3500 ignoring wire more and more

[evblazer]

A couple weeks ago I thought it was a fluke. My 3500 had the wire wrapped up and out of zone I figured somehow it _carried_ the zone with it. Then it was a few feet out of zone other other day with a cut wire.
Last night it had dug up the wire and cut it and I found it out of zone a few feet and in a slight hole spinning it's wheels digging and digging so I put it into the bay and turned it on. I forgot to put it on pause but well it should have just backed out and failed to synch if there was a 3ft gap in the wire right? Nope
This morning I went out and found it in the driveway. About 80ft on the other side of the workshop where the charging bay is flashing blackout. My first thought was some neighborkid grabbed it and tried it out then returned it when it wouldn't work and left it. Just out of curiosity I put it back into the zone and turned it on and walked over to check the break in the wire in case I had fixed it. The mower then proceeded to go into the unwired portion of the lawn into the driveway towards the street flashing "seek charge 26.7#" 

Anyone ever have a runway bot or know what I might check?

[evblazer]

Well I patched the wire and set it loose and it doesn't ignore the wire. However in further testing it will consistently start and continue on if I disconnect the wire away from the base. The mower can be in the charger to start or in the yard it'll spin around wait, wait some more and then spin up the blade and take off.

No one else has a lawnbott and no one has an electric fence nearby so I'm kinda worried about runaway lawnbott   :'(.

[jzawacki]

What about if you totally unplug the power supply?

[evblazer]

Just tried it the bot reports no signal. I plugged it back in and it went off towards the boarder with some low bushes. Somehow hitting it at an angle as never before with the growth a little long and ended up somehow snagging a bit of bush and the wire! 

[AGR]

I am newer to the 3500, but from what I understand border issues was a major issue with the 3500 series, and one of the reasons I did not get one. But I believe - and basically I can attest to it 2 months into it, that this seems to have been solved by the 3510 series. Maybe an upgrade from 3500 to 3510 would help.

[shep874]

I often see or hear that an upgrade be used to solve a problem with the Lawnbott. Will someone tell me why an upgrade should be used to solve  a bad design or faulty part. In any other industry that i have worked with this would trigger a recall. Can you imagine Toyota telling there costumes that they need to do a upgrade to keep there cars from running away and out of control. How about Yogo upgrade?

[jzawacki]

I agree.. The problem I am having is more along the lines of "learning a lesson".  After spending a high amount on the initial investment, asking for another $800 to keep it working just seems insane to me.  If I'm going to spend another $800, I'd rather put it toward another manufacturer's product.  I'm already at the point where I have to say I was wrong for purchasing the LB3200.  I did the hard work (research) upfront and thought I was buying the best product, but I was wrong.  I learn from my mistakes and try not to make them again.  The question is, do I dump the LB3200 and go back to what I've said I would never do again, and actually manually mow my lawn, or do I try another product?

How's that saying go?  You screw me once, shame on you.. screw me twice, shame on me?

[evblazer]

I often see or hear that an upgrade be used to solve a problem with the Lawnbott. Will someone tell me why an upgrade should be used to solve  a bad design or faulty part. In any other industry that i have worked with this would trigger a recall. Can you imagine Toyota telling there costumes that they need to do a upgrade to keep there cars from running away and out of control. How about Yogo upgrade?

All companies want to make their product obsolete so you have to upgrade but it's just a lawn the only way to do it is through product issues. Sure you'll lose some customers along the way but most won't want to go back to mowing their lawns for one reason or another but you'll still have enough that'll keep using it and a few more trickle in and they caught in the business plan.

[jzawacki]

Sure you'll lose some customers along the way but most won't want to go back to mowing their lawns for one reason or another but you'll still have enough that'll keep using it and a few more trickle in and they caught in the business plan.

That works for a monopoly, but you have to remember..  There are a couple of other manufacturers available.  I haven't done the research yet, but are their customers complaining as well?

[evblazer]

Sure you'll lose some customers along the way but most won't want to go back to mowing their lawns for one reason or another but you'll still have enough that'll keep using it and a few more trickle in and they caught in the business plan.

That works for a monopoly, but you have to remember..  There are a couple of other manufacturers available.  I haven't done the research yet, but are their customers complaining as well?

