same track every time and wearing tracks in the lawn. Default settings, nothing changed, it used to vary the route a bit but now seems to be sticking very closely to the guide wire. Strange one.

What corridor width is set on the mower panel itself?

Could be that they have introduced a bug in the software so a firmware update might be on the cards once the dealers open up again.

What version of the software are the two of you running? It would be useful to know for everyone I think.

Ketron

KCross wrote: »

What corridor width is set on the mower panel itself?

Could be that they have introduced a bug in the software so a firmware update might be on the cards once the dealers open up again.

What version of the software are the two of you running? It would be useful to know for everyone I think.

On my mower the corridor width is set to max (9) on all wires via the app and the settings corresponds in the panel as well. Restart hasn't sorted the problem. How do you get the software on the mower? The app that I'm using is 3.5.2.

KCross

Ketron wrote: »

How do you get the software on the mower?

For mine (Husqvarna 430x) its under...

Settings-->General-->About

Ketron

KCross wrote: »

For mine (Husqvarna 430x) its under...

Settings-->General-->About

Few different firmware versions for what I presume are different modules but the Main version is 14.03.00, is that the correct one?

KCross

Ketron wrote: »

Few different firmware versions for what I presume are different modules but the Main version is 14.03.00, is that the correct one?

I wouldnt say right or wrong but it will be interesting to see if the dealer can fix it for you via a software update. Then we would know what version to avoid and what version fixes it.

@Zzippy, what version is your 430x showing?


I havent update the firmware on mine for a few years now as it is running fine as is so I didnt see the point of paying a dealer for an update.
My version is showing "Main: 7.04.00" and "HMI: 6.07.00"

septicsac

Got it very hard to get insurance for the mower this year.
I was with itsforwomen, underwritten by AIG, but this year they upped it by 150 euro and no matter how much I tried I kept missing their calls and you cannot ring back. I have been with them for car and house insurance, but at this stage I am thoroughly fed up of the no calls and dealing with robots on their chat sessions.
Only other insurer I could get was KGB underwritten by Zurich, no increase in cost of policy, but an excess of 750 on the mower, not ideal but better than nothing.
Intersting to note I contacted AIG, who underwrite for itsforwomen, but they wont insure it, so not sure how itsforwomen were doing it.
Aviva will cover garden contents to sum of 3000,but not the mower, so the furniture with no tracket or alarm can be covered, but the item with the best protection cannot?
There are 5 of these automowers in our locality alone, they are becoming more popular, yet insurance companies seem to be ignoring their existence?

whippet

do you know of any that have ever been stolen ?

Zzippy

KCross wrote: »

I wouldnt say right or wrong but it will be interesting to see if the dealer can fix it for you via a software update. Then we would know what version to avoid and what version fixes it.

@Zzippy, what version is your 430x showing?


I havent update the firmware on mine for a few years now as it is running fine as is so I didnt see the point of paying a dealer for an update.
My version is showing "Main: 7.04.00" and "HMI: 6.07.00"

Mine was updated this year, had to get a new wheel motor and the dealer did the service for free (he'd want to with the price of the wheel motor!).

Main: 14.21.00
HMI: 14.16.00

Shaunoc

whippet wrote: »

do you know of any that have ever been stolen ?

one in cavan last year if i remember right

Lurching

Lurching wrote: »

I'll tell you if and when mine arrives!

Got here today. Looks like I'll be having a busy weekend.
Should I cut the grass first with my last century analogue mower first? Grass getting a bit long.

Shaunoc

Lurching wrote: »

Got here today. Looks like I'll be having a busy weekend.
Should I cut the grass first with my last century analogue mower first? Grass getting a bit long.

yeah, if you are laying the cable yourself, give that boundary section a close crop so you can set / bury cable better.
unless the main grass area is very long mower should handle it starting at highest setting and gradually working down.
if an unruly field, give it a last century cut for remembrance
probably some grass etiquette of only cutting a third of its length

after this weekend setup a stool/chair so you can watch that bad boy trundle along and marvel at grass growing...

Lurching

Shaunoc wrote: »

after this weekend setup a stool/chair so you can watch that bad boy trundle along and marvel at grass growing...

There would also be a beer in my hand. Very important element!

KCross

Lurching wrote: »

Got here today. Looks like I'll be having a busy weekend.

Enjoy!

Lurching wrote: »

Should I cut the grass first with my last century analogue mower first? Grass getting a bit long.

If its very long, yes, and ideally bag the grass.

Otherwise it will look horrendous for a week or two while it tries to cover it all and if its long it will be trampling the grass making it harder to cut.

septicsac

whippet wrote: »

do you know of any that have ever been stolen ?

