I'm on schedule to start bot testing tomorrow. I'll try to get a few pics and a short video posted. I have about 50 more feet of wire to bury then I get to test it out. I will first be doing a parameter test with the blade turned off and quick returns off. Once it completes that test I will turn on quick returns and see how it responds. Once the parameter check is complete I will finish burying the rest of the wire I did not bury due to areas I think the bot may have trouble with. Like around the corner of the house my AMP has issues with when going up hill. Once all of the wire is buried I will do a final parameter test then its on to mowing the yard by its self. I hope to have it mow the lawn by its self with out me watching it by Sunday. Dont expect a full review until sometime in early August.
Here is a teaser video from my security camera. I still have to bury some wire and change some settings on the bot. I'll be doing that Saturday. http://stuff.jaygroh.com/lawnbott/110708.ogv [video]http://stuff.jaygroh.com/lawnbott/110708.ogv[/video]
While I'm sitting on my arse and sipping OJ, this beauty is running right now powered by its IPA system (Integrated Propulsion Assist: 10 year old biped). Bought it three trouble free years ago. the mower was $120 and the 100ft 12g cord nearly $50...made me chuckle at the time.
I'm selling my quick charger for the Ariens AMP since I no longer need it. You can find it on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/Ariens-AMP-48v-...294?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a68ddb866
how's the bot? Maybe I don't want to know, I'm looking at long, thick grass with no 10 year old biped around :eyebrow: .
The robot is working great! Had some issues with it but I think I have worked them all out. I still need to get some pictures and video footage of it and when I get that I will post a review. I also need to finish laying wire for the front yard but I don't know when I will get that done. Its been too hot out lately to lay any wire.
I just got my RoboMower back from the repair shop. I have not opened it yet as the grass does not grow too well in 100+ heat. The repair shop shipped it back to my old house, not the new one. My old house had a front and back yard. I used the same wire around both. I just circled the back, then put the wires together, ran them to the front and circled it. It worked so the same power switch would work both areas.
I finished laying wire for my front/side yard a few days ago. So far it seems to do well in the new area. It did get stuck on a bump but all is well after flatting it out. Here is a short video. 720p Sorry for those still on dial up. Its about 25MB for a 30 second clip. http://stuff.jaygroh.com/lawnbott/test.ogv [video]http://stuff.jaygroh.com/lawnbott/test.ogv[/video]
I believe the failure was caused by large tree roots that the mower would run up and get centerlined on. Plus a section of sidewalk that the wheels would not quite get over. Running with the wheels kind of skipping on the ground I think put lots of stress on the drive and wore the tires down to the rims. It could have also been ants in the transmission. The repair place said they replaced the tires and drive harness (transmission and drive components). they have also said the battery (sealed lead acid) does not last for more than a few years unless it is well taken care of including topoff charging during the winter. I hope to get it set up here as soon as it gets below 100F for a few days in a row.
First running of the new corded lawn mower today. New in the box for 100 bucks on Craig's List (the shipping label is dated 7/12/11), the kid's got $12 for the old one at the recycling center for a net $88. The motor on the 4 year old MTD 19" corded fried beyond repair a few weeks ago. Found the inner plastic shroud impacted with grass while I was attempting the repair...never got that deep during the end of the year cleanings . This greenworks unit is far superior: one inch wider, much easier to push (LRR wheels and bearings), quieter, and easy one touch height adjustment (the MTD was a b___ ).
Interesting that you actually got $ for your old mower at a recycling centre. We found a local recycler that accepts old mowers (no $ though). I was happy with that: just wanted to clean up the garage and avoid dumping it in a landfill. I'm a little perplexed by electric mower with rechargable batteries. At least if your lawn is within range of say a 100 foot cord, the technology of a corded electric mower is much simpler. For anyone in the Vancouver, the nearby metal recyler we found (there likely are others) was: "Happy Stan's". (Play on words for happenstance?) BTW, our most recent purchase, a corded electric Sears Crafstman Mower, looks very similar.
I agree 100%, I've already got car and phone battery anxiety... :eyebrow: So, we stand the above on it's head...only mow what the 100ft cord reaches. The long term goal if time ever permits is to reduce the grass/weeds that need mowing. Right now the only thing helping are 10 spruce trees we planted about 8 years ago slowly shrinking one of the side lawns.
The GreenWorks mower looks to be functionally identical to the EarthWise model I have had for a few years. It is excellent -- it does have ball bearings in the wheels which means they are easy to push AND they should last much longer, too. The el-cheapo plastic wheels on many mowers wear out in a few years. I have three 100' 12ga cords daisy-chained (using Velcro straps to hold them together) and I love it. Measuring it on my Kill-A-Watt, the mower uses an average of 0.425kWh per hour. The BTU equivalent is 0.0127 gallons of gasoline per hour -- which is equivalent to less than 1/4 cup of gasoline! Here's the model I have (a newer version has a full width switch bar, which is better): (click on image for link) There is a virtually identical model from Home Depot: (click on image for link) I thought the 1-lever height adjustment was silly -- but that was before I used it. This is an awesome mower! If they made a 24" model, it would need a 20A motor, but I think this would make it even better.
Neil, that top picture looks identical to our Craftsman mower, in particular the grey portion of the housing. Looks like this mower is sold in a few iterations under various names. My only quibbles with it: 1. The bag system is not that well sealed; a fair bit of blow-by grass () builds up behind the motor housing. 2. The mouth of the bag is kind of narrow; it takes some effort to coax the grass to fall out when emptying the bag. It's been a good, dependable mower though; I like the one lever adjustment of wheel height too.
I'd use a corded mower but there are too many obstacles to make it practical for my use. I could use a cord plugged into the garage but there aren't any outlets on the outside of the house. There is a fence around the back of the house but the street facing section has a 15' wide strip that needs mowing as well. The back yard has a pool, a pool house, and now a shed in the way. I haven't even mentioned the numerous trees on the lot... Looking at cordless mowers they all have lead acid batteries -- which need to be treated pretty carefully if I want the batteries to last. Keeping the the depth of discharge to no more than 50% I'd have to have two batteries... and store them carefully during the winter with well monitored trickle charging to ensure they didn't die after one season. The associated cost also got pretty high for this solution... so I still have my gas mower.
