|
Home | Forums | Gallery | Webcams | Blogs | YouTube Channel | Classifieds | Calendar | Register | FAQ | Donate | Members List | Search | Today's Posts | Mark Forums Read |
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
06-29-2022, 11:54 AM | #1 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 991
Thanks: 256
Thanked 280 Times in 169 Posts
|
Quote:
|
|
06-29-2022, 02:32 PM | #2 | |
Senior Member
|
Quote:
Anyway ...... I am getting a wee bit off-topic here ...... so, getting back to mowing a lawn with a rotary cutter blade, lawn mower. Looking at a golf course green or a grass tennis court, the grass is VERY short, very low, like maybe just 1/4" low. So, probably the reel style lawn mowers are intended for high maintenance, closely cut grass like a tennis court or a golf green and not too practical for most all residential lawns.
__________________
... down and out, liv'n that Walmart side of the lake! Last edited by fatlazyless; 06-29-2022 at 03:12 PM. |
|
06-29-2022, 03:41 PM | #3 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 991
Thanks: 256
Thanked 280 Times in 169 Posts
|
Can anyone comment on the reliability of your battery push lawnmower?
I'm looking at the EGO Power+ LM2101 https://www.amazon.com/EGO-Power-LM2...ct_top?ie=UTF8 Reviews are overwhelmingly positive, but those who have problems report that EGO customer service is terrible. Same for other brands. Sample review re EGO batteries: "The issue is the batteries. I have 3(2.5 amps) and 1, now 2 (7.5 amps). The first 7.5a lasted right up until the warranty ran out. One of the 2.5a gave out, not long after. Costing about $350 and $150 for each one, that is $500 in replacement cost in 3.5 years." That's not a cost effective machine. Last edited by SailinAway; 06-29-2022 at 04:22 PM. |
06-29-2022, 04:45 PM | #4 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 5,988
Thanks: 1,154
Thanked 1,971 Times in 1,219 Posts
|
Quote:
For real, though—were I buying and electric garden tool, I'd be looking very closely at the 60V Greenworks. I've got a weed whacker from them that's pretty impressive, so I'd be likely to keep to one battery system. Sent from my SM-G990U1 using Tapatalk |
|
06-29-2022, 05:00 PM | #5 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 991
Thanks: 256
Thanked 280 Times in 169 Posts
|
Quote:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...KIKX0DER&psc=1 But I think the cord would make me crazy. The cord both creates and solves problems. If the EGO battery dies in 3 years, I wonder if they will have improved battery life by then and possibly lowered the price. The OEM battery is $250. Inferior replacements are about $160. |
|
Sponsored Links |
|
06-29-2022, 06:13 PM | #6 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2021
Posts: 3,082
Thanks: 2
Thanked 537 Times in 442 Posts
|
Quote:
|
|
06-29-2022, 08:22 PM | #7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 991
Thanks: 256
Thanked 280 Times in 169 Posts
|
I think FLL was referring to the overall quality of the vegetation and terrain, not the height of the cut. I think a reel mower could work on a small, flat lawn that gets mowed regularly---although when I was growing up we used a reel mower on our two-acre yard and apparently that was OK since it was all we had in those days.
|
06-29-2022, 08:37 PM | #8 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2021
Posts: 3,082
Thanks: 2
Thanked 537 Times in 442 Posts
|
Quote:
|
|
06-29-2022, 08:31 PM | #9 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 991
Thanks: 256
Thanked 280 Times in 169 Posts
|
Can someone please explain the meaning of volts and amps and how they relate to each other? As in, for example, an 80 volt 2 amp battery versus 40 volts 5 amps. Do those terms refer to the power delivered to the arbor or the time capacity of the battery, or both?
|
06-29-2022, 08:41 PM | #10 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2021
Posts: 3,082
Thanks: 2
Thanked 537 Times in 442 Posts
|
Quote:
For instance, the DeWalt Flex system allows for the battery to change voltage (lowering or raising the flow of current)... the more ampere/hours that the battery has the longer it will last at each voltage level. |
|
06-30-2022, 11:16 AM | #11 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: South Down Shores
Posts: 1,939
Thanks: 535
Thanked 568 Times in 334 Posts
|
Quote:
Without getting super deep into an EE-level discussion, you can think of volts like strength. More volts will generally equate to more power or ability to do something. All other things being equal, an 18v drill will be able to drill a larger hole than a 12V drill. Amp-hours is a measure of how long the battery can supply that force for (again, simplifying things here). You might prefer to have a battery/drill than can drill 100 1" holes, instead of a drill that can drill a 4" hole, but only 2 of them before the battery dies. Ah, or Amp-hours, is a rating of how long a battery can maintain its rated voltage or a given amount of power draw. A 5Ah battery can (theoretically) supply 5 Amps for 1 hour, or 1 amp for 5 hours, or 2.5 amps for 2 hours, etc. In terms of electricity, Watts is the absolute measure of power, and watts is Volts * Amps. A 12V battery with a 5Ah battery can do more total work than a 24V 1Ah battery, but the peak "work" it would be able to do would be lower, limited by the voltage. Ah ratings can be a little deceptive, as they ignore battery chemistry. Some batteries can be damaged by an excessive discharge, while others can be drawn down to a lower voltage without damage. So in some cases the Ah rating might be what you can actually expect from the battery, and in other cases it represents a number that would damage the battery if you were to actually try to use all that charge/capacity. The Ah rating is also often at an ideal draw, not maximum output. Kind of like MPG ratings on a car, you get optimum mileage within a narrow band of speed, not if you floor it all the time. For a given manufacturer or brand of battery, higher Ah ratings will equal longer run times or usage between recharges. But across different brands two batteries both rated as 12V / 3Ah might have very different performance curves in real life.
