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My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

prospect · 2014-05-20T10:15:39+00:00

Preface:* I do not sell these machines, nor am I in any way related or affiliated with anyone who does. * Also, I am not trying to convince anyone that they should/should not purchase one, or that these are a better/worse alternative to the other lawn mowing machines available on the market. * I have contacted a moderator…

prospect

Preface:

I do not sell these machines, nor am I in any way related or affiliated with anyone who does.
Also, I am not trying to convince anyone that they should/should not purchase one, or that these are a better/worse alternative to the other lawn mowing machines available on the market.
I have contacted a moderator of the gardening forum in relation to this thread and received their permission to go ahead.

So, what is this thread about?

I have spent a good while researching autonomous (robotic) lawn mowers and this week I have purchased one (awaiting delivery). I am pretty satisfied that there is an element of gambling with this investment and am fully prepared to accept the consequences, i.e. whether it proves to be a successful purchase or an unsuccessful one.

I will try to be as impartial and honest as I can, detailing all the positive, neutral and negative experiences I have. Hopefully, anyone considering purchasing a robot lawnmower in the future will find information posted by an actual user/owner to be a useful aid.

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KCross

Shefwedfan wrote: »

F**k me I didn't think it would need to be going that much.....the 430x has a max capacity of 3200m2, to do 1700m2 it needs to be going 13 hours 7 days a week :eek:

That seems like a hell of a lot of mowing, is that right? I run around my land at the moment in 30-40 mins on the tractor

My lawn is 3000m² and I have the 430x. It's timed for about 10hrs a day 5 days a week but that also includes charging time so its not on the lawn 10hrs a day.

If you had a lawn half that size it would be much much less time again.

It does, of course, vary by lawn and time of the year.... i.e. depends on grass growth.

glog

KCross wrote: »

My lawn is 3000m² and I have the 430x. It's timed for about 10hrs a day 5 days a week but that also includes charging time so its not on the lawn 10hrs a day.

If you had a lawn half that size it would be much much less time again.

It does, of course, vary by lawn and time of the year.... i.e. depends on grass growth.

There will be a lot of variation between lawns, but with Spring growth, I wouldn't have thought for 1500m2 that the mower could be out any less than 8 hours (about 2 cut/charge cycles) for 5 days, which would be in line with the what the manual says.
I have to disagree "it would be much much less time again" but I could well be wrong.

KCross

marob1969 wrote: »

My area is three lawns, two to front separated by a tarmacadam driveway and a larger area to the rear of the house. I have measured the area to be 2,100sqm approx. Both of the front areas are joined to the rear area by narrow passages at each side, one side has a passage that narrows to 1.4m beside the garage and on the other side the passage is about 5m in length with a 1.0m width at its narrowest.
On the 1.0m section there is kerbing on one side (down to the tarmacadam) of the passage and a Griselinia hedge to the other side of the same passage. If I can get through that then the other side (1.4m) at the garage should be okay, correct?

My questions:
Would an auto mower be able to navigate through these passages or what is minimum that these can accommodate, bearing in mind that I have a kerbing in one area?

How far away from kerbing are boundary wires typically placed so that the auto mower doesn’t ‘fall off’ onto the tarmacadam?

That 1m might be tight. Any chance that can be widened, even a little?

Cant speak for all the robots but the Husqvarna needs the boundary wire 30cm inside the kerb on each side to ensure that it doesnt put a wheel over the kerb and the guide wire between them needs to be 30cm from each boundary so thats a minimum width of about 120cm. You could probably shave a little off that but its not ideal to be making it narrower.

marob1969 wrote: »

Would I need two guidewires to be in place through the passages to allow the auto mower to access the two front areas? Plan on putting charging station on the larger lawn to the rear of the garage

Yes, so that will limit your choices as some robots only have one guide wire.

marob1969 wrote: »

Does a guidewire always need to end with a termination where its joined to a boundary wire?

Yes

KCross

glog wrote: »

There will be a lot of variation between lawns, but with Spring growth, I wouldn't have thought for 1500m2 that the mower could be out any less than 8 hours (about 2 cut/charge cycles) for 5 days, which would be in line with the what the manual says.
I have to disagree "it would be much much less time again" but I could well be wrong.

I cant see how a lawn half the size of mine would require 8hrs. The length of time required is proprotional to the size of the lawn(all things being equal).

Maybe you have a faster growing lawn than me. I dont know. Ultimately everyone will need to figure out what works for their lawn.

marob1969

KCross wrote: »

That 1m might be tight. Any chance that can be widened, even a little?

