3510 Constantly backing and spinning?

[evblazer]

It is almost like chopper thinks he just ran into the border and can't get away. A few times in the last week I find he keeps repeating backing up a few feet and then spinning around. The bot will continue till it finds a wire then it says blackout.
If I turn it off for a few hours and put it back out it seems to behave fine.

Anyone ever seen this type of behavior? Anyone want a 3510 for cheap 

[shermbb]

I feel your pain. It seems that they are only good for about two seasons.  Mine essentially did no mowing this summer, his third season, and now has died a terrible death.  How young is your mower?  Do you have the signal booster?

[evblazer]

The 3500 was about a year old but that was only calendar age. In mowing it was probably about 3 months or less when I did the upgrade to the 3510 because I wanted the higher height because even the 3500 cut too low.
My lawn actually looks pretty good overall except it is getting that unkept looks because I keep finding the 3510 constantly stopped.

[evblazer]

It seems I am getting a no signal found error  I picked up chopper while he was doing his backwards and spin dance and that appears to be what happened.
If I can remember correctly the sequence is
Synch, Spin, Start blade then No Signal Found. The 3510 then backs up and repeats. I'm going to confirm tonight but I was always finding the blackout when the bot was on the wire perhaps if it ever finds the wire during this sequence it blackouts which is certanly better then crossing the wire and going into the street.

[shermbb]

Iis the flashing light sequence on the transmitter good while the mower is confused?  If not, then it is likely your perimeter wire.  I'm no expert, but if the wire is ok, I would then check the power supply first, then maybe temporarily remove the signal filter to see if this helps.

[Botman]

Evblazer,

Any resolution yet?

[shep874]

I am having the same problem.  this has happened off and on since spring of 2009.  I have replace 4 receiving boards.  this last one worked for a very short time and now is doing the no signal thing same as you describe. Each time they want me to check 10 different things.. They say you have to start at the beginning and eliminate possible problems. It seems to me that the begging is the question IS THERE A SIGNAL OR NOT AND WHAT IS IT'S STRENGTH OF THE SIGNAL? Is there not a instrument that will give this information?

[shep874]

Anyone want a 3510 for cheap 

How much is Cheap?

[evblazer]

Evblazer,

Any resolution yet?

They gave me a few things to check and to be honest I haven't done any yet. One of the first items was to check the resistance on the wire and my DMM wasn't where it normally was and that is where my investigation ended last week. I really should take another look for it to figure out what to do to fix it.

If I could find a usable electrak or ever started my project to put one together the 3510 would be long gone. I'm sick of picking it up in the yard and then upgrading and it working for a few weeks or a month and then picking it up in the yard twice a day again.

[evblazer]

Cheap is depending on the current operating status. I'm hoping to get it running tommorow but I think I'm past the point of frustration. There are really so many things that a riding mower would be so much better for with all the leaves and pine needles that chopper just ignores instead of raking/vacuuming up and putting into nice neat bags. The lawn does look much better with the higher cut but it could just be we didn't really have a dry summer so even if cut shorter it might have looked better.

I found a problem that was I believe caused by a Verizon FIOS worker. Right behind their box the wire was completely seperated although I guess it could have been some random person with a spade just walking up to my yard. I don't think that caused the intermittent problem but it does explain why on one day I was getting blinking lights and a 4ohm resistance on the wire and a few days later solid green and infinite resistance. I haven't tried the bot out yet but hopefully tommorow I'll get some time to put it out there since I fixed the wiring and it is blinking green/orange now.

[evblazer]

Found it doing the backup and spin again so removed the signal filter. Has worked for 4 work sessions without a problem so far. Seems odd that the filter would start causing a problem after all this time or make a problem show up but I guess I'll have to give it a few weeks to know for sure.

[prb238]

I have seen the back up and spin behavior several times on my 3200 over the past several seasons. Every time it has been either a wire break or a loosely connected wire. One time I think a squirrel dug a hole to bury a nut, ran into the wire and chewed almost all the way through. It was odd because the robot would work in some areas of the yard but then would back up and spin in other areas. It took me a while to find the spot where the wire wasn't connected very well.

May not be the same as the issues above, but thought I would share.