__________________
[insert witty phrase here] |
|
The Following User Says Thank You to brk-lnt For This Useful Post: | ||
SailinAway (07-01-2022) |
06-30-2022, 11:45 AM | #12 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 158
Thanks: 40
Thanked 43 Times in 30 Posts
|
EGO Mower
I'm on my 4th or 5th year with an EGO mower, still on the original battery, still lasts long enough to do my .25 acre... Even lent it to my neighbor to use in his snowblower a few times when his ran out!
|
06-30-2022, 03:24 PM | #13 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 991
Thanks: 256
Thanked 280 Times in 169 Posts
|
Thank you for that feedback. I have one acre of lawn but I'm happy with a battery that lasts 45 to 60 minutes, like the EGO, because I don't care to mow longer than that anyhow. Plus, a gas mower runs out of gas after about an hour.
|
07-01-2022, 01:02 PM | #14 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 991
Thanks: 256
Thanked 280 Times in 169 Posts
|
After doing a lot of research and reading and watching a ton of reviews, it seems to me that at this point in time batteries and electric lawnmowers are not at the point where they are a reliable product and good investment. Reasons:
These problems seem typical of a product that hasn't been on the market long enough nor had enough R&D to be reliable. In contrast, I've had my Craftsman gas mower with Briggs and Stratton motor for somewhere between 15 and 20 years. My previous mower had a terrible B&S motor and Sears in Concord replaced it free of charge one year past the warranty because it was a known faulty motor. They didn't even make me file a warranty claim; they just gave me a new mower. The replacement mower has not had a single problem in more than 15 years. I pretty much abuse it. I've only changed the oil about 3 times. Last spark plug replacement was 3 years ago. Air filter ever 3 years. Today it started on the first pull! Granted, I dislike it for all the usual reasons: weight, not self-propelled, storing gas, spilling gas, dealing with plugs and filter, harm to the environment, etc. But it mows through tall, thick vegetation and has been completely reliable all these years and has lost no performance. I've had a similar experience with my gas Husqvarna string trimmer that I've had for 7 years---always starts on the 3rd pull as expected. The reviews basically say, "A battery-powered lawnmower is pretty good when it works, but you have no idea if it's going to stop working one month or three years from now---they're unpredictable---and when it does stop working, it's going to be a nightmare trying to get it fixed or replaced." If you think I'm being too harsh and I should give an electric mower a try, please explain. I really want to like these mowers. I just think they're a few years away from being cost effective and reliable. |
07-01-2022, 01:10 PM | #15 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2021
Posts: 3,082
Thanks: 2
Thanked 537 Times in 442 Posts
|
Bad choice of manufacturer.
|
07-01-2022, 01:12 PM | #16 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 1,919
Thanks: 198
Thanked 602 Times in 405 Posts
|
Quote:
Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app |
|
07-01-2022, 01:27 PM | #17 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 991
Thanks: 256
Thanked 280 Times in 169 Posts
|
Update: I am not making this up
I felt so motivated by my last post that I went out to mow some more. I hit the stub of a 4" tree and the motor stopped with a loud clang. Some smoke came out of the carburater. I checked the blade---intact. I restarted it and there was a clanging sound, seemed to be coming from the motor rather than the blade. Hmm . . . maybe time to try a battery mower.
|
07-01-2022, 02:11 PM | #18 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2021
Posts: 3,082
Thanks: 2
Thanked 537 Times in 442 Posts
|
Probably the same would happen with the batter, the shaft got jarred and there is damage higher up. Could be a collar, bearing, or worse.
|
07-01-2022, 02:15 PM | #19 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 991
Thanks: 256
Thanked 280 Times in 169 Posts
|
|
07-01-2022, 03:36 PM | #20 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2021
Posts: 3,082
Thanks: 2
Thanked 537 Times in 442 Posts
|
You could remove the blade and start the mower, if it doesn't clang... then a new blade should keep it going for a while.
Other than that... not worth the amount of parts and labor to replace either with a cheap gas mower or a decent battery if that is what you want. |
07-01-2022, 06:56 PM | #21 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 991
Thanks: 256
Thanked 280 Times in 169 Posts
|
Quote:
So, if I use 40 gallons of gas per year at $5 a gallon, that's $200 a year, or $1000 over 5 years, which is the expected lifespan of a battery mower. The mower + a new battery after year 3 would be about $700. Surprisingly, the battery mower may be cheaper at today's gas prices? I'm leaning toward a non-self-propelled battery mower because they're lighter and simpler (fewer things to go wrong). I do have some hills (grades) on my property but the mower + battery weighs about 60 lbs, so maybe that's manageable. My gas mower was probably about 85 lbs. Any thoughts on non-self-propelled? |
|
07-01-2022, 07:11 PM | #22 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Moultonborough
Posts: 738
Thanks: 4
Thanked 256 Times in 168 Posts
|
If you are trashing the mower, can I have it? I have been looking for either a working used push/walk behind mower or at least a frame I can put under my working 5 HP engine. What size is the mower?
|
07-03-2022, 06:10 PM | #23 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 991
Thanks: 256
Thanked 280 Times in 169 Posts
|
Dick, I'm so sorry, I actually didn't see this post until just now. I put the lawnmower at the end of my driveway at 10 pm on Friday. It was gone when I got up at 6:00 a.m. I would gladly have given it to you. It was a 21".
|
Bookmarks |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|