What is a lawn mower? We disassemble Robomow RS 630
Lawnmower robots are still of little popularity in Russia. But, judging by our sales, the demand is growing every year by more than 100%. People are interested, they are looking at happy neighbors and are eager to buy such a device in the garden. Then they know the price, and their enthusiasm often fades away. Pleasure is quite expensive. Are mowers worth their money or not, and how to choose the right one for your lawn? Let's figure it out.
On the Russian market, the most popular manufacturers of lawn-mowers are: Caiman, Robomow, Wiper, Husqvarna. There are less popular models from Bosch, Stiga, Worx and others. Caiman and Wiper are mowers of one Italian company Zucchetti, but produced under different brands in Russia. Robomow is produced in Israel, formerly known as Frendly Robotics. Husqvarna is a Swedish industrial company that manufactures a variety of garden and garden tools and robotic mowers are only a small fraction of their product range.
Today we will talk about the top model from the company Robomow, but first we will go through the main characteristics of the robotic lawn mowers and understand in principle their work.
Progress did not stand still, people became more and more lazy, bought country houses with large plots - these factors gave manufacturers a way to reflect on new types of devices that could autonomously mow lawns. The first such devices began to appear more than 20 years ago, but already then there were enthusiasts who invented their designs, as in the above photo. About the safety of such structures of speech, of course, was not.
')
Basically, almost all lawn mowers require laying a limiter cable around the perimeter. The cable defines the boundaries of the mowing zone. On it goes a constant signal from the base. Obviously, one end of the cable comes out of the base station, the other enters it, that is, the circuit should not have gaps (the phrase: “there wasn’t, not a single break!”) Was remembered. It is also obvious that most gardeners have a lawn that is not even and empty, there may be trees, flowerbeds, a house in the end. All robotic lawn mowers have obstacle sensors like the vacuum cleaner robots at their disposal. True, the latter have optical and IR sensors, that is, the robot may not touch furniture, and mechanical sensors are usually installed in mowers. Sensors are triggered by obstacles of a height of 10 cm. Boulders, curbs, trees, the mower will determine as an obstacle and just go round. But flowers can eat, and from the pond and water get drunk. In order to avoid the latter, it is necessary to correctly lay the perimeter wire.
As can be seen from the figure, the wire will have to bend around a flowerbed or other obstacle. If in the middle of the plot there is a smooth path flush with the ground or up to 10 cm in height, then you can not limit it. It is better to protect the path of rubble, leave a narrow clean passage to another mowing zone. Knives from rubble and cones can deteriorate. An example of a track where the lawn mower robot does not need any restrictions presented on the photo.
Examples of areas where fencing is required:
In the next photo, the lawn is so overloaded that it is impossible to use a robotic lawnmower at all, because it is impossible to lay the cable correctly.
And what if you have multiple mowing zones? In the simple case, when there is a passage with a width of 1.2 meters, you can lay the cable so that it captures all zones. By the way, copper cable is used everywhere. If there is not enough complete, you can use any other option, without buying from the manufacturer. It is not necessary to fold the cable for the winter.
Caiman mowers can work without a limiter wire, but in this case the lawn should be completely enclosed with physical objects from a height of 10 cm. Robomow mowers are supplied with an additional perimeter adapter that allows using the device on lawns where the base is not installed.
If the second lawn is large, then the perimeter adapter will not be enough and you will need to install a second base on the site, and transport the robot using the console or transfer from site to site (and they are not light, on average 15 kg).
Video of proper wire laying:
Wire laid, installed base, you can run the device.
Autonomous mowers usually move erratically. Top models from Caiman have a mode of movement in a spiral. Robomow moves in a zigzag, and, for example, Bosch moves a snake. But here there are some downsides. Bosch forms its constant, uniform route, and with multiple starts in the same places, there will be non-mowed sections. Therefore, probably, chaotic mode will suit even better. It is also important that the mower does not leave a rut near the base, and for this it should not always drive in a straight line. An example of not-good grass can be seen in the figure below.
