My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

Borzoi

murfler wrote: »

Hi I bought and installed a 430x 4 weeks ago..it seems to be spending the majority of its cutting time on my front lawn, it has it looking like a golfcourse but its not giving enough time on my back lawn which is quiet patchy..both lawns are joined together by a strip at side of house? Any suggestions on how to make it spend more time on the back?

Have you s guide wire to the back garden?

murfler

Borzoi wrote: »

Have you s guide wire to the back garden?

Yes

rustynutz

balcan wrote: »

That's the one

That's a great price, I'm tempted to buy two of these for my lawn, its 1500m2 in total, but its divided by a tar driveway, I was considering a 430x but am agonising over cutting the kerbs and tar to install the guide wires, having two separate mowers would probably make more sense

Borzoi

murfler wrote: »

Yes

From memory you can set the percentage use of guide wire to different zones

Alternatively, is the GPS enabled for navigation?

listermint

Had to disable my McCulloch may last year for some building work which involved lifting part of the garden and cutting through guide wires. Back to mower during.

Only got around to fixing up guide wires Today.

Turn the McCulloch on and she flew. Down for a year. Out in all weathers and didn't miss a beat.

murfler

Borzoi wrote: »

From memory you can set the percentage use of guide wire to different zones

Alternatively, is the GPS enabled for navigation?

Sorry but if you read back you will see I have been through all of this already, thanks

balcan

rustynutz wrote: »

That's a great price, I'm tempted to buy two of these for my lawn, its 1500m2 in total, but its divided by a tar driveway, I was considering a 430x but am agonising over cutting the kerbs and tar to install the guide wires, having two separate mowers would probably make more sense

That's exactly why nextdoor bought 2, At €1600 for the 2 mowers and all the install kit it was a bit of a bargain, plus you can control both mowers from a good app on your mobile that updates you of the mowers status which actually works.

Cyrus

Folks I have come to the conclusion that my Flymo 1200r is overkill for my needs .

I have the base station , mower , some pegs , manual and plenty of wire left (I have a small enough grass area )

I'd sell it for 250 collected if anyone fancies it

Has been used for a year (taken in over winter )

tglynn

Hi all,

New to this game. Looking at purchasing a automower for my mother. She has a 2000sqm garden which is seperated into 2 seperate sections divided by a drive way (no issue with the mower crossing other than a small bit of a curb either side. Traffic is very low). She wants a decent and reliable one that'll do both sections no bother and return home.

I'm looking at the automower 420 on RoboCleaners.com for €2150. Seems like decent value?

Do you think we should get someone out to install? I've no issue giving it a go but have no prior experience. Not clear if it comes with all pegs and installation equipment as standard, does anyone know if i require the extra installation kit?

Anyone have this mower and have any advice?

any replies would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

spose

I rely on guide wire percentages as the GPS never worked for me on a 430x. Think it’s because when I turned it on day 1 I didn’t have the second guide wire installed. I’ve switched it on a couple of times since but it never follows the second guide wire. Anyone now how to reset the GPS map. Have been through all the menus and can only find a reset all settings option rather than just resetting GPS.

KCross

spose wrote: »

I rely on guide wire percentages as the GPS never worked for me on a 430x. Think it’s because when I turned it on day 1 I didn’t have the second guide wire installed. I’ve switched it on a couple of times since but it never follows the second guide wire.

That'd be it. It learns the guide wire position during its "training" so a reset of the map should sort it, assuming the guide wire is working to begin with.

spose wrote: »

Anyone now how to reset the GPS map. Have been through all the menus and can only find a reset all settings option rather than just resetting GPS.

For me its at

Settings-->General-->Reset-->Reset GPS Map

I presume you'd need to enable GPS navigation first before that menu would appear.

fanzhiyidan

Hi All,

had a Husqvarna 315X installed last year but it never worked properly.
Just wouldn't cut all the areas, would spend most time down one narrow section and forget the main lawn or vice versa.

I upgraded to a 430X earlier this year and it seemed to be doing the job great.
However now it's back to just cutting the narrow section most of the time.

I was using a manual moss rake on the main lawn, it doesn't go very deep and the cable was installed using a cable laying machine so it's unlikely that I nicked the guide wire, however on the off chance I did, is there any way to find out if this is the case and could this lead to the issue of the mower not going out to the main lawn as much as it should?

The boundary wire is fine, green light on the charging station.

tglynn

tglynn wrote: »

Hi all,

New to this game. Looking at purchasing a automower for my mother. She has a 2000sqm garden which is seperated into 2 seperate sections divided by a drive way (no issue with the mower crossing other than a small bit of a curb either side. Traffic is very low). She wants a decent and reliable one that'll do both sections no bother and return home.

I'm looking at the automower 420 on RoboCleaners.com for €2150. Seems like decent value?

