My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

Cyrus

Naos wrote: »

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

Just get a proper outdoor plug and a waterproof box for the power supply

Naos

Cyrus wrote: »

Just get a proper outdoor plug and a waterproof box for the power supply

Do I need an electrician to install? If not, can you point me to a product please.

exaisle

I'd suggest you google "waterproof socket for outdoors". You'll see lots of pics of the kind of thing that's needed.

If you're not 100% sure how to install this properly, then don't attempt it. Better safe than sorry.

glog

Cyrus wrote: »

Just get a proper outdoor plug and a waterproof box for the power supply

Alternatively, with Huskvarna Automower, there is a 10 meter cable on the power supply.
If your site allows, you can house the power supply indoors, in a garage or in a shed and lay the cable to the base station.
It is quite a thin cable which can easily be tucked along a path or wall.
If you need to feed it through a hole in the wall, you can temporarily remove the plastic cable connector, allowing it to be fed through a much smaller hole.
You reconnect the connector afterwards.

The 10 meter cable is standard, you can also buy 20 meter afterwards.

Naos

exaisle wrote: »

I'd suggest you google "waterproof socket for outdoors". You'll see lots of pics of the kind of thing that's needed.

If you're not 100% sure how to install this properly, then don't attempt it. Better safe than sorry.

Got it thanks - yep understood, need a rewire of the house anyway so was planning to just wait and get one installed then.

Naos

glog wrote: »

Alternatively, with Huskvarna Automower, there is a 10 meter cable on the power supply.
If your site allows, you can house the power supply indoors, in a garage or in a shed and lay the cable to the base station.
It is quite a thin cable which can easily be tucked along a path or wall.
If you need to feed it through a hole in the wall, you can temporarily remove the plastic cable connector, allowing it to be fed through a much smaller hole.
You reconnect the connector afterwards.

The 10 meter cable is standard, you can also buy 20 meter afterwards.

Good man! I have the Rob S400 and just checked, power supply cable is around 10m and I can feed it from the garage no problem. Thanks!

KCross

septicsac wrote: »

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.

Presumably that would only work for dogs that are taller than the mower?

morgana

We had this installed
https://gyazo.com/84006a494e88253a4397374f96eeb67c
https://i.gyazo.com/30f6e265d2487c4dba26c4b2f03a7562.jpg

caddy16

On the recharging unit, we've an 80/20 split on lawn size. The garage is beside the smaller section and thats where it makes sense to place the unit.
I know it's recommended to place as centrally as possible but apart from the long trek back to recharge is there any other issue with doing this?

Shaunoc

Automower app seems updated since last season / recently (I don't check it overly). Statistics menu item giving operational hours and more

glog

caddy16 wrote: »

On the recharging unit, we've an 80/20 split on lawn size. The garage is beside the smaller section and thats where it makes sense to place the unit.
I know it's recommended to place as centrally as possible but apart from the long trek back to recharge is there any other issue with doing this?

I can't speak for any other type, but with Husqvarna, if you install the guide wires correctly and have one of the 'X' models with GPS assisted Navigation I would think it's perfectly OK to install it wherever is handiest.
It 'learns' your full lawn layout and cuts everywhere evenly.
Very worst case you can always move it in time but I bet it wouldn't be necessary.

Zzippy

Shaunoc wrote: »

Automower app seems updated since last season / recently (I don't check it overly). Statistics menu item giving operational hours and more

Yep. Mine is on 4872km. Neat but kinda useless info :pac:

caddy16

glog wrote: »

I can't speak for any other type, but with Husqvarna, if you install the guide wires correctly and have one of the 'X' models with GPS assisted Navigation I would think it's perfectly OK to install it wherever is handiest.
It 'learns' your full lawn layout and cuts everywhere evenly.
Very worst case you can always move it in time but I bet it wouldn't be necessary.

Spot on thanks, yes will either be 430x or 450x.

Lurching

Zzippy wrote: »

Yep. Mine is on 4872km. Neat but kinda useless info :pac:

After how long?

Installed my 315X today.
It went out and did a reccy of the garden for 10 mins then went back to the dock, so it's still on zero hours and km!

Shaunoc

Zzippy wrote:

Yep. Mine is on 4872km. Neat but kinda useless info

Zzippy wrote:

Yep. Mine is on 4872km. Neat but kinda useless info

7000 ish...

Lurching

Shaunoc wrote: »

7000 ish...

After how long?

septicsac

KCross wrote: »

Presumably that would only work for dogs that are taller than the mower?

Belgium Shepherd cross so good bit bigger than mower, but feck all dogs will chance an electric fence one they touch it once. They can hear the hum/buzz when it is on. i would sometimes turn it off if I needed to and might forget to turn it back on and you would see the dog getting braver, but minute it goes back on keeps the distance. She touched it once when I put it up and not touched it since, even if ball rolls under wont chance it......then every dog different too.

Shaunoc

Lurching wrote:

After how long?

Since August 2018

joebre

Picture shows my isolated section of lawn beyond the car. I have an existing duct under the line of bricks closest the footpath. The mower would have to travel along the footpath and turn into the lawn. Would this be possible ?

KCross

joebre wrote: »

Picture shows my isolated section of lawn beyond the car. I have an existing duct under the line of bricks closest the footpath. The mower would have to travel along the footpath and turn into the lawn. Would this be possible ?

As I said previously, you’ll need 3 ducts, not one.

So running it along the footpath won’t work unless you are planning on digging the public footpath!

It might also struggle with the getting across the stone margin you have, but hard to tell from the pic.

Borzoi

Shaunoc wrote: »

7000 ish...