Only the odd one reported stolen, as far as I know. I have the 450X, a lot of money spinning around outside when you think of it. You wouldnt leave your car open unlocked and could potentially be worth less? Feckin insurance companies are a pain, loads in the policy thats no use or not worth your while claiming on as it will kill your premium the following year, but wont cover what you want covered.

spose

paulbok wrote: »

When laying the cables through the tarmac, were they layed before the tarmac or is a cut with say an angle grinder with two blades enough, and patched after?

I cut it with a diamond blade stuck in to a circular saw to help get a straighter line. It’s just wide enough to fit the wire and only went maybe 5mm deep. Just put a bead of black silicon over it. I’m sure there’s a better way but it’s been in there 2 years with no problems and there’s been trucks over it

Tried to attach a picture here but not sure if it’ll work

Ketron

Ketron wrote: »

Hi folks,

Hoping someone here can help. I have a 450x with 3 guide wires in use. One of the guide wires leads to the largest area from the base stations perspective. The issue I'm having is I'm finding the mower is tracking the guide wire perfectly all the time on the way back to the base station and leaving tracks. Is there any setting to avoid this? I have corridor width set max and to be honest it seems to make no difference.

Just update on this issue, I think I have it fixed, well kind of! When laying out my guide wires I had presumed the max distance of a guide loop was back to either terminal, its 400m max back to the AR terminal.

I reread the manual (rtfm!) and looked at the way I had my guide wires laid out. Best way I can describe my layout without doing a sketch is if you can imagine a three rectangles with a guide wire going into each. Guide 1 was in the area with the base station, guide 2 in area 2 and guide 3 in area 3. Guide 3 was giving me problems, it had the smallest guide loop back to the AR terminal, at roughly 250m. Boundary wire length is 700m total approx.

I laid the guide wires 1-3 roughly equal distances apart along the boundary wire thus exceeding the max length for guide 1 and possibly guide 2. As guide 1 is in the same area as the base station and is probably not needed, I've disconnected it on both ends. I moved guide 2 to guide 1 terminal and guide 3 to guide 2 terminal, so I have just two guide wires now.

Guide wire calibration is now failing but was passing before I made any changes, the base station has solid green light and no errors apparent. I've tested the 'follow in' function for guide 2 (to the area that was giving me problems) and the mower uses the corridor width function (it followed to the left of the wire rather than on it) I also witnessed it following to the left of the guide wire on the way back to the station last night so hopefully thats my issue sorted.

Weird that guide calibration is failing now, but sure if its working as I want....

KCross

Thats an interesting one. I thought if the guide loop was too long it would have issues finding/following it. That didnt appear to be your issue though as it was following just not doing the corridor width piece, which sounds like a different issue.

But if its working now, who cares!

Ketron

KCross wrote: »

Thats an interesting one. I thought if the guide loop was too long it would have issues finding/following it. That didnt appear to be your issue though as it was following just not doing the corridor width piece, which sounds like a different issue.

But if its working now, who cares!

Yeah its an odd one, I would have presumed the same. At a total guess, maybe having loops exceeding the 400m length meant that the guide signal was low and all guide wires? The mower could detect the guide signal when right over the GW but not when moving parallel to it.


Total guess, but its working now. Thanks for the help!

joebre

Ok, have read this thread but admit being lost as to how mower can get through narrow openings and across driveways.
Have typical garden with rear lawn and front side lawn to left and right. The is a gate between one of the side lawn and the rear lawn to allow for existing mower access.
I have a duct at the edge of the brick driveway.
I can run a cable though the duct but the mower would have to run along the public footpath for the width of the driveway. Can't envisage how this can be done ?
Area to be mowed is under 500m2.

KCross

joebre wrote: »

Ok, have read this thread but admit being lost as to how mower can get through narrow openings and across driveways.
Have typical garden with rear lawn and front side lawn to left and right. The is a gate between one of the side lawn and the rear lawn to allow for existing mower access.
I have a duct at the edge of the brick driveway.
I can run a cable though the duct but the mower would have to run along the public footpath for the width of the driveway. Can't envisage how this can be done ?
Area to be mowed is under 500m2.

You'd need 3 ducts for it to cross.

When its going down a passage it needs the boundary wire at either side and a guide wire in between those.

@spose's pic from a few posts back shows it well...
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=113179544&postcount=1937


However, looking at your layout I would think a better option for you would be to have the mower and docking station in area 3 and then run guide wires under the fence at each side of the house. The mower would never need to cross the driveway then.

Is it possible to pick a section of the fence on each side and dig an underpass for the mower?
Its what I did with mine and I have a similar layout to you with a fence on each side separating 3 zones. Works perfect as long as you are comfortable with a small open space under the fence.... might not be suitable if the fence is keeping toddlers or animals away from the road.

joebre

KCross wrote: »

You'd need 3 ducts for it to cross.

When its going down a passage it needs the boundary wire at either side and a guide wire in between those.