Cant speak for all the robots but the Husqvarna needs the boundary wire 30cm inside the kerb on each side to ensure that it doesnt put a wheel over the kerb and the guide wire between them needs to be 30cm from each boundary so thats a minimum width of about 120cm. You could probably shave a little off that but its not ideal to be making it narrower.

Yes, so that will limit your choices as some robots only have one guide wire.

Yes

Thanks for your response.

I could get under/strip back the hedge a bit I guess. Why do you say its not ideal to be making it narrower. What is the impact if any?

KCross

marob1969 wrote: »

I could get under/strip back the hedge a bit I guess. Why do you say its not ideal to be making it narrower. What is the impact if any?

Well, if you go by the manual it needs 1.2m. The potential problem with having it less than that is that it will go down that passage and "bump" into the boundary wire and stop (or turnaround)... basically, not make it through.

The mower usually stops following the guide wire if it hits anything and starts cutting from there. That could mean that that lawn doesnt get cut in your case.

Successfully going the full length of the guide wire consistently is critical to success.

Im sure Husqvarna have allowed some leeway in their spec so it might be OK at 1m but it would be a chance you'd be taking that it would work.

If you could give it the recommended 1.2m all the way, then you will be OK.

Ketron

Hi folks,

Hoping someone here can help. I have a 450x with 3 guide wires in use. One of the guide wires leads to the largest area from the base stations perspective. The issue I'm having is I'm finding the mower is tracking the guide wire perfectly all the time on the way back to the base station and leaving tracks. Is there any setting to avoid this? I have corridor width set max and to be honest it seems to make no difference.

septicsac

Ketron wrote: »

Hi folks,

Hoping someone here can help. I have a 450x with 3 guide wires in use. One of the guide wires leads to the largest area from the base stations perspective. The issue I'm having is I'm finding the mower is tracking the guide wire perfectly all the time on the way back to the base station and leaving tracks. Is there any setting to avoid this? I have corridor width set max and to be honest it seems to make no difference.

From what you say it is working correct, just leaving tracks? If so Im not sure what you can do, the guidewire is there to bring it back, so it has to follow it. Is it leaving tracks in the wet only?
Suppose the only way is to move the guidewire, to somewhere it possibly wont make tracks perhaps drier ground if thats possible?

I have 450x and it might leave brief tracks after returning, but generally it disappears, especially ar ground dries out and grass gets shorter.

KCross

Ketron wrote: »

Hi folks,

Hoping someone here can help. I have a 450x with 3 guide wires in use. One of the guide wires leads to the largest area from the base stations perspective. The issue I'm having is I'm finding the mower is tracking the guide wire perfectly all the time on the way back to the base station and leaving tracks. Is there any setting to avoid this? I have corridor width set max and to be honest it seems to make no difference.

That is the only relevant setting. Did you set it for each guide wire?

Is it varying the distance it keeps from the guide wire at all?

Is there plenty space around the guide wire for it to vary it’s distance?

Ketron

septicsac wrote: »

From what you say it is working correct, just leaving tracks? If so Im not sure what you can do, the guidewire is there to bring it back, so it has to follow it. Is it leaving tracks in the wet only?
Suppose the only way is to move the guidewire, to somewhere it possibly wont make tracks perhaps drier ground if thats possible?

I have 450x and it might leave brief tracks after returning, but generally it disappears, especially ar ground dries out and grass gets shorter.

Ground is fairly dry at this stage, just been watching it over the last week and can see tracks forming, trying to nip it in the bud if it's possible.

KCross wrote: »

That is the only relevant setting. Did you set it for each guide wire?

Is it varying the distance it keeps from the guide wire at all?

Is there plenty space around the guide wire for it to vary it’s distance?

It's not varying the distance from the guide wire at all, it's following it dead center all the time. I thought it was supposed to vary between 0m and 1m? Have the corridor width set to max (9 in the app) on all three guide wires.

Plenty of space to follow the wire, the narrowest space it moves though is about 5m and the guide wire is in the center of it. The narrow bit is only a couple of meters before it widens up again

It's an odd one, other than that its working perfect.

Shaunoc

450 - installation - corridor width
Check those settings in app
Should be a value for each guide wire

KCross

Ketron wrote: »

It's not varying the distance from the guide wire at all, it's following it dead center all the time. I thought it was supposed to vary between 0m and 1m? Have the corridor width set to max (9 in the app) on all three...