Advanced mowers have a rain sensor, and will not mow in bad weather, can be programmed for a specific start time, etc. But more on that below. All mowers mulch the grass, that is, the rapid rotation of the knives chops it to such a state that it dries and rot quickly, being a good fertilizer for new grass.
The cost of robot mowers varies from 50,000 to 300,000 rubles. Here is what you need to pay attention to when choosing such a device:
1) There should be a quality service and preferably 2 years warranty. The robot lawn mower is a technically complex product that most likely will not work out in a third-party service center.
2) Capture width. This indicator indicates how fast your autonomous assistant mows the lawn. The greater the width, the faster the lawn will mow. In inexpensive models (Caiman L50), it is 24 cm, in advanced models (Robomow RS630) - 56 cm.
3) Proper load distribution depending on the volume of grass. Robomow, for example, can slow down in places where there is tall grass, it measures the current on mowing engines. If the grass is high, it means a big load, it means a high current, so it is necessary to reduce the speed of movement for the best result.
4) Power consumption. The higher it is, the better and faster the robot mows. Sometimes you can find two robots with the same mowing area. For example, both robots are designed for 1000 sq. M., But one has a width of 30 cm and the other 57, one has a power of 100 W and the other 400 W, who should you prefer?
Of course, the one who is more powerful and has a large width, he will mow the lawn faster.
5) The type and capacity of the battery. Affects the size of the lawn, which can serve the device. Mowers will be able to work easier on 4 acres as much as possible, and advanced models up to 30 acres. The best lithium iron-phosphate, they have a large number of discharge charge cycles up to 2000, and hence a huge service life compared to standard lithium-ion batteries. Obviously, there is no talk of nickel-metal hydride batteries.
6) Multizone is the ability of the robot to mow the grass on different and distant lawns. For example, can or not the robot, having mowed the lawn in front of the house, fully charge the battery, and automatically go along the narrow passage or path, mow the lawn in the back yard, and then return to the base station without taking your time?
7) The presence of the base for charging included. Everything is simple here. If there is no base, then you will have to carry a robot to charge home or to the barn,
charge it, then carry it back to the lawn and run. If there is a base station, the mower charges automatically. The robot leaves the base station itself, mows itself, returns and charges itself, and so on throughout the season.
I also recommend to pay attention to the power supply unit that powers the base station. It must be wide-band because in the villages and cottage settlements often the input voltage does not fit into the standards of 220V.
8) Cutting the edges. This is a special program that forces the robot to pass along the edges and corners of the lawn for perfect mowing. The mowing mode can be implemented only on those robots that can pick up grass outside the wheels. Also, the quality of the lawn is influenced by the deck (the board on which the knives are fixed) on the design of the knives and the deck depends on the quality of mulching and mowing. In some models of robot decks have a "floating suspension" deck with knives exactly repeats the relief of the lawn. Mowing example
An example of mowing the edge of a lawn:
But what happens to the edge of the lawn if the mower does not have the function of mowing the edges:
There are also other, less significant indicators. For example, in models of 2014 it will be possible to control the robot from a mobile phone. Now the top models from Caiman (L300 series) can be controlled from a special remote control via Bluetooth. You can set the launch schedule, get information about the battery discharge, control the robot, etc.
On the operating table, we have one of the most advanced models on the market: the Robomow RS 630. It can mow up to 30 acres without recharging, it has collision sensors and rain, it is programmed according to the days of the week, it has a multi-zone mode and many more useful chips, about which, perhaps, keep silent, so that the “crown” of the robot is no longer pressed.
The robot has a combined movement algorithm in its “brain”: stochastic in wide areas (the car moves in a straight line until it reaches a wire or an obstacle, then turns at a random angle), and in narrow places it is determined (in reaching the wire the mower turns into one and same side at the same angle, approximately 300 °). It turns out rather chaotic route. Due to the regular start of the mower, all areas will be mowed sooner or later. The height of the stubble is set by a mechanical regulator from 2 to 8 cm.
