I guess some of it is seasonal too. It's cold here now, and I've taken a break to work on some inside projects.
This year was my first season with my LB3210. I'm happy I got him - but he did take A LOT OF TIME. Some of it was learning about how he worked; some was planning; some was wire placement; and some was troubleshooting. My lawn is challenging - with hills and long narrow passages. Our plan was to wire the main area, learn about the robot, and then add additional zones once we were comfortable with the operation.. We followed that plan for the most part, and by summer's end moti was managing about 65% of the lawn.
Our biggest problems were:
- loss of signal - Kyodo replaced the blade motor but we still had issues
- perimeter wire down a hill - especially a compound slope
- design of the zones. This season we will use 2 wire loops - each with 3 zones - and we will switch the loops with Insteon
RobotLady - I'm thankful that you maintain this forum, because it's great to be able to have members like toolbelt and others that can help you work though a design or troubleshoot a problem.
Since I'm a newbie, I can't comment on how the problems have changed or whether the robots are better. My feeling though is that, unless someone has a flat, square lawn, they need to have a certain disposition to want to work through all the issues and problems. The robots are definitely not simple turn-on-and-leave-alone devices. Even the cleaning is complicated by the fact that you can't just turn the bot on its back and spray the heck out of it.
It's quiet now - but spring is just around the corner, and I'll have lots more questions.
moti
