My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

beanian

anyone on here have experience of the McCulloch ROB R600?.
Apparently it's a rebadged Husqvarna, and is a good bit cheaper then to 105 if you buy from Amazon.

whippet

what are people doing with their automowers this time of the year.

I lowered the hours on mine two weeks ago and had to up the hours again as the grass was still growing quickly.

KCross

whippet wrote: »

what are people doing with their automowers this time of the year.

I lowered the hours on mine two weeks ago and had to up the hours again as the grass was still growing quickly.

Mine is still out.... the wet weather is a bit of a pain though as you have to clean the mower more often and my lawn is very wet now as well so its starting to leave wheel marks.... it will have to come in in a week or so I'd say, unless the weather dries up.

deadl0ck

Mine is still out but it can get stuck with the wet ground.

deadl0ck

For anyone with a Robomow, I found this website with some good information:

https://robomow.jimdo.com/robomow-rs-630/

It's in German but Google translates fairly well.

The best tip there (in my opinion) is the one about putting a cable tie on the blade.
I've done this on my RS622 and it cuts much better in the wet as the cable tie keeps under the deck much cleaner. As a result there is no build-up under the blades and the cut quality is better with very little clumping - it's been brilliant for the weather we're having.

wexfordman2

deadl0ck wrote: »

Mine is still out but it can get stuck with the wet ground.

Same was happening with mine. up until the storm. I took it in before the storm, and have had a tree down in the garden now, so cant take it out till I clear that.

Water John

What for many on this thread is simply a little automatic lawnmower may soon become the tractor of the future.

http://www.fendt.com/us/fendt-mars.html

Here Fendt have devised, cloud controlled small robots to plant fields.

bennyineire

So Peps still got their bots put ?
This is my first year with an auto mower and I normally do my last cut at Halloween.

But it's still very mild for this time of the year, so when are ye planning on taken yours in ?

When the frost starts coming (Next week I think) ?

Zzippy

Took mine in for the storm but it's back out now. Adjusted height setting to max height and reduced the hours. Grass still growing well here in the west. No point taking it in permanently yet, if we let the grass get too long by spring I'd have to get someone in with a ride-on to cut it as it will be too long for the automower to handle.

cosdec

I got my 315 mower about 6 weeks ago. Its going fine but have a query. From watching on the app (yes, I am that sad), I can see it always returns to base to charge when it gets to about 35% battery left. So it charges for an hour, mows for an hour etc. but seems to be that it could stay out longer mowing . It doesn't appear to have any issues finding its way home , so I think 35% battery left is a little over-safe.
Can this be changed ?

Also, 3 other quickies ..
1) manual says to disconnect guides during storms. (lightening). Is that necessary ? Installer said not to worry ...
2) If it comes in for winter once frost starts (any day now), when does it go back out in the new year ?
3) when the mower comes in to protect from frost, does the base station have to come in too ?

KCross

cosdec wrote: »

Also, 3 other quickies ..
1) manual says to disconnect guides during storms. (lightening). Is that necessary ? Installer said not to worry ...
2) If it comes in for winter once frost starts (any day now), when does it go back out in the new year ?
3) when the mower comes in to protect from frost, does the base station have to come in too ?

1) I'd recommend yes. I've had 2 power supplies blow on me in the last 3 years. Replaced under warranty but they are ridiculously expensive to replace outside warranty. I was told to put a surge protector on it to further protect it so I think you should err on the side of caution and plug it out during lightning storm and put in a surge protector as well.

2) Up to you... for me, as soon as the grass starts growing it will go out so that the grass doesn't grow beyond its capability. A good yardstick is that it goes in and out around the same time as the clocks change but depends on weather, of course.

3) Yes.

RocoH

Anyone insure their robot mower - if so with who, was it part of house contents or extra? I cant get insured on new automower. I know it is pin code locked and i have GPS tracking and all that but it can still be lifted and thats 3k gone.
.....if house was secure i dont see a need but for those that are open to someone jumping a gate etc ....Do any of ye have insurance?

KCross

RocoH wrote: »

Anyone insure their robot mower - if so with who, was it part of house contents or extra? I cant get insured on new automower. I know it is pin code locked and i have GPS tracking and all that but it can still be lifted and thats 3k gone.
.....if house was secure i dont see a need but for those that are open to someone jumping a gate etc ....Do any of ye have insurance?

