Robot Lawnmower
This is work in progress
I am currently building a robotic lawnmower. This is based very much on the great Ardumower Project but using a Flymo 1200R as a source for most of the parts.
The donor Flymo was purchased from eBay as a 'spares or repair' item for about £100. On the face of it £100 seemed quite a lot for a broken mower but two geared motors and one cutter motor would have cost about the same, possibly more. However, I also get the motors, wheels, cutter and chassis which potentially saves quite a lot of work and additional cost. I did try to get the mower working initially but it was looking to be too tricky and potentially required a new Control PCB costing around £350. Quite. few of these Flymo 1200R mowers find their way onto eBay and I suspect that some may have been stolen as the mowers have a PIN code lock which can only be reset via a code from Flymo. However, this supplier seems to have sold quite a few as returns so this may suggest there could be a bit of a reliability problem.
A rough overview of the design and internals can be found here.
The Ardumower Project is a great source for a building a robotic lawnmower with many good options, as well being linked to a store for most of the items, but works out quite expensive if you buy all of the parts recommended.
One of the other self imposed constraints is to use a 12V battery and solar panel system the tush's used for shed and garden lihghtin
However, one of the main differences was the motors as the Flymo uses Brushless DC Motors for the two drive motors and the cutter motor. Presumably this helps to achieve the low power of 20 Watts and low operating noise of 58dB(A) that are features claimed of this mower.
Sensors
I am currently building a robotic lawnmower. This is based very much on the great Ardumower Project but using a Flymo 1200R as a source for most of the parts.
The donor Flymo was purchased from eBay as a 'spares or repair' item for about £100. On the face of it £100 seemed quite a lot for a broken mower but two geared motors and one cutter motor would have cost about the same, possibly more. However, I also get the motors, wheels, cutter and chassis which potentially saves quite a lot of work and additional cost. I did try to get the mower working initially but it was looking to be too tricky and potentially required a new Control PCB costing around £350. Quite. few of these Flymo 1200R mowers find their way onto eBay and I suspect that some may have been stolen as the mowers have a PIN code lock which can only be reset via a code from Flymo. However, this supplier seems to have sold quite a few as returns so this may suggest there could be a bit of a reliability problem.
A rough overview of the design and internals can be found here.
The Ardumower Project is a great source for a building a robotic lawnmower with many good options, as well being linked to a store for most of the items, but works out quite expensive if you buy all of the parts recommended.
One of the other self imposed constraints is to use a 12V battery and solar panel system the tush's used for shed and garden lihghtin
However, one of the main differences was the motors as the Flymo uses Brushless DC Motors for the two drive motors and the cutter motor. Presumably this helps to achieve the low power of 20 Watts and low operating noise of 58dB(A) that are features claimed of this mower.
Sensors