Over the years, we have performed service and are in direct contact with the following robotic lawnmower customers and their respective brands: Clipper 1200, Meec, G-force,and Yardforce. One factor that can determine whether the robotic lawnmower works season after season is proper battery maintenance. If the necessary steps are not taken, the battery cells may be adversely affected and cause the robotic lawnmower to have a poor discharge rate or not work at all. In this post, we will go through some scenarios and offer solutions on how to keep your lawn mower in good condition.
The most common scenario for the cells to lose balance is that after using the lawn mower through the season, the customer store their lawn mower in a garage or storage space with the power button still turned on. This causes the battery to discharge over a long period of time without charging and can therefore affect the cells. It is usually the battery threshold and limit for "low charge" that are affected when the battery cells fall below their minimum limit and need to be awakened. This is done by adding a weak charging voltage using a DC controller or a specifically designed low voltage transformer.
We at RobotGarden recommend sending in or leaving your battery in a dead position so our service personnel can try to wake the battery up again. At the same time, we use a discharge unit to check that the battery is still in working order. We also measure individual cells to see that they are all balanced and have the same volts. But what we want to highlight is that the lawnmower must be turned off when stored!
Another situation that can affect the battery is not to charge it every three months during the winter. Once the robotic lawnmower is in a garage/storage over the winter, it is easy to forget to charge the lawn mower to keep the battery volts at a healthy level. Another thing that is important is that the environment has the right temperature so that the battery does not charge when the room temperature is below 0 celsius. Charging the battery in cold temperatures can be problematic and the lithium battery may also have difficulty charging afterwards as the internal components are damaged due to internal galvanization. It is important to charge the lawn mower at least once every winter or to leave the robotic lawnmower and charging station at a service center/dealer for professional service maintenance. The advantage of leaving the robotic lawnmower for winter service is that it allows the customer to have a robot that is in full working condition when spring comes. Winter service also increases the life of the lawn mower, which means less costs in the long run. It can easily be forgotten to charge the battery every three months and RobotGarden sends out emails to all registered customers to remind you of this step during the winter.
The best steps to take when the robotic lawnmower is finished cutting for the season:
- When temperatures start to fall in autumn and the temperature on average is not higher than 8 degrees Celsius (grass on average does not grow below 8 degrees), store the robotic lawnmower in a controlled environment between 0 – 30 degrees Celsius.
- When the robotic lawnmower is in storage, ensure that the battery is fully charged and it is very important that the mower's power button is turned off. In this way as we discussed above, the battery will not continue to discharge and fall below the minimum threshold.
- Approximately every three months, place the lawnmower in the charging station with the charging station switched on. Then proceed to start the mower by turning on the switch. When the display is activated, press the home button to start charging the robotic lawnmower. Make sure not to close the door as the robot does not have to cut. If the door is closed, the robot can potentially leave the charging station thinking it needs to mow grass when the battery is fully charged. When the robot is fully charged, then turn it off with the power button off and unplug the charging station.
Follow these steps and your robotic lawnmower will be grateful for the gentle maintenance!
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