My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

Moreilly · 25-05-2020 9:34pm

A friend is looking for a robot mower, garden is around 500sqm was looking at the Mcculloch Rob r1000 (I think it's essentially a husky underneath) anybody on here got one?, if so how do the find it? (Have a husky 430x for my lawn, deadly machine!)

caddy16 · 25-05-2020 9:42pm

KCross wrote: »

That focuses the mind, doesnt it!

Most of the others have GPS as well, if you go for the higher spec models. 430x should be fine as it is spec'd for 3200m² which is more than you need.

Its a european warranty so you should be good, but obviously the service you get from your local dealer will depend on how busy they are and their attitude. They might decide to put you on the long finger over someone who bought from them but ultimately they have to fix it if something goes wrong under warranty.

Potentially but its very rare. They are useless to anyone that robs them as they are PIN protected so cant be used by anyone else unless they scrap it or have an inside man at a dealership that can unlock it for them.

It doesnt seem to happen anyway, not to say it cant though!

I've a 3000m² lawn and the 430x can manage it. At 2600m² I cant see why you would need a 450x. It will do it quicker as it travels faster than the 430x but if its a substantial price difference I'd pass. The 430x will be fine.

How long would the 430 be out cutting in summer time roughly?

slegs · 26-05-2020 11:46am

Moreilly wrote: »

A friend is looking for a robot mower, garden is around 500sqm was looking at the Mcculloch Rob r1000 (I think it's essentially a husky underneath) anybody on here got one?, if so how do the find it? (Have a husky 430x for my lawn, deadly machine!)

I have an r1000 and a lawn about 1000m2. It is a solid unit thought its the only one I've had so nothing to compare to. Lawn is immaculate. I have it running almost 18 hours a day 6 days a week to cut 1000m2.

For a 500m2 lawn would say its perfect.

listermint · 26-05-2020 3:44pm

Moreilly wrote: »

A friend is looking for a robot mower, garden is around 500sqm was looking at the Mcculloch Rob r1000 (I think it's essentially a husky underneath) anybody on here got one?, if so how do the find it? (Have a husky 430x for my lawn, deadly machine!)

ive over 1000 SqM on main lawn. and separate area approx 200SqM that i do with petrol mower.

The R1000 does the main lawn, I have it presently running 9-1pm and 4pm-10pm. Every second day.

It does a perfect job of the lawn, ive had it i think 2/half years now. It was off for 12 months because i had some work done on section of the garden. So activated it about 4 weeks ago again and it started up first time and off it went.

I dont have a bad word to say about the machine.

worlds goodest teecher · 26-05-2020 3:53pm

Yard Force SA900ECO

or

LandXcape LX790i

other??

Garden is about 500-550sq.m (front, back and one side, divided by timber fence on one side). Bumpy enough. Just had an external socket installed on footpath on the gable side of the house, for autonomous lawn mower. Lawn bumpy enough.

Had been looking at the Worx Landroid but if I can get better value....

I would appreciate advise as I am looking to get one as much on doctors as wanting one.

What is the best value mower with ease of use and that will cut to 30-50mm?

McHardcore · 27-05-2020 4:52pm

You can pick up the older flymo5200r for cheap these days

Tails142 · 27-05-2020 10:13pm

Here's a video of a guy who seems to review these things - he suggests getting a number of the cheaper Worx Landroid models to cover your lawns instead of a single Husqavarna, might be an idea for people with particularly large and complex or seperate lawn areas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y91XFbOW4Q&t=136s

krissovo · 28-05-2020 1:55am

Tails142 wrote: »

Here's a video of a guy who seems to review these things - he suggests getting a number of the cheaper Worx Landroid models to cover your lawns instead of a single Husqavarna, might be an idea for people with particularly large and complex or seperate lawn areas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y91XFbOW4Q&t=136s

This is interesting for my complex lawn, I could buy 2 landroids for a significant amount less than a husqvarna. From pricing at least €1k cheaper but a bit more hassle to set up and run.

worlds goodest teecher · 28-05-2020 5:01pm

Tails142 wrote: »

Here's a video of a guy who seems to review these things - he suggests getting a number of the cheaper Worx Landroid models to cover your lawns instead of a single Husqavarna, might be an idea for people with particularly large and complex or seperate lawn areas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y91XFbOW4Q&t=136s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KO5W5prrNw
To go from back to front lawn: width of ope in fence = 14in + 3ft + 14in wide x height of Landroid + extra?

How do you connect additional boundary wire?
At a very generous measure coming out at 520sq.m
I have an external socket on gable wall of house. Does the base lead remain plugged into this all the time? The separating fence is near the socket to the base station could be located along the fence.

Could this work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KO5W5prrNw

Lurching · 28-05-2020 8:22pm

worlds goodest teecher wrote: »

I have an external socket on gable wall of house. Does the base lead remain plugged into this all the time?
Could this work

Base lead remains plugged in at all times. Not sure if using an external socket is wise though, as (certainly on the husqys) it's a large transformer that's plugged in, not just a standard plug.

buzz11 · 28-05-2020 8:45pm

I have a Gardena silenco life 750 which I reckon is equivalent to the Husqvarna 315x and both have a setting which is identical called 'Sensor Control' / 'Weather timer'

Both features are described to "automatically adjust the cutting time to the growth of the grass" I'm not sure how they determine the grass growth, perhaps is measured by resistance on the cutting blades?