The lithium ion battery of the machine with a capacity of 6 Ah and a voltage of 26 V has a lithium ferrophosphate cathode. Due to this, the number of full charge / charge cycles increased from 500–1000 to 2000, and with “gentle” charging mode - up to 8000. From a fully charged battery, the mower can continuously work for 1.5–2 hours, depending on the type of grass cover, and terrain plot and other factors. Approximately the same time it takes to charge the battery.
We note one more important quality of the mower - a low noise level during operation, which is completely incompatible with the roar of a conventional electric mower, not to mention a gasoline one.
Under the cover of the case there is such a miracle of technology:
Robot brains are located on this motherboard:
The brains are made on the old controller, apparently they took the path of our builders of missiles, the main thing is to work. Only for such money could use solid capacitors, all the same 21st century. It is of high quality, everywhere everything is soldered, and in addition it is extensively covered with varnish - protection against moisture, although the box in which they are located is already hermetically sealed.
In general, the circuitry is very well thought out and uses the elementary part with a large gap on survivability - that is, it is very, very difficult to kill the brains.
LCD screen mower:
The LCD display is the top cover of the brain box and, as you can see, there is a silicone gasket which gives full tightness.
In general, you can put 4-ku with a plus for electronics.
In the following photo: a front infrared sensor and a perimeter sensor controller, as well as a mower lift sensor controller and a wheel rotation controller.
As you can see, everything is also hermetic - the electronics are protected from moisture and dust.
And this is a brushless motor, along with a dressed three-shear knife. Steel is a stainless steel, high-quality metal, unlike floating knives, these mow the grass completely and do not tear it. The engine is equipped with a temperature sensor for reliability to prevent overheating.
Now, of course, is not the time to talk about buying a lawn mower. The season has just ended. But for the future it is worth considering whether you need it or not. Robots-mowers are quite reliable devices. The main damage that may occur during operation, relate to the wheels. But even such cases are extremely rare. Still, do not forget about good service when choosing a model.
The main labor costs occur only on the first day of installation and laying of the perimeter cable, no further difficulties arise. The mower doesn’t even need to be cleaned, as it happens with vacuum cleaning robots.
On the other hand, prices, of course, are quite high for this type of device, and statistics show that the price for them does not decrease from year to year.
As they say, the choice is always yours.
On the Russian market, the most popular manufacturers of lawn-mowers are: Caiman, Robomow, Wiper, Husqvarna. There are less popular models from Bosch, Stiga, Worx and others. Caiman and Wiper are mowers of one Italian company Zucchetti, but produced under different brands in Russia. Robomow is produced in Israel, formerly known as Frendly Robotics. Husqvarna is a Swedish industrial company that manufactures a variety of garden and garden tools and robotic mowers are only a small fraction of their product range.
Today we will talk about the top model from the company Robomow, but first we will go through the main characteristics of the robotic lawn mowers and understand in principle their work.
How it was?
Progress did not stand still, people became more and more lazy, bought country houses with large plots - these factors gave manufacturers a way to reflect on new types of devices that could autonomously mow lawns. The first such devices began to appear more than 20 years ago, but already then there were enthusiasts who invented their designs, as in the above photo. About the safety of such structures of speech, of course, was not.
')
What is the principle of lawn mowers?
Basically, almost all lawn mowers require laying a limiter cable around the perimeter. The cable defines the boundaries of the mowing zone. On it goes a constant signal from the base. Obviously, one end of the cable comes out of the base station, the other enters it, that is, the circuit should not have gaps (the phrase: “there wasn’t, not a single break!”) Was remembered. It is also obvious that most gardeners have a lawn that is not even and empty, there may be trees, flowerbeds, a house in the end. All robotic lawn mowers have obstacle sensors like the vacuum cleaner robots at their disposal. True, the latter have optical and IR sensors, that is, the robot may not touch furniture, and mechanical sensors are usually installed in mowers. Sensors are triggered by obstacles of a height of 10 cm. Boulders, curbs, trees, the mower will determine as an obstacle and just go round. But flowers can eat, and from the pond and water get drunk. In order to avoid the latter, it is necessary to correctly lay the perimeter wire.