Do you think we should get someone out to install? I've no issue giving it a go but have no prior experience. Not clear if it comes with all pegs and installation equipment as standard, does anyone know if i require the extra installation kit?

Anyone have this mower and have any advice?

any replies would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Any help appreciated on this...

spose

tglynn wrote: »

Any help appreciated on this...

The husqvarna ones are good from a reliability perspective so little chance she’d need to interact with it. I’d suggest going with an X version if the budget will stretch so you can keep an eye on it remotely.
I’d do the install yourself. The grass part at least is very straight forward. Crossing the drive is a bit of work but doable

witnessmenow

Just bought the Worx landroid M1000 from myrobotcenter. It was €829 + 10 delivery

I was pretty tempted by the gardeena from the co-op but as stupid of a reason as this is, I'll probably end up making a Youtube video about it, and there wasn't much point getting an older model that wasn't widely available.

I have a worx cordless drill that has served me very well, hoping the mower can do the same!

KCross

fanzhiyidan wrote: »

I upgraded to a 430X earlier this year and it seemed to be doing the job great.
However now it's back to just cutting the narrow section most of the time.

How many guide wires are you using?

Is the docking station on the narrow section or the main lawn?

fanzhiyidan wrote: »

I was using a manual moss rake on the main lawn, it doesn't go very deep and the cable was installed using a cable laying machine so it's unlikely that I nicked the guide wire, however on the off chance I did, is there any way to find out if this is the case and could this lead to the issue of the mower not going out to the main lawn as much as it should?

Have you tested the guide wires using the "Following out" and "Following in" menu options?

That should be your first test.

listermint

KCross wrote: »

How many guide wires are you using?

Is the docking station on the narrow section or the main lawn?



Have you tested the guide wires using the "Following out" and "Following in" menu options?

That should be your first test.

Does this unit not tell you loop broken if there is a break in the cable ?

Lurching

listermint wrote: »

Does this unit not tell you loop broken if there is a break in the cable ?

It should stop dead if the cable is broken, plus the light on the base will only be green if the boundary loop is intact.

KCross

listermint wrote: »

Does this unit not tell you loop broken if there is a break in the cable ?

Guide wire could be broken or bad connection and the light will still be green on the docking station. The mower will show an error alright but it will continue to operate.

Boundary loop is different. Break there and everything stops.

searay

Lurching wrote: »

It should stop dead if the cable is broken, plus the light on the base will only be green if the boundary loop is intact.

That’s correct, the light either flashes or changes to blue if broken. Check if the narrow area is set as the main lawn or secondary area and if the lawnmower has been instructed to just mow that section.

If that doesn’t work...

It could be that you’ve 2 loops, one for each section of lawn and the break is on the section that it isn’t going to. There is a way of swapping the connections on the docking station to figure this out. Check troubleshooting in the manual.

In relation to the wire being buried by the machine, when I had a break it was close to a tree where the installer had to leave it close to the surface due to tree roots. Look carefully in areas like that or islands around flower beds for a break.

listermint

searay wrote: »

That’s correct, the light either flashes or changes to blue if broken. Check if the narrow area is set as the main lawn or secondary area and if the lawnmower has been instructed to just mow that section.

If that doesn’t work...

It could be that you’ve 2 loops, one for each section of lawn and the break is on the section that it isn’t going to. There is a way of swapping the connections on the docking station to figure this out. Check troubleshooting in the manual.

In relation to the wire being buried by the machine, when I had a break it was close to a tree where the installer had to leave it close to the surface due to tree roots. Look carefully in areas like that or islands around flower beds for a break.

Balls to that I used to do that before I remembered I actually owned a tone generator buried in a drawer in the garage.

Buy one of these you'll find any break in minutes.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tracer-Circuit-Tester-RJ-11-Alligator/dp/B00ADHQCIO/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=tone+generator&qid=1588943899&sprefix=tone+g&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzQ1k3NEZYRDhLR1dJJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODIzMzE3MzVTNE1FSlVDTjFKUSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDEyNDM4MzI5SDMyR1VLQ0k3VyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX3Bob25lX3NlYXJjaF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

searay

listermint wrote: »

Balls to that I used to do that before I remembered I actually owned a tone generator buried in a drawer in the garage.

Buy one of these you'll find any break in minutes.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tracer-Circuit-Tester-RJ-11-Alligator/dp/B00ADHQCIO/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=tone+generator&qid=1588943899&sprefix=tone+g&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzQ1k3NEZYRDhLR1dJJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODIzMzE3MzVTNE1FSlVDTjFKUSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDEyNDM4MzI5SDMyR1VLQ0k3VyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX3Bob25lX3NlYXJjaF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

Can you explain how you used it to find the break. I tried the radio signal, tuning thing and it was a waste of time.

How do you connect it to the loop?

Dr4gul4

searay wrote: »

Can you explain how you used it to find the break. I tried the radio signal, tuning thing and it was a waste of time.

