My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

Asked quite often on here alright. Not covered by default.

Some insurance companies do offer some generic insurance for lawn equipment but if you read the fine print it has to be locked up at night in a garage so it wont cover the robot mowers.

I think one company allowed you to list the mower as a special item but cant remember who that was now.

End result… its not easily insured and I havent heard of anyone here having theirs robbed. Most of the mowers have a PIN on them so it cant be used by anyone else anyway…. not much use if the mower is gone but I dont think there is a market for stolen ones so it doesnt seem to have been a problem for anyone yet.

Yeah figured that.

The larger Kress has GPS tracking as well as the PIN but the small one has nothing.

As you say it's not really likely to be an issue. You can get a GPS module for the small one but at £200 for a £650 mower it wouldn't make sense.

They are just my own experiences and opinions and should be taken as that - my view. Luba 1 did have a lot of problems with water ingress, the original rtk had a manufacturing oversight that resulted in water leaking through a led light lens - my own one had to be replaced (under warranty and no quibble has to be said) as a result. Others had issue with the button the top of the mower leaking. As a result of the problem mammotion issued a free custom cover for both the rtk and a rubber cover for the mower buttons. As I had kept my luba in a "garage" the button sealing didn't get tested on mine. It got sent out in all weathers though.

Mammotion have learned a lot from the Luba 1 experience, the rtk and the top of the mower has been redesigned to be better sealed. It's early days yet but I'm not seeing any water ingress issue with the 2 like I had with the 1 at this point. I'd be quite confident in the weather sealing now, but I'd still have it parked under cover if possible.

Worth knowing that lidl have a robot garage in stock this week. I've seen on FB that luba fits under it. It's only €40, which is much better value than the flimsy OEM one which is like €140.

Much more for an RTK/GPS mower. Since it cuts in a pattern it only comes out once every three days for every 1000m2 of cutting area.

My own one has 700m2 to maintain and it's out for 4 hours every 3-4 days. It spends the rest of its time in its house.

Don't know about Luba 2, but KS Luba 1 has a relatively high parasitic draw of 14W while on charger but not actively charging.

Typically yes that's the way it works. It bounces around like a drunk all day every day and eventually over enough time it will have whole area covered. This can cause problems if you have areas separated by narrow channels so a guide wire is needed to help it get to where it needs to go.

As for your other question - I can only speak of luba but the tech is similar in the kress. Yes there is a learning curve and potentially baby sitting, trial and error at the start however the mower doesn't "learn". If you are losing signal you need to do something to address that - it might be trim back trees or remove a metal fence or not send it between two tall structures at all. It really depends where it is getting stuck. Sadly there might be no solution if the problem is signal shading caused by the house for example. That's where vision augmented rtk systems like what luba 2 have really come into their own.

Certain times of the day there will be more satellites available but the annoying thing is that it won't occur at exactly the same time every day.

I cant speak for the mower you've bought but alot of the wired Husqvarna's have GPS built-in which it uses to create a map of areas it has covered. It still is somewhat random in its operation but it will go to areas it knows it hasnt cut for "a while".

eventually by the law of averages it will have gone everywhere

That is generally what they all do to varying degrees. Once it gets on top of the first cut of the season you dont notice it after that as it will be just nipping a bit off the top all the time.

Forecast is rain all day tomorrow so I scalded Daisy's territory with the push mower, particularly up along the fence and trees.

Sent the mower out just after 8 and nearly 40 minutes later, only 32% used (less intensive work) and no jams at all (so far).

I've set it to cut til quarter to 12. That'll be enough time to run low, charge again and then get back out.

Quick update about my LUBA order lads!

I just received my LUBA 2 AWD 5000 that I purchased earlier this week from Mowers.ie. Great customer service and fast delivery, reliable website lads. I'm Looking forward to giving this beauty a go tomorrow!

lads 3 yrs in I’m done went down to dust off the mower after winter hibernation. Another control panel fried. So much it can stay out all winter. I have a house for the charging station and the mower came in for winter. Red light on the charger battery near flat on the mower. I’ll be looking to get a ride on by next year. For all its convenience these robot mowers are more work and just not suited to Irish climates.

apologies rant over.

What mower is it? 3 things,

1. Your mower may have been a dud, however there's thousands of mowers working away in Ireland
2. You'll never get back wasted hours doing machine work on grass.
3. Basic calculation I've saved myself literally a month of mowing that's mowing every hour of the day for a month. I won't go back to that. Time I can spend doing other more important stuff.

Mowers will require external power. But then again you'll have those power outlets for other uses too

Closest would be in a small storage room I have beside the boiler house.

It has its own door that leads onto the patio adjacent to the lawn.

I often plug in an extension lead there if doing work in the garden.

Would that be of use ?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122103350#Comment_122103350You can get external sockets and wire them yourself if you are any way competent.

You just have to feed the cable through a wall and plug into a standard 3 pin in your shed or garage.

http://Weatherproof Outdoor Socket Waterproof Double Socket 3M Extension Lead IP66 Switched Wall Electrical Outlet 13 Amp 2 Gang Power Socket,Garden Outside Plug Sockets Cover Box https://amzn.eu/d/6z6VPHY.

Sorry unable to insert a link for some reason.

get one without a wire

That was my solution. Big RTK model for the main garden, small wired one for the other side of the drive.