As can be seen from the figure, the wire will have to bend around a flowerbed or other obstacle. If in the middle of the plot there is a smooth path flush with the ground or up to 10 cm in height, then you can not limit it. It is better to protect the path of rubble, leave a narrow clean passage to another mowing zone. Knives from rubble and cones can deteriorate. An example of a track where the lawn mower robot does not need any restrictions presented on the photo.
Examples of areas where fencing is required:
In the next photo, the lawn is so overloaded that it is impossible to use a robotic lawnmower at all, because it is impossible to lay the cable correctly.
And what if you have multiple mowing zones? In the simple case, when there is a passage with a width of 1.2 meters, you can lay the cable so that it captures all zones. By the way, copper cable is used everywhere. If there is not enough complete, you can use any other option, without buying from the manufacturer. It is not necessary to fold the cable for the winter.
Caiman mowers can work without a limiter wire, but in this case the lawn should be completely enclosed with physical objects from a height of 10 cm. Robomow mowers are supplied with an additional perimeter adapter that allows using the device on lawns where the base is not installed.
If the second lawn is large, then the perimeter adapter will not be enough and you will need to install a second base on the site, and transport the robot using the console or transfer from site to site (and they are not light, on average 15 kg).
Video of proper wire laying:
Wire laid, installed base, you can run the device.
Autonomous mowers usually move erratically. Top models from Caiman have a mode of movement in a spiral. Robomow moves in a zigzag, and, for example, Bosch moves a snake. But here there are some downsides. Bosch forms its constant, uniform route, and with multiple starts in the same places, there will be non-mowed sections. Therefore, probably, chaotic mode will suit even better. It is also important that the mower does not leave a rut near the base, and for this it should not always drive in a straight line. An example of not-good grass can be seen in the figure below.
Advanced mowers have a rain sensor, and will not mow in bad weather, can be programmed for a specific start time, etc. But more on that below. All mowers mulch the grass, that is, the rapid rotation of the knives chops it to such a state that it dries and rot quickly, being a good fertilizer for new grass.
What to look for when choosing?
The cost of robot mowers varies from 50,000 to 300,000 rubles. Here is what you need to pay attention to when choosing such a device:
1) There should be a quality service and preferably 2 years warranty. The robot lawn mower is a technically complex product that most likely will not work out in a third-party service center.
2) Capture width. This indicator indicates how fast your autonomous assistant mows the lawn. The greater the width, the faster the lawn will mow. In inexpensive models (Caiman L50), it is 24 cm, in advanced models (Robomow RS630) - 56 cm.
3) Proper load distribution depending on the volume of grass. Robomow, for example, can slow down in places where there is tall grass, it measures the current on mowing engines. If the grass is high, it means a big load, it means a high current, so it is necessary to reduce the speed of movement for the best result.
4) Power consumption. The higher it is, the better and faster the robot mows. Sometimes you can find two robots with the same mowing area. For example, both robots are designed for 1000 sq. M., But one has a width of 30 cm and the other 57, one has a power of 100 W and the other 400 W, who should you prefer?
Of course, the one who is more powerful and has a large width, he will mow the lawn faster.
5) The type and capacity of the battery. Affects the size of the lawn, which can serve the device. Mowers will be able to work easier on 4 acres as much as possible, and advanced models up to 30 acres. The best lithium iron-phosphate, they have a large number of discharge charge cycles up to 2000, and hence a huge service life compared to standard lithium-ion batteries. Obviously, there is no talk of nickel-metal hydride batteries.
6) Multizone is the ability of the robot to mow the grass on different and distant lawns. For example, can or not the robot, having mowed the lawn in front of the house, fully charge the battery, and automatically go along the narrow passage or path, mow the lawn in the back yard, and then return to the base station without taking your time?
7) The presence of the base for charging included. Everything is simple here. If there is no base, then you will have to carry a robot to charge home or to the barn,
charge it, then carry it back to the lawn and run. If there is a base station, the mower charges automatically. The robot leaves the base station itself, mows itself, returns and charges itself, and so on throughout the season.
