Wheelies

[cullen]

In some places in my yard, my Lawnbott will do wheelies that will signal the tilt sensor.  In some locations this can cause the robot to get stuck - the rear plate hits the ground and prevents forward motion.  I know (by walking next to it and pressing downward hard enough) that if the front wheels would just stay on or near the ground the robot work much better.

Has anyone had good success in keeping the front wheels on the ground?

[AGR]

I have done 2 things at one point. First, I got rid of the plate after the first week of use and never put it back on. Second, I made sure the batteries were as far forward as possible to add weight. If it is still bad, you can put zip-lock bag(s) of sand inside the clear plastic cover, in front of the batteries. Also, there should be new firmware for the 3200 such that it shuts the blade off, but keeps moving forward until it fall again. Have you updated the firmware?

[jzawacki]

I'd purchase the wheelie bar before I put sand bags in the front to help weigh it down.  These things aren't very sturdy to begin with, adding weight will only wear it out faster.

Wheelie Bars

[toolbelt]

I took my plate off, put it in the vice and bent a nice curve in it.  Works fine as it doesn't catch on the grass when backing up.  As jzawacki says, use the Wheelie bars instead of adding weight.

[jzawacki]

toolbelt, can you post a pic?  I've been so undecided on that darn thing.  I want to take it off, cause I know it causes a lot of hangups.. but at the same time, I don't want the blade to hit the ground when the wheels go into a dip.  I have one that runs the width of my hard from the previous owners excellent ability to bury a water pipe.

[cullen]

I've seen the new behavior (it does a wheelie, the blade shuts off, it moves forward, and tries again).  I've seen two things I'm not crazy about with this:
1. Sometimes when it does a wheelie and stops it keeps the nose up in the air.  The rear guard then catches and the robot stops moving forward - just starts digging small trenches.
2. If the grass is particularly tall, it may come down in a patch that will cause the blade to signal it's jammed.

Otherwise, it's somewhat nicer behavior than before (shut down, turn right or left, start up).

[cullen]

I'd purchase the wheelie bar before I put sand bags in the front to help weigh it down.  These things aren't very sturdy to begin with, adding weight will only wear it out faster.

Wheelie Bars

I did try a pound of dead weight in the nose - I was chicken and velcroed it on so it could be easily removed. However, it didn't do enough good and I was afraid that the weight would cause it to veer downhill more.

Do the wheelie bars work?  I was cautioned against them some time back as causing other problems with the Lawnbott getting stuck, but haven't talked to anyone who's tried them.

[toolbelt]

jzzawacki, here are the requested pictured.  Originally I had just bent a smooth curve but after it kept getting hung up I put the 90 degree bend in.  It now has no problem and still looks good.







toolbelt

[jzawacki]

Thanks, I believe I will be doing the same to mine tonight.

As for the wheelie bars, I don't know of anyone that has used them either.

Edit: I haven't seen my bot stuck since I did this! \o/

[prb238]

I put some custom wheelie bars on my 3200.  They are not really bars at all, but just 2 castor wheels I picked up from Harbor Freight. They don't cause my bot to get stuck and they definitely stop the bot from rearing up. With my height mod these were necessary since my front yard has a little bit of a slope and the bot would rear up when going up the hill. Even without the height mod, anyone could put these on. I'll try to post some pics tomorrow.