Anyway I'm wondering how people are getting on using this setting? I don't find it great -- the mower is spending much more time in the station and its starting to miss patches in the lawn.

Any thoughts?

Thud · 28-05-2020 9:38pm

krissovo wrote: »

This is interesting for my complex lawn, I could buy 2 landroids for a significant amount less than a husqvarna. From pricing at least €1k cheaper but a bit more hassle to set up and run.

I've the L2000 for about a month now. 1800m2 lawn is looking great, had to tweak the boundary wire in a few places around tree roots but no complaints.

glog · 29-05-2020 9:53am

buzz11 wrote: »

I have a Gardena silenco life 750 which I reckon is equivalent to the Husqvarna 315x and both have a setting which is identical called 'Sensor Control' / 'Weather timer'

Both features are described to "automatically adjust the cutting time to the growth of the grass" I'm not sure how they determine the grass growth, perhaps is measured by resistance on the cutting blades?

Anyway I'm wondering how people are getting on using this setting? I don't find it great -- the mower is spending much more time in the station and its starting to miss patches in the lawn.

Any thoughts?

Apparently, this is how it works.
The weather timer is a bit like spiral mode. The resistance against the cutting wheel is measured and used to figure out if your grass is growing. It combines that information along with the location it was at on the lawn when it felt it. With those 2 figures it can tell what parts of the lawn are growing the fastest or need the most attention. So when the weather timer is used the mower will go out to the places in the lawn and feel for a certain amount of resistance against the cutting disk to determine if it needs to mow or not.

worlds goodest teecher · 29-05-2020 7:05pm

Lurching wrote: »

Base lead remains plugged in at all times. Not sure if using an external socket is wise though, as (certainly on the husqys) it's a large transformer that's plugged in, not just a standard plug.

See it doesn't explain it in the YouTube set up videos. Where is the best location for power source? Think we will go with the Worx.

witnessmenow · 29-05-2020 8:58pm

Mostly installed the worx landroid today, but im after running out of pegs and will not have enough wire! We have a large pond/rockery thing that I didn't factor into my calculations

Does anyone have any suggestions to where I could get pegs and wire? I'm based in Athlone so not a huge selection of places.

There is a crowd that sell the radio dog fence, is that the same wire? They don't have pegs listed on their website but will give them a call in the morning. Would appreciate any other suggestions though

29-05-2020 9:03pm

witnessmenow wrote: »

Mostly installed the worx landroid today, but im after running out of pegs and will not have enough wire! We have a large pond/rockery thing that I didn't factor into my calculations

Does anyone have any suggestions to where I could get pegs and wire? I'm based in Athlone so not a huge selection of places.

There is a crowd that sell the radio dog fence, is that the same wire? They don't have pegs listed on their website but will give them a call in the morning. Would appreciate any other suggestions though

I don't have a robot mower (yet) but wire is wire.
I'd go to the electrical wholesalers and show them what you want and see what they have.

KCross · 30-05-2020 10:48am

BrownFinger wrote: »

I don't have a robot mower (yet) but wire is wire.

It’s not though. This wire is designed for being in the ground for decades.

Don’t get some cheap electrical wire.

witnessmenow · 30-05-2020 5:57pm

I got it set up!

I ended up with the Dog fence wire, it's definitely not as thick as the wire that came with it, it's also single core versus stranded of the original, but I only had 20-30m or so to do with it and it worked fine. Used one of the included connectors with the worx.

For pegs I got some in B&Q, but they only had 2 packs (10 each) but I also found some in dealz of all places. They don't have a hook on them like the original or the B&Q ones had, but they had a decent enough size head that it was able to pin down the wire fine. I put them a little closer together than usual and it seems to have worked out ok. Robot is able to find it's way home anyways without disturbing the wire. One thing that was nice about the dealz ones is that they came with a removal tool, so I have been able to make adjustments where i used them really easily!

We are having a BBQ today out on the grass so I havent been able to let it off to it's own devices, but have set it off supervised to test it out and it seems to be getting on fine.

One question I have about "going home". When you send the mower home it drives til it hits a boundary and drives anticlockwise along the wire to return to the charger. This is working fine, unless it hits one of my avoid areas (like my pond area, where I came in from the boundary, looped clockwise and returned back along the same wire I came in) where it seems to just circle it (well it did it at least twice. Will it eventually figure out that it didn't make it home and try find a different boundary? Or do I need to do something different?

I have 3 avoid areas like this, the pong area being by far the biggest, but I suppose the same could happen on any of them

KCross · 30-05-2020 6:38pm

witnessmenow wrote: »

One question I have about "going home". When you send the mower home it drives til it hits a boundary and drives anticlockwise along the wire to return to the charger. This is working fine, unless it hits one of my avoid areas (like my pond area, where I came in from the boundary, looped clockwise and returned back along the same wire I came in) where it seems to just circle it (well it did it at least twice. Will it eventually figure out that it didn't make it home and try find a different boundary? Or do I need to do something different?