I also recommend to pay attention to the power supply unit that powers the base station. It must be wide-band because in the villages and cottage settlements often the input voltage does not fit into the standards of 220V.
8) Cutting the edges. This is a special program that forces the robot to pass along the edges and corners of the lawn for perfect mowing. The mowing mode can be implemented only on those robots that can pick up grass outside the wheels. Also, the quality of the lawn is influenced by the deck (the board on which the knives are fixed) on the design of the knives and the deck depends on the quality of mulching and mowing. In some models of robot decks have a "floating suspension" deck with knives exactly repeats the relief of the lawn. Mowing example
An example of mowing the edge of a lawn:
But what happens to the edge of the lawn if the mower does not have the function of mowing the edges:
There are also other, less significant indicators. For example, in models of 2014 it will be possible to control the robot from a mobile phone. Now the top models from Caiman (L300 series) can be controlled from a special remote control via Bluetooth. You can set the launch schedule, get information about the battery discharge, control the robot, etc.
The device is a robot-lawn mowers
On the operating table, we have one of the most advanced models on the market: the Robomow RS 630. It can mow up to 30 acres without recharging, it has collision sensors and rain, it is programmed according to the days of the week, it has a multi-zone mode and many more useful chips, about which, perhaps, keep silent, so that the “crown” of the robot is no longer pressed.
The robot has a combined movement algorithm in its “brain”: stochastic in wide areas (the car moves in a straight line until it reaches a wire or an obstacle, then turns at a random angle), and in narrow places it is determined (in reaching the wire the mower turns into one and same side at the same angle, approximately 300 °). It turns out rather chaotic route. Due to the regular start of the mower, all areas will be mowed sooner or later. The height of the stubble is set by a mechanical regulator from 2 to 8 cm.The lithium ion battery of the machine with a capacity of 6 Ah and a voltage of 26 V has a lithium ferrophosphate cathode. Due to this, the number of full charge / charge cycles increased from 500–1000 to 2000, and with “gentle” charging mode - up to 8000. From a fully charged battery, the mower can continuously work for 1.5–2 hours, depending on the type of grass cover, and terrain plot and other factors. Approximately the same time it takes to charge the battery.
We note one more important quality of the mower - a low noise level during operation, which is completely incompatible with the roar of a conventional electric mower, not to mention a gasoline one.
Under the cover of the case there is such a miracle of technology:
Robot brains are located on this motherboard:
The brains are made on the old controller, apparently they took the path of our builders of missiles, the main thing is to work. Only for such money could use solid capacitors, all the same 21st century. It is of high quality, everywhere everything is soldered, and in addition it is extensively covered with varnish - protection against moisture, although the box in which they are located is already hermetically sealed.
In general, the circuitry is very well thought out and uses the elementary part with a large gap on survivability - that is, it is very, very difficult to kill the brains.
LCD screen mower:
The LCD display is the top cover of the brain box and, as you can see, there is a silicone gasket which gives full tightness.
In general, you can put 4-ku with a plus for electronics.
In the following photo: a front infrared sensor and a perimeter sensor controller, as well as a mower lift sensor controller and a wheel rotation controller.
As you can see, everything is also hermetic - the electronics are protected from moisture and dust.
And this is a brushless motor, along with a dressed three-shear knife. Steel is a stainless steel, high-quality metal, unlike floating knives, these mow the grass completely and do not tear it. The engine is equipped with a temperature sensor for reliability to prevent overheating.
findings
Now, of course, is not the time to talk about buying a lawn mower. The season has just ended. But for the future it is worth considering whether you need it or not. Robots-mowers are quite reliable devices. The main damage that may occur during operation, relate to the wheels. But even such cases are extremely rare. Still, do not forget about good service when choosing a model.
The main labor costs occur only on the first day of installation and laying of the perimeter cable, no further difficulties arise. The mower doesn’t even need to be cleaned, as it happens with vacuum cleaning robots.
On the other hand, prices, of course, are quite high for this type of device, and statistics show that the price for them does not decrease from year to year.
As they say, the choice is always yours.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/202026/
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