My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

balcan

antomack wrote: »

Was planning on moving to a robot mower this year, had the Ambrogio L35 Deluxe in mind but dealer had concerns around a narrow passage connection between front and back, reduces to 88cm at narrowest. Overall with fitting was coming to €2,300 when priced up last September, €650 for fitting as would have to chase concrete behind shed for about 16m for boundary and guide wire.

I've attached a jpeg of the back layout mainly which I reckon should be relatively straight forward. From my measurements it comes to about 850 sq m for the back and about 300 sq m for the front.
Summary of image
- orange area around edge is gravel path with sleeper edge to lawn, c1.2m, concrete behind sheds.
- area in black is the septic and plan on island around coming from open shed end
- light blue is matted concrete so not looking to bring power cables through it
- open shed, can bring power to fairly easily

With the Coop offer on the Gardena I'm considering it now, could actually get two for less than the Ambrogio but getting the back automowing will be good enough for now.

Few questions if anyone can give their thoughts
1) The Gardena is rated for 1000 sq m so with 850 sq m in my back garden will it suffice.
2) My plan was to site the base station behind the 'open shed' as can bring power to it and have the power under cover. Is there a better place bearing in mind the light blue is matted concrete so not looking to be digging it up for power cables.
3) Assuming the base is behind the open shed what would be the best route for a guide wire. Can it be routed over the island bridge between the two septic sections or will it need to go right back behind the smaller section?
4) Can the base station be sited within the open shed or does it have to be on the lawn?

Any other advice or cautions are welcome.

I've mine up and running about 5 weeks now and very happy with it, My gardens similar to yours just under a 1000 sq m with trees, islands and a septic tank, I placed the base station mid point behind a shed in a shelter alcove and just ran the boundary wire around the perimeter of the garden, the kit came with 200 meters of cable and 400 pegs but I needed to get another 50 meters of cable and pegs, regarding the narrow passage I've got a section about 90 cm wide behind the house leading to a small section of lawn and it manages it fine, the kit comes with a hub and outdoor sensor that communicate with the mower via the Gardena app and it's very useful giving real time status of the mower, if it gets stuck I get a notification on my phone even remotely. I'm a complete novice to robot mowers but had it setup in a day and up and running with no problems, As I've said I'm very happy with it and sorry I didn't get one a few years ago instead of a ride on mower. Hope this helps

MascotDec85

I started on the last page and went back through the posts 15-20 pages (mobile)
I don’t see any posts about Honda mowers. Anyone got one? If so, how long have you had it and what issues have you experienced, if any?

witnessmenow

Worx suggested separating the bridge wires for my infinite island problem. This would make it into on really oddly shaped boundary, but it should work for the go home problem, it would just mean the mower can't driver over the bridge anymore.

I might way overcomplicate this and add a new wire from the pond area connect to a relay (connect the existing wire to the normally closed pin of the relay) and if it detects the robot loop a couple of times, engage the relay to let it go home

I'm after ordering another 100 pegs off Amazon there, £8. If you are anywhere close to limits of how much boundary wire supplied I would definitely recommend buying extra , especially as it adds so little go the overall cost. I've a few places where it could probably do with another peg, but I don't have any left!

Ketron

buzz11 wrote: »

OK thanks for that, I think I see why mine isn't effective on this mode -- my mower doesn't have GPS so it doesn't know which parts of the lawn need more cutting.

I've disabled the sensor cut and gone back to basic schedule of cutting every second day and things are better already.

You dont need GPS, it should can know the area via the the guide wire. The idea of the weather timer is to have the mower on all the time and only schedule times where you dont want it to cut. Using the weather timer the mower will only stay out if its actually cutting grass, if its not it should park up for 24hours and try again.


In saying that, my 450x is using the weather timer on medium and has yet to take a break from cutting this season, its a large area though, close to around 4500m2 or so.

Ketron

Ketron wrote: »

close to around 4500m2 or so.

Thats a serious lawn :cool:

KCross

witnessmenow wrote: »

Worx suggested separating the bridge wires for my infinite island problem. This would make it into on really oddly shaped boundary, but it should work for the go home problem, it would just mean the mower can't driver over the bridge!

That’s a cop out by worx. Clearly a bug in their software. I’d be complaining a bit more assuming it’s installed per the manual.