That’s exactly what that setting is supposed to do.

Any chance the app isn’t updating the mower? Maybe check it via the mower itself.

Also try turning it off/on.

Other than that I don’t know.

Ketron

KCross wrote: »

That’s exactly what that setting is supposed to do.

Any chance the app isn’t updating the mower? Maybe check it via the mower itself.

Also try turning it off/on.

Other than that I don’t know.

Cheers, I'll give it a go. I did notice the time wasn't updating right on it so I had to power cycle it. I'll check the on board settings. Other than that I'll chance an update when I can I can get it to a dealer.

caddy16

Finally got to look at a few installation videos and looks fairly ok, albeit probably slow, which makes going the buying online route a viable option.

Seems like you'd have to bury the guide wire if your intending to scarify lawn, you could avoid the boundary wires. Anyone experience of this?

glog

caddy16 wrote: »

Finally got to look at a few installation videos and looks fairly ok, albeit probably slow, which makes going the buying online route a viable option.

Seems like you'd have to bury the guide wire if your intending to scarify lawn, you could avoid the boundary wires. Anyone experience of this?

Yes - for the guide wires i'd definitely bury at least 4 inches. The last thing you'd want is to go ripping them up.
I'd advise making up a little tool when installing the wire in the cut.
For instance, I used a small length of oval electric conduit, cut at an angle on the bottom, to lay the cable in the cut.
It ensured it got the wire down to the bottom of the cut and helped speed up the cable laying.

caddy16

glog wrote: »

Yes - for the guide wires i'd definitely bury at least 4 inches. The last thing you'd want is to go ripping them up.
I'd advise making up a little tool when installing the wire in the cut.
For instance, I used a small length of oval electric conduit, cut at an angle on the bottom, to lay the cable in the cut.
It ensured it got the wire down to the bottom of the cut and helped speed up the cable laying.

Good idea thanks. Did you just use a spade for the cut?

KCross

caddy16 wrote: »

Seems like you'd have to bury the guide wire if your intending to scarify lawn, you could avoid the boundary wires. Anyone experience of this?

Yes is the answer but why would you need to scarify the lawn?

You will have a much healthier lawn once you use the robot. Is scarifying required after that? I doubt it.

Even if you did need to do it a few times, maybe because your lawn is currently in rag order, just don’t scarify right up to the edges, stay out a foot.

So, whether you bury the cable or peg it and let it disappear into the ground itself is up to you. Burying it makes it much harder to shift or adjust (which is a possibility).

caddy16

KCross wrote: »

Yes is the answer but why would you need to scarify the lawn?

You will have a much healthier lawn once you use the robot. Is scarifying required after that? I doubt it.

Even if you did need to do it a few times, maybe because your lawn is currently in rag order, just don’t scarify right up to the edges, stay out a foot.

So, whether you bury the cable or peg it and let it disappear into the ground itself is up to you. Burying it makes it much harder to shift or adjust (which is a possibility).

Yes hopefully won't be needed. Boundary wires are fine it's the guide wire just in case!

glog

caddy16 wrote: »

Good idea thanks. Did you just use a spade for the cut?

A lawn edger

septicsac

I had moss in my lawn prior to automower. I treated the lawn last year and mower now in 20 months. I have no moss now except a small bit at the edges where the mower does not cut

spose

marob1969 wrote: »

Hi Folks,
Been reading through this thread for a few weeks now and am interested in in taking the plunge, probably next year though.
My area is three lawns, two to front separated by a tarmacadam driveway and a larger area to the rear of the house. I have measured the area to be 2,100sqm approx. Both of the front areas are joined to the rear area by narrow passages at each side, one side has a passage that narrows to 1.4m beside the garage and on the other side the passage is about 5m in length with a 1.0m width at its narrowest.
On the 1.0m section there is kerbing on one side (down to the tarmacadam) of the passage and a Griselinia hedge to the other side of the same passage. If I can get through that then the other side (1.4m) at the garage should be okay, correct?
My questions:
Would an auto mower be able to navigate through these passages or what is minimum that these can accommodate, bearing in mind that I have a kerbing in one area?
How far away from kerbing are boundary wires typically placed so that the auto mower doesn’t ‘fall off’ onto the tarmacadam?
Would I need two guidewires to be in place through the passages to allow the auto mower to access the two front areas? Plan on putting charging station on the larger lawn to the rear of the garage
Does a guidewire always need to end with a termination where its joined to a boundary wire?
Any recommendations for a machine to suit my requirements or have I hit a roadblock with the passages. Seen a view videos on Youtube and they seem to be able to navigate through channels that would be not much wider than the auto mower itself?
If this is not feasible don’t even mention con-sawing tarmac as it’s a non-runner for the dosh I spent on it.:(

Thanks in advance.