18394, since July 2017

glog

joebre wrote: »

Picture shows my isolated section of lawn beyond the car. I have an existing duct under the line of bricks closest the footpath. The mower would have to travel along the footpath and turn into the lawn. Would this be possible ?

If crossing the drive to get to that isolated area is the only way to get to it, then IMO the only way is to chase 3 wires into existing brick joints (you will need about 3mm) and build ramps/paths through the gravel border and beds.
You could use the same brick for aesthetics

Not sure if you consider this practical or even worth it.
Might be a nice project.

NurseBridie

paulbok wrote: »

A question for those with a mower traveling between more than one grass area.
Do you set them up as zones on the app and can they be set to be mowed or not at a particular time? Or mowed in a specific order?
Does the mower/app notify when moving from one to another?

I have 4 sections of grass,
1. 600m2 (will be reduced to nearer 500 in the near future)
2. 150m2 - adjoining the 600m2, I can cut the bottom of the fence to run the guide/boundary wires out.
Then I have 2 small sections of approx 25m2 each, separated from area 2 by the driveway, currently compacted gravel but will be tarmaced.
The 2 small sections are split by a narrow garden path.
What I would like is for the mower to notify me (notify my home automation system) when finished each zone and is moving between zones.
Then I can close and lock the automated front gate to prevent a car driving over the mower when traversing the driveway.

I would strongly advise not having the mower on a path that a car can drive over. If you are getting tarmac done I would change things, probably be cheaper in the long run than having the mower run over in the future. You don't need the hassle in a few years time if the electrics start playing up.

have2flushtwice

joebre wrote: »

Picture shows my isolated section of lawn beyond the car. I have an existing duct under the line of bricks closest the footpath. The mower would have to travel along the footpath and turn into the lawn. Would this be possible ?

Silly question, but is it justifyable for a lawn that size?

joebre

have2flushtwice wrote: »

Silly question, but is it justifyable for a lawn that size?

Hard to know. Need to balance the work involved in getting the mower there compared with the need to keep my petrol mower.

Shaunoc

joebre wrote:

Hard to know. Need to balance the work involved in getting the mower there compared with the need to keep my petrol mower.

Lawn is so open at the front. I'd worry about theft / vandalism

glog

NurseBridie wrote: »

I would strongly advise not having the mower on a path that a car can drive over. .

Why?
Unfortunately, it is the only option for a lot of people and the mowers can do it no problem, in fact I'd say they are designed to do so.

IMO it defeats the purpose of having an Automower if you have to constantly, manually move it between areas and continually intervene.

paulbok

glog wrote: »

Why?
Unfortunately, it is the only option for a lot of people and the mowers can do it no problem, in fact I'd say they are designed to do so.

IMO it defeats the purpose of having an Automower if you have to constantly, manually move it between areas and continually intervene.

True.
I intend to automate my way out of the risk by closing and locking the gates when the mower is near it.
I could even put small flashing red led lights outside the gates to warn that they are locked for a reason.
I cannot change the layout of the driveway or the lawns so have to work with what's there (or will be once I get the gates up and tarmac layed.

With two small kids and living in a rural area with occasional loose livestock getting into the front garden (I currently have no gates), the future gates will probably be defaulted to the closed position. Between that and scheduling the mower around the times we usually drive in and out, it shouldn't be a issue.

insular1

Just wanted to add my experience with Gardena Sileno as haven't seen anyone else with one and I had a couple issues that may help someone else with their set up. Thanks to all on this thread as it was a big help.

Purchased late last year in a sale from myrobotcentre.eu Gardena Sileno R100 (I think). Capable of doing up to 1000m2 for 700euro so was perfect for me. Arrived before Christmas but only took it out of the box at the start of march as had no intention of setting up until the garden had dried a bit. It's basically a rebadged husqvarna that fits somewhere between the 305 and 315 but a good bit cheaper. Most of the component's are Husqvarna and the base station is Husqvarna branded.

Was impressed with myrobotcentre as when I unboxed it the base station was cracked and even though it was about 4 months since I ordered they just asked me to send a pic of the damage and immediately shipped me a new one. New one arrived and it was also cracked in a different place and again they dispatched another new one within 24hrs. They didn't even want me to post the broken ones back so ill hold onto them for spares. They also give a 5 year guarantee.

While waiting for the base stations to arrive I set up the boundary wire and within the week and a bit it took for it to arrive the wire was already mostly bedded in.

When I first set it up with the station it was giving me the blue light boundary wire error so I followed the wire and found a break, possiblity rabbits, and repaired it, but the the error persisted. Got a lend of an AM radio to trace the wire and it worked a charm but I was able to detect a signal the full length of the wire so didnt know what the issue was.

Finally realised that part of the boundary wire ran along side our neighbors field which he has electric fence around. On the AM radio could hear the distinct click of the current in the electric fence as well as the more faint buzzing of the boundary wire. So I moved the boundary wire a few feet away to where the electric fence couldn't be heard on the AM radio any more and I got no more boundary issues! Must have been signal interference or something.

Anyway delighted with little "Grassy" as the kids have named her. Grass is very long in parts as it took me so long to set up. I didn't bother strimming or cutting it first but she takes a good skelp off it with every pass and although after one day cutting it's looking a bit ragged I can see it getting more evened out every time I pass.

Happy so far and will update if I get any other issues. Also if anyone needs spare parts for a base station let me know!

Zzippy

Lurching wrote: »

After how long?

Installed my 315X today.
It went out and did a reccy of the garden for 10 mins then went back to the dock, so it's still on zero hours and km!

3 years, got it April 2017.

Shaunoc wrote: »

7000 ish...

Borzoi wrote: »

18394, since July 2017

Wow, what size lawns and how long do you have it set to cut for every week?