Mower dies on the way home

[moti]

My LB3210 Evolution (moti) dies on the way back to its charging station. Luckily, Kyodo is suggesting I return it so they can check it out.

moti works great most of the time... but when he decides he's ready for charging, if he finds the wire near the beginning of the run, he usually ends up passing out before reaching the station, but if he finds the wire nearer to the end of the run, he makes it back to the charging station.

he never goes past the station (and around again) as others have reported - he just dies before he gets there.

my dealer suggested setting the perimeter border to long, and kyodo suggested turning the blade off altogether on the return to the charging station - but none of these suggestions have helped - and he still dies.

when i discover him, i am unable to revive him by pushing any of the buttons - so it's as if his battery is completely drained. however, if i carry him back to the charging station, put him in, and press start, he powers right up - and shows 2675 (or so) battery. I've been told that the battery could get to 2500 and the mower could still run - so this sounds like a motherboard problem. To add more - sometimes when I pick him up to carry him back, he sounds his alarm - which we keep setting to disabled but it mysteriously turns back on. If the alarm can sound, there must be some juice left in the battery.

[Botman]

Good to hear KA is taking care of you. Please report back what you find out.

[prb238]

The mower showing 2600 or higher as soon as it starts charging when you return it to the base is normal. If you were to measure the voltage across the positive and negative terminals on the robot before you put it in the base I bet it would read around 2400 or so which is why it is dying on the wire.

But yes, good to know that Kyodo is taking your issue seriously.

Mine is doing the same thing this year, but I think one of my fast returns is not working properly and I haven't had time to adjust it.

[RobotLady]

Hi Moti,

Welcome to our forum.  Sorry to hear you did not purchase your Lawnbott from us; no problem, you can still participate.

You might want to check how your robot travels along the wire.  Point the nose toward the wire just behind the base, then press the charge button.  Walk behind your robot and observe that it does not experience obstructions that cause it to seek the wire again.

The software probably ignores rapid returns when you deliberately press the charge button (this would be so you can measure the time for setting up the zones).  If you don't find a problem with the previous test, catch your robot when the battery is low and redirect it toward the back of the base so you can see it drive on the entire wire.  When it takes the rapid return, make sure it actually goes to the front of the base and enters the charger.  If it goes to the back of the base, it will keep traveling on the wire until the battery dies.

If you find the trouble is due to a misplaced rapid return, you might consider purchasing our Professional Installation Guide for $24.95.

Cheers,

Robotlady

[moti]

Thanks for the replies - and thanks RobotLady for the welcome. It's great to have a forum where users share ideas, especially for a product as technological as this.

moti was sent back to Kyodo and they are working on him as I write this. I'll report back what they find. We don't have any rapid returns in our wiring, and for the first run of the day (after a full night's charge), moti usually finds his way back to the charging station with no problems. Also, if he returns early - before he's mowed for 2 hours  (because of rain or because the work hour period is up), he also usually makes it back to the charging station. It's when he's mowed the 2 hours and the battery is depleted, he runs out of steam and gives up. I would have thought that long border or blade off on return would have made a difference - but that didn't seem to influence things.

I can't wait to get him back!

[moti]

moti is back home! safe and sound.

Brandon and Hideki worked on him, and were able to reproduce the problem. The motherboard was not reading the battery voltage properly, so they swapped it out.

It's been 100 degrees here for the past 5 days, and all the grass has turned crispy - so moti doesn't have much to mow. I want to confirm that he's fixed - but he gets "no signal" constantly - unless he's within 8-10 ft of the wire. As soon as I resolve that I'll post again.