Great thread by the way, thanks to those who initiated it.

I have a 430x that travels about 10m across tarmac and through a tunnel under a fence. Boundary wires are 2ft wide with guide in the middle. There’d be no issue with getting it to travel through when following the wire the only issue is when it ends up going in to that path while cutting. It’ll just bounce around in there for a good while until it works it’s way back out

B-D-P--

What blades are you guys getting?
Titanium?
Any specific brands? 430x here

hero25

KCross wrote: »

I have the smaller 430x model and its on its 5th or 6th season (cant remember which) and its still on its original battery.

The 450x, iirc, has two batteries so it seems to be, based on it charging to 49%, that one of them has died on you.

AFAIK it has a 2yr warranty so I'd be logging that fault with Husqvarna via email asap and try to get a new battery out of them.

It certainly should not die within 2 years. What it should do is slowly degrade where it cant cut for as long but it should not die completely so you should be entitled to a warranty replacement on that.

It could also be a loose cable/connection on one of the batteries that occasionally pops out and up comes the error then.

Thanks for the response. Have mailed Husqvarna as you suggested.
(BTW - its now back working as normal, without any intervention - still no harm to have it reported)

paulbok

spose wrote: »

I have a 430x that travels about 10m across tarmac and through a tunnel under a fence. Boundary wires are 2ft wide with guide in the middle. There’d be no issue with getting it to travel through when following the wire the only issue is when it ends up going in to that path while cutting. It’ll just bounce around in there for a good while until it works it’s way back out

When laying the cables through the tarmac, were they layed before the tarmac or is a cut with say an angle grinder with two blades enough, and patched after?

paulbok

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.

caddy16

paulbok wrote: »

When laying the cables through the tarmac, were they layed before the tarmac or is a cut with say an angle grinder with two blades enough, and patched after?

I'm in the same boat as you, currently gravel but will be tarmac later this year hopefully. I'm putting down three lengths of 1/2 waterpipe in gravel and then tar over that.

KCross

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?

The mowers have GPS. It builds its own internal map of your lawn so it then knows where it has been and where to go to next. Its still somewhat random though as it bumps into things and moves off in another direction.

You can also disable GPS and setup zones and tell it how often to go to those zones when leaving the docking station but I dont think you can tell it to go to, say, zone 5 at a specific time of the day.... at least not the mower I have anyway (Husqvarna).

paulbok wrote: »

Does the mower/app notify when moving from one to another?

No, it doesnt. You would be getting notifications continuously if it did.

Bear in mind that the mower doesnt necessarily go to one of your zones and cut every blade of it in one session. It could take a few sessions depending on size/shape and it will be at random times.

paulbok wrote: »

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.

There wont be an easy solution to that.

Maybe plaster the mower in reflective stickers and/or time the mower to go out at night only.

Lurching

KCross wrote: »

There wont be an easy solution to that.

Maybe plaster the mower in reflective stickers and/or time the mower to go out at night only.

If you have a good understanding of automation, you could put a trigger somewhere which notifies the system when the mower goes past a certain point, automatically sending a signal to close the gates, and the opposite when it returns.

I'm not going to pretend I have all the answers on how to do that, but I know it's doable!

KCross

Lurching wrote: »

If you have a good understanding of automation, you could put a trigger somewhere which notifies the system when the mower goes past a certain point, automatically sending a signal to close the gates, and the opposite when it returns.

I'm not going to pretend I have all the answers on how to do that, but I know it's doable!

For sure it could be done via external sensors but not with the mower software/app itself... i think that was the question.

If he has a sensor, the same as the gates would have, that he can put in that would sense the mower crossing the drive and then auto closing/opening the gates, that would be ideal. I wouldnt class that as easy though but certainly doable.

paulbok

Cheers for those answers.
Not what I wanted to hear but good to be going into this with realistic expectations of what the mower can/can't do.
Had planned on getting the mower early this summer, but with doubts over jobs and pay cuts already implemented due to the C virus, I will be leaving the mower, the tarmacing and gates until next year.
Should give me time to come up with a solution.
I think sensors to detect the mower will be the answer.