Tails142

witnessmenow wrote: »

Worx suggested separating the bridge wires for my infinite island problem. This would make it into on really oddly shaped boundary, but it should work for the go home problem, it would just mean the mower can't driver over the bridge anymore.

I might way overcomplicate this and add a new wire from the pond area connect to a relay (connect the existing wire to the normally closed pin of the relay) and if it detects the robot loop a couple of times, engage the relay to let it go home

I'm after ordering another 100 pegs off Amazon there, £8. If you are anywhere close to limits of how much boundary wire supplied I would definitely recommend buying extra , especially as it adds so little go the overall cost. I've a few places where it could probably do with another peg, but I don't have any left!

Did you read this?
https://support.worx-europe.com/how-set-up-island

It says if your island is bigger than 6m x 6m you will have the problem your having.

This add on for the worx might solve your problem https://www.amazon.co.uk/WORX-WA0863-Accessory-Landroid-Robotic/dp/B07LFLXNJD/ref=asc_df_B07LFLXNJD/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309839399469&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=528714966554033757&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007880&hvtargid=pla-734700788141&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

It aint exactly cheap though but lets you set no go areas without complicating the boundary

witnessmenow

Tails142 wrote: »

Did you read this?
https://support.worx-europe.com/how-set-up-island

It says if your island is bigger than 6m x 6m you will have the problem your having.

This add on for the worx might solve your problem https://www.amazon.co.uk/WORX-WA0863-Accessory-Landroid-Robotic/dp/B07LFLXNJD/ref=asc_df_B07LFLXNJD/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309839399469&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=528714966554033757&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007880&hvtargid=pla-734700788141&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

It aint exactly cheap though but lets you set no go areas without complicating the boundary

I hadn't! i installed it based on their YT installation video. thanks for the link.

AstraMonti

I will be setting up the Worx L2000 shortly, and i was reading the instructions about the cable installation. It says that when you are setting an island it needs at least a meter. I have some swings and a trampoline near the hedges, about 80cm off the hedges i would say. Seems like I would be needing to take them further out another meter so the cable going by the hedges and the cable going to an island have at least a meter difference. I am not really liking that idea, but I can't see it working any other way, unless i ignore cutting the grass behind them with the robot, and just run the cable in front of them.

Thud

AstraMonti wrote: »

I will be setting up the Worx L2000 shortly, and i was reading the instructions about the cable installation. It says that when you are setting an island it needs at least a meter. I have some swings and a trampoline near the hedges, about 80cm off the hedges i would say. Seems like I would be needing to take them further out another meter so the cable going by the hedges and the cable going to an island have at least a meter difference. I am not really liking that idea, but I can't see it working any other way, unless i ignore cutting the grass behind them with the robot, and just run the cable in front of them.

I got the ACS add on as I have about 15 trees in the lawn and some garden furniture which can be moved around. Its expensive as well (probably why the base units are cheaper) but works well and allows a lot of flexibility

AstraMonti

Thud wrote: »

I got the ACS add on as I have about 15 trees in the lawn and some garden furniture which can be moved around. Its expensive as well (probably why the base units are cheaper) but works well and allows a lot of flexibility

I got it as well, but I would assume I would need to make an island out of the trampoline due to the base being on the ground? I imagine if the robot hits the tubing it could damage its blades.

Thud

AstraMonti wrote: »

I got it as well, but I would assume I would need to make an island out of the trampoline due to the base being on the ground? I imagine if the robot hits the tubing it could damage its blades.

Does the tubing run flat along the ground? Not sure it will pick that up but vertical tubes it would, it automatically avoids some very small trees (<1 inch diameter) and garden chair legs.
Maybe the off limits add on it better suited for the trampoline

AstraMonti

Thud wrote: »

Does the tubing run flat along the ground? Not sure it will pick that up but vertical tubes it would, it automatically avoids some very small trees (<1 inch diameter) and garden chair legs.
Maybe the off limits add on it better suited for the trampoline

Yes it's flat on the ground. I would think the off limits would have the same issue, the two cables will be close enough (less than 50-70cm) distance between the border wire and the off limits, so the robot would probably have issues to navigate between.

witnessmenow

AstraMonti wrote: »

I got it as well, but I would assume I would need to make an island out of the trampoline due to the base being on the ground? I imagine if the robot hits the tubing it could damage its blades.