My guess is that you didn’t put the returning wire close enough to the one going to the island so the mower doesn’t see it as an island and then travels around it instead.

If it “sees” two wires like that it’s supposed to ignore them and drive over it.

worlds goodest teecher · 30-05-2020 6:40pm

Thinking about giving the robot lawnmower a miss for this year. Still too many unanswered questions.

witnessmenow · 30-05-2020 6:48pm

KCross wrote: »

My guess is that you didn’t put the returning wire close enough to the one going to the island so the mower doesn’t see it as an island and then travels around it instead.

If it “sees” two wires like that it’s supposed to ignore them and drive over it.

I'm not sure I explained myself properly

The to and return wire from the island are in the same pegs so they couldn't be any closer. Robot is happy to drive over the bridge part (not sure what to call it, the part connecting the boundary to the island)

If I send the robot home, if it first finds my actual boundary it will happily go home, driving over any bridge wires to any islands.

But if I send it home and it finds an island first, it also ignores the bridge wire and just loops around the island. Is this wrong?

KCross · 30-05-2020 8:18pm

witnessmenow wrote: »

If I send the robot home, if it first finds my actual boundary it will happily go home, driving over any bridge wires to any islands.

Ah ok, i thought you were saying it wouldnt drive over the loop wire, you have it done correctly so.

As long as the wires arent crossed I think it should be ok.

witnessmenow wrote: »

But if I send it home and it finds an island first, it also ignores the bridge wire and just loops around the island. Is this wrong?

hmm... so you are saying that when it hits the island first it just keeps spinning indefinitely around the island and doesnt find its way home at all?

If thats what its doing, its wrong. Sounds like a software bug or something.

Lurching · 30-05-2020 8:48pm

worlds goodest teecher wrote: »

See it doesn't explain it in the YouTube set up videos. Where is the best location for power source? Think we will go with the Worx.

I have mine plugged in in the garage and I drilled a hole through the wall for the cable (bear in mind that the cable connectors are big, so I had to drill a 22mm hole).
Also, I took ages trying to work out the length of the power cable supplied with the mower, as I knew it'd be a tight fit from the socket to the closest spot for the base. In the end, I had to add a section to the cable, but I'll replace with a longer genuine cable in time (I cut it right beside the big tag that said "do not cut").

antomack · 31-05-2020 8:49pm

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.

Baoithin66 · 31-05-2020 9:04pm

Hi how are you finding the Gardena mower? Seems like a great deal. I was thinking of getting two instead of a 430x. Are they easy to set up??

31-05-2020 9:07pm

KCross wrote: »

It’s not though. This wire is designed for being in the ground for decades.

Don’t get some cheap electrical wire.

Sorry you are 100% right.
I was supposed to add that it would do until he could find the right wire.

UV is a big consideration for outdoor wire as I recently found out with my greenhouse fan.

glog · 31-05-2020 9:34pm

Lurching wrote: »

I have mine plugged in in the garage and I drilled a hole through the wall for the cable (bear in mind that the cable connectors are big, so I had to drill a 22mm hole).
Also, I took ages trying to work out the length of the power cable supplied with the mower, as I knew it'd be a tight fit from the socket to the closest spot for the base. In the end, I had to add a section to the cable, but I'll replace with a longer genuine cable in time (I cut it right beside the big tag that said "do not cut").

It is actually possible to remove the pins from the connector - the two power cable wires are hard wired to the pins.
This enables you to push it through a much smaller hole in the wall.
You just re-insert the pins into the connector again once through the wall.

Lurching · 31-05-2020 10:14pm

glog wrote: »

It is actually possible to remove the pins from the connector - the two power cable wires are hard wired to the pins.
This enables you to push it through a much smaller hole in the wall.
You just re-insert the pins into the connector again once through the wall.

Where were you two months ago?!

In any case, I drilled the hole big enough for the connector, then ended up cutting the cable in half, so could have easily survived with a smaller hole, had I done a few measurements first.

buzz11 · 31-05-2020 10:39pm

glog wrote: »

Apparently, this is how it works.
The weather timer is a bit like spiral mode. The resistance against the cutting wheel is measured and used to figure out if your grass is growing. It combines that information along with the location it was at on the lawn when it felt it. With those 2 figures it can tell what parts of the lawn are growing the fastest or need the most attention. So when the weather timer is used the mower will go out to the places in the lawn and feel for a certain amount of resistance against the cutting disk to determine if it needs to mow or not.

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.

witnessmenow · 01-06-2020 7:50am

KCross wrote: »

hmm... so you are saying that when it hits the island first it just keeps spinning indefinitely around the island and doesnt find its way home at all?

If thats what its doing, its wrong. Sounds like a software bug or something.

Yeah basically this. I tested it yesterday and it looped around the island for an hour before I gave up and fixed it.

I contacted Worx to see what they say.

My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

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