Lawn mowers

I have a Roomba 9 series (969 I think) and while it does a decent job at cleaning, its still confused after years of use and several map reboots. But, my ex-s hair would win up around its wheel axles and eventually it would stop completely. Leaving that aside, the robot mowers are massively expensive and not sure how they`d cope if they need to climb on a concrete walkway for example, which is very common in gardens.

Unfortunately, from what I see, one has still to live with petrol ones. Many battery mowers use 36V (twin 18V) or similar batteries, if that has to feed a big motor under load (long grass) it will not run for long. Then the waiting time for recharge...Appears that even for a small lawn current battery tech is not the go for. Let`s hope for solid packs in the near future - both Quantumscape and Solid Power are on the brink of delivering with the later much closer as it seems. Then we can have big power, fast charge & no exhaust 🙂
 
Electric mowers might be worth the extra expense, but the Lithium-Ion batteries aboard are just as likely to be prone to thermal runaway & the resulting exothermic, chain-reaction oxygen producing fires will certainly burn your house down, if you have an attached garage....Fire recue departments are trying to engineer a car-sized "bathtub" to literally dunk an electric car that is on fire.





------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick...
Did you not notice that my electric tractor uses lead acid batteries? IMHO lead acid are superior for tractors as you want a heavy tractor. The rapid charging capability of Li-Ion is of no (or little) advantage for a tractor.

For a walk-behind mower Li-Ion is fine as the battery will be small (less than shoe-box size). Not impossible that such a battery could catch fire, but it's just as likely that one of the Li-Ion batteries in one of your tools would catch fire. Do you leave all of your tools in a dedicated structure away from your home?
 
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Most people walk around with Li-ion and Li-Po batteries in their pockets or even in their ears. Besides the notorious Note 7 fires, I've not heard of lithium batteries catching fire on their own. An electric car will burn terribly in certain crash situations, but I've heard of a lot more house fires caused by faulty electrics in ICE powered cars... My BMW had a recall for the heater fan wiring - it could catch fire on it's own while the car was parked apparently, and they suggested owners park outside until the recall was completed. That was just a small recall though compared to the ongoing Hyuindai/Kia "park outside" recall...

Over 483,000 more cars and SUVs are part of an ongoing series of fire-related recalls for Hyundai, Genesis, and Kia vehicles
"The problem: A component within the ABS system could short circuit and cause a fire. Neither automaker has yet determined the root cause of the problem.
The fix: Dealers will install new fuses in the affected vehicles’ ABS modules, free of charge, to mitigate the risk of a fire."

Really? There weren't fuses there already? LOL
 
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Did you not notice that my electric tractor uses lead acid batteries? IMHO lead acid are superior for tractors as you want a heavy tractor. The rapid charging capability of Li-Ion is of no (or little) advantage for a tractor.

For a walk-behind mower Li-Ion is fine as the battery will be small (less than shoe-box size). Not impossible that such a battery could catch fire, but it's just as likely that one of the Li-Ion batteries in one of your tools would catch fire. Do you leave all of your tools in a dedicated structure away from your home? /////////// As a retired auto-technician...I still have my giant toolbox of course, I tried the "cordless revolution" for tools, didn't like it...& after my miracle cordless tools would crash & burn, I stayed with air or corded, ditching them as one by one they failed. Matter of fact, I converted a 7.3V cordless mini-drill into a 12V corded drill...a set of wires with medium sized alligator clips to attach to a car battery underhood, still have it, works great..............Rick...
 
She can mow my lawn anytime:
 

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I've walked many many miles behind a gas mower, but I'd say most suburban lawns would be fine with a plug-in electric mower. No fussing with clogged carbs, corroded points, dead magneto coils, or broken ropes. No batteries to replace every few years (if they're lead-acid, or poorly implemented lithium-ion).
 
Until you realise that running an underpowered POS electric mower through 200 feet of number 16 wire (how things were done in my house when I was a kid and told to cut the lawn) is almost as useless as using scissors. And then you run over the damned cord. No thanks.
I'd rather "cut" the lawn like this: LMAO

1649208341248.png
 
Don’t know about cutting the lawn that way but that’s the only thing that works on ants. Same procedure as starting up a BBQ. Let the lighter fluid or gasoline soak way down in there before starting it. I haven’t tried dynamite or Semtex yet, but maybe some day.

Even an electric weed eater doesn’t work worth a **** on 2 or 3 hundred feet of #16 (Has a noticeable effect on speaker/amp damping factor too). And hauling around that much #10 is a pain. Remember that safety warning that comes on the lawyer tag “Do not plug one extension cord into another”.
 
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Fipironil causes 90% reduction in ant populations inside a week, works on termites and cockroaches also.
Lasts up to 7 years if applied properly.
Powder, liquid and (for indoor use) gel are sold under different brand names, this is the chemical compound used as the active ingredient.

You may face local restrictions on sale of these to non professional pesticide applicators.
It is pretty safe, but still a pesticide, and accidents do happen.
In that case, I can't help you much.
 
Yep, it was a Lawn Boy. Seemed like a brilliant design, but was a pain in the butt to use.
As a teen I mowed lawn for a nice old lady down the street who had a Lawn Boy mower.
It was gradually losing power and when I opened up the muffler (2 piece casting) I found
the exhaust port holes (3) nearly full of deposits. Cleaning those out got it running well again.

Dang that was back in the late '60s

 
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And then you run over the damned cord.
I did - and I was trying hard not to let that happen and look like a fool. I felt obligated to replace - not fix - her extension cord, which set me back $50 from HD for an equivalent...

She told me her parents had the type of electric lawnmower that the handle flipped back and forth on centered mounts - and as you mowed back and forth, you were always pulling the cord away from the house as you progressed so it wouldnt get run over.

This was a B&D electric, setup like a ordinary gas mower, in an obstacle course back yard. One brief moment of inattention - zzzzaapp!