How thick is the base tubing of the trampoline?

The mower is quite low to the ground so Its possible it wouldn't be able to driver over the base (from memory of trampoline bases), it would just hit into it and readjust. You could also atrach (zip tie?) some timber to the base to make double sure it can't driver over them.

They use a trampoline as an example of something to use the off-limits thing on so maybe I'm wrong

Bungusbeefcake

Hey, I'm looking at buying wire for installation and there seems to be the Genisys wire and also Bosscom. Which one would you suggest? I'm looking to put about 700m down. I can see the Genisys one comes in kits and is cheaper so thinking of this one, but what are peoples experience?

Also, has anyone rented a wire installation machine? I'm considering renting one as I expect it would be cheaper than buying all the pegs for this length. I'm near Drogheda, so if anyone has an idea of anyone near here who might rent one, please let me know.

Thanks!

witnessmenow

Bungusbeefcake wrote: »

Hey, I'm looking at buying wire for installation and there seems to be the Genisys wire and also Bosscom. Which one would you suggest? I'm looking to put about 700m down. I can see the Genisys one comes in kits and is cheaper so thinking of this one, but what are peoples experience?

Also, has anyone rented a wire installation machine? I'm considering renting one as I expect it would be cheaper than buying all the pegs for this length. I'm near Drogheda, so if anyone has an idea of anyone near here who might rent one, please let me know.

Thanks!

1000 pegs could be bought for £80 even off amazon so I'm not sure it would be cheaper, but maybe it would be easier, I don't know.

How come you are buying the wire separately? Do some mowers not come with it, or will you just not have enough?

christy c

Anyone have any experience with a LandXcape? 4 positive reviews on Amazon but not much else around that I can see.

Cheap enough here and it's for a small lawn.

https://www.myrobotcenter.eu/en/landxcape-lx799-2020

AstraMonti

witnessmenow wrote: »

1000 pegs could be bought for £80 even off amazon so I'm not sure it would be cheaper, but maybe it would be easier, I don't know.

How come you are buying the wire separately? Do some mowers not come with it, or will you just not have enough?

I need more wire and pegs for the Worx, I guess any of the wires will work as well?

joebre

What have people used to keep their plug waterproof if kept outside ?

Mine won't fit into an outdoor socket so it will need some sort of housing ?

buzz11

joebre wrote: »

What have people used to keep their plug waterproof if kept outside ?

Mine won't fit into an outdoor socket so it will need some sort of housing ?

Google dribox, the come in a few sizes

https://cpcireland.farnell.com/dribox/fl-1859-330-green/dri-box-330-ip55-weatherproof/dp/EN82670

murfler

Sorry guys I'm sure this has been asked plenty of times on this but how often should blades be changed? I know it says roughly every 2 months but my 430x running now 2 months with original blades and it seems to be working fine. I got 6 extra blades with robot so I can change them whenever. Also where is best place to buy decent quality blades when needed? Thank you

witnessmenow

AstraMonti wrote: »

I need more wire and pegs for the Worx, I guess any of the wires will work as well?

Yes any should work, I ran out and I finalised my install with a mismatch of pegs from B&Q and dealz cause I wanted to finish the install after I started it. I'm after buying some more pegs on Amazon to tidy up a couple of places and also to have for adjustmets.

Any wire should do, there is nothing special about the cable itself, but I imagine the sleeving/housing for the wire specifically made for boundary wire is designed to live in the ground for a long time so I wouldn't just use any wire. I also ran out of wire and I ended up buying some wire made for those "wireless" dog fence things, again cause I wanted to finish the install rather than wait for delivery. It's also designed to live outside so should survive from that point of view. It was a thinner wire than the one than came with the landroid but I only needed a 20m of it or so. It has been working fine for the last week anyways. But if I had realised ahead of time I would run out I definitely would have bought the actual stuff. The dog wire wasn't overly cheap either, E35 for 150m, So I wouldn't see any reason to buy it unless you are stuck.

Lurching

murfler wrote: »

Also where is best place to buy decent quality blades when needed? Thank you

I bought a pack of 30 blades with replacement screws for £12.99 on Amazon.

richardw001

murfler wrote: »

Sorry guys I'm sure this has been asked plenty of times on this but how often should blades be changed? I know it says roughly every 2 months but my 430x running now 2 months with original blades and it seems to be working fine. I got 6 extra blades with robot so I can change them whenever. Also where is best place to buy decent quality blades when needed? Thank you

I struggled with this as well - have mine since the start of last summer.