How do you connect it to the loop?

Turn off power, disconnect one of your loop wires, expose a small bit of internal wire, connect red clamp here.
Select Tone mode walk with handset to location where you know the cable is, make sure it's not to close to the signal sending unit. continue along until the signal dies.

Then shovel + new connector = automower happyness

Dr4gul4

listermint wrote: »

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tracer-Circuit-Tester-RJ-11-Alligator/dp/B00ADHQCIO/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=tone+generator&qid=1588943899&sprefix=tone+g&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzQ1k3NEZYRDhLR1dJJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODIzMzE3MzVTNE1FSlVDTjFKUSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDEyNDM4MzI5SDMyR1VLQ0k3VyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX3Bob25lX3NlYXJjaF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

Just ordered a new one there my self, my old one was .... touch and go shall we say.. lets hope this lad is better

joebre

My RoboExpert story.

Spoke to a knowledgeable guy who rang me on my mobile and was able to answer all my questions.
They sent me a link to their UK site.
All text in English and prices in Sterling.
Requested price for 315 and 315X.
Got request for my address and contact number but no price.
Wasted loads on time on hold as number never answered.
Decided to add the garage to my order but still no price.
Eventually got quote in Sterling.
Got through and asked for the Euro price on their German site.
They replied that price for for German market with their own Vat rate of 19%.
Said it had to be sold to me in Sterling @ 1,799.
For whatever reason they were including the garage free of charge in this price.
They allowed payment by Bank Transfer or Paypal.
Requested conversion of Sterling price in Euro.
Found that it was approximately €50 cheaper for me to pay in Sterling through Paypal rather than their calculation.
Would have had to be patient but I am sure they are on a skeleton staff.
Will be shipped on Monday.

septicsac

searay wrote: »

Can you explain how you used it to find the break. I tried the radio signal, tuning thing and it was a waste 7of time.

How do you connect it to the loop?

I have used the mw radio signal method twice and worked perfect both times, passed info to local dealer, he swears by it too and he has the official tracer.

Lurching

joebre wrote: »

My RoboExpert story.

Spoke to a knowledgeable guy who rang me on my mobile and was able to answer all my questions.
They sent me a link to their UK site.
All text in English and prices in Sterling.
Requested price for 315 and 315X.
Got request for my address and contact number but no price.
Wasted loads on time on hold as number never answered.
Decided to add the garage to my order but still no price.
Eventually got quote in Sterling.
Got through and asked for the Euro price on their German site.
They replied that price for for German market with their own Vat rate of 19%.
Said it had to be sold to me in Sterling @ 1,799.
For whatever reason they were including the garage free of charge in this price.
They allowed payment by Bank Transfer or Paypal.
Requested conversion of Sterling price in Euro.
Found that it was approximately €50 cheaper for me to pay in Sterling through Paypal rather than their calculation.
Would have had to be patient but I am sure they are on a skeleton staff.
Will be shipped on Monday.

That's a bit strange.
I ordered from the German site in March.
It may have helped that I got my wife to converse with them in German though.
There was no talk of VAT rates or anything.

Alfie1

KCross wrote: »

... How long does the 450x cut for on one charge? ...

Alfie1 wrote: »

I haven't checked recently but probably around 5 hours.

Out of interest I checked yesterday & it got just less than 6 hours before returning to base for a charge with about 17% charge remaining.

joebre

Lurching wrote: »

That's a bit strange.
I ordered from the German site in March.
It may have helped that I got my wife to converse with them in German though.
There was no talk of VAT rates or anything.

That's why I posted my story.
Guy I spoke to had perfect English. He went away to check and confirmed.
Got the garage free of charge even though I had made no complaint about slow service.
Also cheaper to pay in Sterling through Paypal rather than allow for their conversion.
Can't want for it to arrive before next weekend.

paul-2008

joebre wrote: »

My RoboExpert story.

Spoke to a knowledgeable guy who rang me on my mobile and was able to answer all my questions.
They sent me a link to their UK site.
All text in English and prices in Sterling.
Requested price for 315 and 315X.
Got request for my address and contact number but no price.
Wasted loads on time on hold as number never answered.
Decided to add the garage to my order but still no price.
Eventually got quote in Sterling.
Got through and asked for the Euro price on their German site.
They replied that price for for German market with their own Vat rate of 19%.
Said it had to be sold to me in Sterling @ 1,799.
For whatever reason they were including the garage free of charge in this price.
They allowed payment by Bank Transfer or Paypal.
Requested conversion of Sterling price in Euro.
Found that it was approximately €50 cheaper for me to pay in Sterling through Paypal rather than their calculation.
Would have had to be patient but I am sure they are on a skeleton staff.
Will be shipped on Monday.

I had a similar experience last week but got them to give me the German price, I then added on the M installation kit and both combined were the same price as the UK for mower alone!