It does indeed but I think the upgrade works too. Are the other mowers really that much better or trouble free? A few people don't have any problems with the lawnbott and there might be may more who just don't post about it. Could be my lawn and I'd hate to drop $2700 on another brand just to find that out if that $600 upgrade is enough.  Just some thoughts going on in my head. I know my wife would never let me get a automower but she would let me upgrade the lawnbott for a higher cutting height. The law of the land here is the next mower will be a riding mower unless there are a few years of the lawnbott working with no problems and needs to be replaced due to the UPS guy accidently uturning in our lawn and squishing it.
I do remember back when I was with a small software company and people never really wanted to switch software just upgrade within their own financial application because they had already spend $$$$$ on it and at least they knew it's weaknesses. That and they couldn't let the higher ups know they chose the wrong software because it would be the end of them. For me it would be the end of not mowing my lawn that is for sure. It's lawnbott or nothing.

[shep874]

What should you get for an upgrade, for any product..  An upgrade should indeed fix any past problems, but for sure should offer improvements other than just fixing past problems. If they have a defective part or design, as did Toyota, You go and lawnbott it should be recalled.  It will be just a matter of time that the government will step in and force a recall.  This you can count on, for every complaint  there are at least 4 more costumers that don't complain, they just quite buying or using that product. Just look at the big companies that have gone out of business or close to it. K mart, Wards, Sears,W T Grants.  All of these stopped carrying for there customers...

I don't want an upgrade, just give me one like they claim are running with no problems.  When I have a trouble free mower i will shut my mouth, except to say what a good product it is.  and I will holler just as loud as I do now.

[jzawacki]

$600 upgrade is enough.  Just some thoughts going on in my head.

That's the problem, with the current quality being as poor as it is, why would I trust them with another $800 for a product that is only 3 seasons old?  If I was told that it would cost me $1,000 a year, there is no way I would have bought it.  At the same time, if the $800 upgrade was from a company with a clean track record, I'd be more likely to do it.  But, watching the LB3500 come out, and then

I don't want an upgrade, just give me one like they claim are running with no problems.  When I have a trouble free mower i will shut my mouth, except to say what a good product it is.  and I will holler just as loud as I do now.

Agreed.  I'm finding it hard to believe there are so many LB3200's or LB3500's out there that are "trouble free".  The reason I'm willing to say that is because of the market these are currently for.  With the price tag, they draw the "geek" in people to buy them.  How many robotics enthusiasts do you know that aren't active on the internet?

I think I'll call the museum in Wisconsin that I saw the Automower running at (which is what drove me to even look into robotic lawn mowers in the first place) and see what they have to say about the Automower, since it's on display cutting their lawn, I'm sure it gets a lot of use.

[evblazer]

That's the problem, with the current quality being as poor as it is, why would I trust them with another $800 for a product that is only 3 seasons old? 

3 Seasons! I think I have half a season or so on my 3500 working and it looks worse than my dads 20 year old riding mower with the failed transmission he gave me. 

If only chopper had gotten stuck by that tree like he keeps doing the night that od'd lady drove her caravan into it. Then i'd be able to use the insurance money and buy an automower  Now all I got is a torn up lawn. I don't think insurance is going to cover someone running over my mower in the street I"ll probably get a bill for whatever happens and hopefully no one gets hurt.

[evblazer]

And today it tried to send me to the hospital. Thankfull I was trying to be careful.
I picked it up and carried it into the workshop.
-Charging base disconnected for 24+ hours
-Transformer/Charger unplugged for 24+ hours
-Bot Out of zone.
-Thought the bot was off.

So I tilt it back to undo holding bolts on the front and I hear it beep. I put it back down and hit emergency stop and it turns off but reboots almost immediately. Press off and it seemed to stay off so I'm undoing the front bolts and no wheel movement and the blade motor comes on full power! Shut it down again and slowly open up the top and unscrew the battery to disconnect it. There was a little moisture in the back by the motherboard so maybe it was jumpering something but that was pretty scary. Need a raised platform and a covered garage someday to keep that flash flooding out of there where it shouldnt' be able to get.

So as always make sure you unplug your battery, which is the most pain in the neck thing possible on the 3500, before servicing the blade or anything. Plus be careful how you unscrew those front little nut/bolt things because I think I could easily get my hand in the path of that blade while turning them especially if the wheels are on the ground and spin up too.

There really should be a physical disconnect on the outside. Yeah we aren't the national electric drag racing association but that blade probably can do alot of permanent damage and the current connection is very difficult to get to.

[Namocsid]

I had an issue recently with my 3500 not turning off, similar to what you described.  Didn't matter how many times you pressed the "off" button, it would immediately reboot itself. 

The keypad buttons seemed to work fine, you could feel them "click" when pressing the off/E stop button.  Vishal sent out a new keypad and that solved the problem.