Really seems to be dependant on the amount of cutting and the type of cutting that is being done. For example last year I didnt change the blades at all ! - and it seemed fine.

We have a flat lawns with minimal effort to cut that are kept clear and have it cutting most of the daylight hours so - it doesnt have to work very hard when its cutting each time I imagine

When I changed them at the start of this cutting season (March-April 2020) - I inspected them and they were black and dull - so decided to swap them with new ones - so will probably leave the current ones in for the next month or two

If the blades dont look dull or damaged - and the mower is cutting fine then I personally dont see the need to change them automatically every two months -

Bungusbeefcake

witnessmenow wrote: »

1000 pegs could be bought for £80 even off amazon so I'm not sure it would be cheaper, but maybe it would be easier, I don't know.

How come you are buying the wire separately? Do some mowers not come with it, or will you just not have enough?

Hi, I don't think the mower will come with ~800m of wire. I could be wrong though so I'm waiting for it to arrive before I get it but I expect if it comes with an installation kit it would be minimal in comparison to my requirements. What would normally come with them?
I've purchased an Ambrogio L350i Elite, anyone self installed one of these before?? Would really appreciate any help/guidance on installation!
The layout for the quick return is interesting per the manual:

murfler

Lurching wrote: »

I bought a pack of 30 blades with replacement screws for £12.99 on Amazon.

Were they good quality?

murfler

richardw001 wrote: »

I struggled with this as well - have mine since the start of last summer.

Really seems to be dependant on the amount of cutting and the type of cutting that is being done. For example last year I didnt change the blades at all ! - and it seemed fine.

We have a flat lawns with minimal effort to cut that are kept clear and have it cutting most of the daylight hours so - it doesnt have to work very hard when its cutting each time I imagine

When I changed them at the start of this cutting season (March-April 2020) - I inspected them and they were black and dull - so decided to swap them with new ones - so will probably leave the current ones in for the next month or two

If the blades dont look dull or damaged - and the mower is cutting fine then I personally dont see the need to change them automatically every two months -

OK thanks, so you got a full season out of one set of blades? What size is your lawn? Thanks

Ketron

Bungusbeefcake wrote: »

Hey, I'm looking at buying wire for installation and there seems to be the Genisys wire and also Bosscom. Which one would you suggest? I'm looking to put about 700m down. I can see the Genisys one comes in kits and is cheaper so thinking of this one, but what are peoples experience?

Also, has anyone rented a wire installation machine? I'm considering renting one as I expect it would be cheaper than buying all the pegs for this length. I'm near Drogheda, so if anyone has an idea of anyone near here who might rent one, please let me know.

Thanks!

I used Genisys for both my installations and no complaints, I bought from their shop on ebay. If I remember correctly the pricing scheme didn't make much sense on some items, for example it was cheaper to buy two packs of 200 pegs vs one pack of 400 etc.

Bungusbeefcake

Ketron wrote: »

I used Genisys for both my installations and no complaints, I bought from their shop on ebay. If I remember correctly the pricing scheme didn't make much sense on some items, for example it was cheaper to buy two packs of 200 pegs vs one pack of 400 etc.

Yeah, it's a bit all over the place. It's cheaper to buy a 500m installation kit, with 800 pegs and also a 250m installation kit with 400 pegs + connectors than to buy 800m of wire and then add in like 1000 pegs. It's like 150 in the difference. I was thinking the Genisys anyway. I'll see how much comes with the machine, but I don't expect much.

What machines were you installing?

Ketron

Bungusbeefcake wrote: »

Yeah, it's a bit all over the place. It's cheaper to buy a 500m installation kit, with 800 pegs and also a 250m installation kit with 400 pegs + connectors than to buy 800m of wire and then add in like 1000 pegs. It's like 150 in the difference. I was thinking the Genisys anyway. I'll see how much comes with the machine, but I don't expect much.

What machines were you installing?

I installed a Husqvarna 310 and 450. Been flying it since. Get plenty of the 3m connectors so you can make changes easily and repair any accidental damage, got a bit over zealous with a spade on one occasion!