I tried, they wouldn't cover it because it's not indoors at night like a ride on would be.

If it's robbed from inside the house (like it is for the winter) then it's covered under existing contents insurance.

I have CCTV on mine as an extra deterrent.

listermint

Build a hatch on the shed let it drive in lock it at night ...

Lumen

listermint wrote: »

Build a hatch on the shed let it drive in lock it at night ...

A battery-operated timed chicken coop door opener would do it, but then you'd need to ensure that the hole wasn't big enough for a human to crawl through.

A 315 is 51x25 cm in profile. Can a scrote crawl through a hole that big?

KCross

Lumen wrote: »

A battery-operated timed chicken coop door opener would do it, but then you'd need to ensure that the hole wasn't big enough for a human to crawl through.

A 315 is 51x25 cm in profile. Can a scrote crawl through a hole that big?

It needs a much wider space than that to be able to dock itself.

Lumen

KCross wrote: »

It needs a much wider space than that to be able to dock itself.

Right, but that space would be inside the shed, if I understand listermint's suggestion.

Hatch might look like a flap for a scary dog. Wire a sensor up to a growling speaker, jobs a goodun.

KCross

Lumen wrote: »

Right, but that space would be inside the shed, if I understand listermint's suggestion.

Hatch might look like a flap for a scary dog. Wire a sensor up to a growling speaker, jobs a goodun.

It wouldn't work based on how the Husqvarna works anyway.

When it leaves the dock it backs out a few feet, spins and then randomly takes off in any direction. It won't, I think, be able to navigate back out a hatch.

I think it would have issues with docking as well unless you have a big space inside the shed allocated to it and even then it might struggle.

I think there was someone on this thread a while back posted a pic of a concrete security hut they built for the mower that seemed to work but it had a wide opening but it did hide the mower and made it more difficult to rob, but still possible and still effectively outside and unlocked so still not insured.

KCross

Found it
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=104600392&postcount=332

RocoH

So no insurance then. Thanks

wexfordman2

RocoH wrote: »

So no insurance then. Thanks

Wow,

That's a bit of a worry!!! Had I of known that it would make me think again about the purchase, might have stuck with a ride on?

Be interesting to see what the wholesalers response would be to that ?

Zzippy

Have there been many thefts? Someone could easily steal it alright but without the base station and PIN code it's useless to anyone else. Cold comfort if it's stolen, I know, but there isn't exactly much of a black market for something that won't work...

KCross

Zzippy wrote: »

Have there been many thefts? Someone could easily steal it alright but without the base station and PIN code it's useless to anyone else. Cold comfort if it's stolen, I know, but there isn't exactly much of a black market for something that won't work...

I haven't heard of any but thats not to say it hasn't happened.

You are right though, if the market isn't there to buy it stolen it wont get stolen unless the scrote in question is opportunistic stealing it and doesn't realise its worthless.

I'd guess your ride-on has a better chance of being stolen than the robot. The lack of insurance is the issue though.

Water John

I thought some, alarm when they are lifted off the ground?

KCross

Water John wrote: »

I thought some, alarm when they are lifted off the ground?

Yea, they do, but its not much good if its buzzing while you are at work or its gone over the fence by the time you wake up and get your torch to go outside!

drunkmonkey

Has anyone multiple lawn with these, i've two at the front and one at the back, one of them has a kerb it would need to drive up on to start cutting, the other two are linked but it would need to drive through a gate.
There's a good bit of grass between the 3 of them, also wondering what way it's going to dump it all.
Thinking of ditching the ride on..

Water John

Firstly, it all mulched, so no dumping. The two connected is easy with the guide wire running under the gate. Gate high enough?
The third lawn is a difficulty I myself have. Across the drive way, worried some fool (myself) might drive over it. Haven't taken the plunge yet.

drunkmonkey

Water John wrote: »

Firstly, it all mulched, so no dumping. The two connected is easy with the guide wire running under the gate. Gate high enough?
The third lawn is a difficulty I myself have. Across the drive way, worried some fool (myself) might drive over it. Haven't taken the plunge yet.

So it needs a guide wire running around all edges of the garden? Is that underground?

Water John

Can be either pegged to the ground or buried. Runs in a loop like you'd have for a dog. No experience of which is better.

searay

On the insurance, I just called my insurer to put t on cover as a high value item in place of the old ride-on.