@spose's pic from a few posts back shows it well...
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=113179544&postcount=1937


However, looking at your layout I would think a better option for you would be to have the mower and docking station in area 3 and then run guide wires under the fence at each side of the house. The mower would never need to cross the driveway then.

Is it possible to pick a section of the fence on each side and dig an underpass for the mower?
Its what I did with mine and I have a similar layout to you with a fence on each side separating 3 zones. Works perfect as long as you are comfortable with a small open space under the fence.... might not be suitable if the fence is keeping toddlers or animals away from the road.

Thanks for the prompt reply.
Simple pedestrian gate between 1 & 3. About 800mm wide. Shouldn't be a difficulty getting three cables to guide from back to front lawn on that side.
The reason for the fence is to keep a housebound Yorkie puppy in the rear garden so an underpass would not be suitable.

The cable across the brick driveway is in the row of bricks nearest the footpath. The only way to get to the isolated piece of lawn is to travel over the footpath. Hence the problem ?

KCross

joebre wrote: »

Thanks for the prompt reply.
Simple pedestrian gate between 1 & 3. About 800mm wide. Shouldn't be a difficulty getting three cables to guide from back to front lawn on that side.
The reason for the fence is to keep a housebound Yorkie puppy in the rear garden so an underpass would not be suitable.

The cable across the brick driveway is in the row of bricks nearest the footpath. The only way to get to the isolated piece of lawn is to travel over the footpath. Hence the problem ?

If the puppy is allowed roam freely in area 3 how do you expect the mower to be able to get to area 1?

You cant really be manually opening/closing that gate. The mower will be running for hours and will decide itself when it wants to go to each area. Its not very practical to be calling the mower in everytime the puppy needs to go out or someone closes the gate and forgets to open it again. The mower really needs unhindered access, imo.

Basically, you have to be able to "cross" the fence somehow/somewhere as it separates area 3 with the other two areas so I cant see how you can avoid that. If you can solve that for one fence you should so the same for the other fence and then your driveway issue disappears.

joebre

KCross wrote: »

If the puppy is allowed roam freely in area 3 how do you expect the mower to be able to get to area 1?

You cant really be manually opening/closing that gate. The mower will be running for hours and will decide itself when it wants to go to each area. Its not very practical to be calling the mower in everytime the puppy needs to go out or someone closes the gate and forgets to open it again. The mower really needs unhindered access, imo.

Basically, you have to be able to "cross" the fence somehow/somewhere as it separates area 3 with the other two areas so I cant see how you can avoid that. If you can solve that for one fence you should so the same for the other fence and then your driveway issue disappears.

I thought I might be able to set the times so that the mower would only operate when the dog was in and the gate was open ? Random timing would not suit.

KCross

joebre wrote: »

I thought I might be able to set the times so that the mower would only operate when the dog was in and the gate was open ? Random timing would not suit.

Presumably the puppy goes out at random times too for toilet and play times?

You can time the mower for set times but it would need to be long periods not an hour here and there. The mower would be out mowing for 2-3hrs, come in for an hour to charge and go out again and repeat that for many hours of the day depending on lawn size.

joebre

KCross wrote: »

Presumably the puppy goes out at random times too for toilet and play times?

You can time the mower for set times but it would need to be long periods not an hour here and there. The mower would be out mowing for 2-3hrs, come in for an hour to charge and go out again and repeat that for many hours of the day depending on lawn size.

Puppy is much more inside that outside.
If cutting times can be set at intervals, that would be ok.
I will post a photo of the driveway and you might be able to suggest options ?

spose

There’s a good few YouTube clips for types of gates you could make. Whether they will work or not depends on the determination of the dog to get around them

https://youtu.be/WcxxwRKU8ns

KCross

joebre wrote: »

Puppy is much more inside that outside.
If cutting times can be set at intervals, that would be ok.

I just dont see how you can work that gate manually to suit both the dog and the mower on a continuous basis. A robot mower is not a send it out for a few hours today and do it again in a weeks time deal. They are in/out many hours of the day many days of the week.

Are you really going to go out and open and close that gate several times a day to match the dogs habits and the timers on the mower. It just doesnt seem practical to me.

Unless you set it exclusively to run at night and remember to open the gate every night before bed?

septicsac

joebre wrote: »

Puppy is much more inside that outside.
If cutting times can be set at intervals, that would be ok.
I will post a photo of the driveway and you might be able to suggest options ?

I had similar issue getting mower from back of house to front, without letting dog out as well. I cut fence that divides front and back just high and wide enough to let mower past. I then have a short run of electric fence before this access point to prevent the dog passing. iI has to be on the whole time to stop the dog, but dog hasnt gone past it once.

Naos

I'll need to get an electrician in when we go back to normality, at the moment I'm just planning to run an external extension cable out the window/door while I am WFH.

However I'm struggling to understand how this can be plugged in permanently? Can someone (or a few) provide a picture of your outdoor plug & socket setup? Thanks