Battery Power for Lawn equipment -- is it time?

We had winter. Then spring. Then one day at 80 F. Then snow. Then spring. Kind of spring-like today.

Through it all, the grass kept growing....

On the day it hit 80, I was indoors all day. Didn't really notice that the heat had stopped coming on. Late afternoon, I was thinking "gee, is it warm in here or is it me? Do I need to go get the thermometer?

That thermometer normally lives in the first aid kit in the car, so I had to go outside to fetch it. As soon as I opened the door, I realized it wasn't me.

I brought the thermometer in anyway.

 

I actually used our Craftsman lawnmower to hack down the neighbors front lawn.

Between his front lawn and ours it took half the battery.

He's 89 and his mower just gave out, so I thought I'd lend a hand.

Without shaking that is.

 

Huh. Have you mentioned what robot that is already?

 

I think we have the same one. It's amazing!! Got mine last summer I liked it so much I got an EGO edge trimmer. It works great, but I get tired of using the air compressor and a long hose to blow the trimmings off the pavement and back onto the yard. So the other day I ordered one of their blowers. I got the 168 MPH, 580 CFM one sans battery which was on sale for $129 ($50 off). Supposed to arrive between April 28-May 1. Not sure why Home Depot is taking so long, but it's not urgent ... yet. We got an inch of rain today and 1-1/2 inches yesterday, so we're about to enter twice a week mowing season.

Edit to add: not sure how long the price will stay there, but here's the link:
EGO 168 MPH 580 CFM 56V Lithium-Ion Cordless Electric Variable-Speed Blower (Tool Only)-LB5800 - The Home Depot

 

Honestly I can't remember but probably not. It's a Robomow RS630. I bought a scratch & dent demo model from the manufacturer for a tidy discount. I did not hire a professional installer, they are rare outside of Florida. It took me a while to really figure the thing out, but I've now (finally!) got it performing as advertised.

I originally set it up to mow my entire lawn, but over a couple of seasons I determined that it just wasn't up to it- the machine is fairly dependent on dry weather for mowing, and there just aren't enough dry days per week here in PA for my total yardage. I've since reconfigured the perimeter wire so that the robot now has access to about 5/8 of my lawn; I do the remainder with a walk-behind electric.

 

Those are some of the reasons I went for corded electrics three decades ago, starting with the lawn mower.

Though I'd also built up three broken string trimmers over the years, needing deeper dive attention 'when I got a round tuit'. And now that it is here, they all received diagnostic attention.

One (Harbor Freight) would deploy and empty the whole line spool in a couple seconds. It turned out to have severe mechanical wear (plastic erosion) in the feed control mechanism. With no replacement part source found, it was disassembled to the recycle and trash bins.

Another (Weed Eater) worked again for ten minutes (had I previously refilled the spool improperly?) then failed. One carbon electric motor brush and its connection lead and retention spring gone bad. Replacement parts source for this model found, but never just brushes, only whole motors, and this motor is no longer available. Of zillions of brushes available online elsewhere, nothing fully matches, and I'm not yet ready to build some from available components. (Yes, I see the parts to do so. No, I don't know that it is worth the time.)

Another (Toro) failed to feed out fresh line. A critical eyelet had vanished, but is an available replacement part. Spares arrived Saturday (hideously priced for what it is, and shipping even more so, but still far cheaper than a new trimmer). One immediately installed and finished the job from where the Weed Eater quit.

Score: one appliance repaired and working again, another piece of storage shed junk gone, and a yard looking much nicer.

 

Line feeding seems to be the bane of string trimmers. Before the Ego I had a Toro that was inertial; it would feed a little bit every time it started up. I got into a pretty good routine with that.

The Ego has much more power and is more satisfactory overall, but it has a bump-to-feed head, and what they meant by 'bump' seems to require more like clubbing away at the ground with the head of the trimmer.

So help me, I just stop it every now and then, flip it handle-down, squeeze the head and pull out some line.

Looks roughly like an update of the one I've got. Tried it once for gutter cleaning (I think I saw the idea somewhere); the effect was impressive but left me head to toe in gutter gunk.

Even clears (dry fluffy) snow off the sidewalk, way faster than shoveling. Wear a good glove and hold only with one hand (if the wind blows a cloud of snow back atcha, you will feel hand zaps).

 

My DeWalt line trimmer seems to be really, really sensitive to line type. They all have about the same feed/jam properties, but I've noticed that some have a huge impact on the RPM of the spindle, and there's also a wide variety in cutting performance.

The thing showed up with .066 round profile line and it was okay. Somewhere I found some .080 stuff with 4 or 6 corners on it and it seemed to triple the cutting ability, although the headspeed and battery lifetime both dropped.

I've had bad luck finding the same string twice, so I've just taken delivery of a batch of some other .080 I've never used before.

Apart from that the DeWalt is a mixed bag. Many complain that it spins the opposite direction from most gas trimmers, so many users habitually tip it the wrong way and eat the gravel it throws at them. I've never had a gas trimmer so I can't vouch for that.

It's a lot more powerful than the corded one my father had at his place, really mauls through stuff though it needs frequent bumping to keep the line fed right.

 

That was the initial failure in all three of mine. Not sure why one began working again, before suffering the commutator brush failure last week.

I'm still on my first-ever spool of replacement string. It has outlasted the first lives of three actual trimmers.

Though fortunately one of them now has a second life.

 

My Greenworks 25223 is still going strong, 3rd season on my big yard and it did a year for a previous owner before that. I did a new grip wrap on the handlebars as the old one was fraying.

It would be very familiar to anyone used to a gas-powered push mower: single big blade with a side discharge, optional rear bag or mulching. The 19", $20 blade comes off easily for bench sharpening or replacement.

I posted other details about this unit and its badge-engineered cousins back in post #183 on this thread, so mostly I'm stating that it has continued to perform well since then.

My brother-in-law loaned me an actual electric edger tool and I found it to be fussy and cumbersome vs just doing the string trimmer with a rotated grip.

Good luck!

 

I'm still delighted with my EGO mower. It's this one except mine is not self propelled.
21" Self-Propelled Cordless Lawn Mower by EGO POWER+
I got their edger tool and just got the leaf blower.

Mine has a 5 kWh battery. Granted, I have a pretty small lot, but last week, I mowed front and back. Then I edged. Then I blew the trimmings back in the yard. Then today I mowed front and back again, all on the same charge. (No need to edge or blow today.) It takes me about 20 minutes to mow front and back w/o edging. That's about half the time it used to take with my extension cord type electric mower.

In a few weeks, the grass will get too thick to mow twice on one charge, but one charge will still easily handle mowing, edging, & blowing one time. If it's a typical city sized lot and not a sprawling estate, that thing is the bomb!

 

It has a what?

I think I just bought the same mower. Came with a 5 amphour battery, 'bout the size of a volleyball.

At 56 volts, that's 280 watthours, or just a shade over a quarter of a kWh.

And yes, it goes like stink all through my yard and blows the clippings back in and is still raring for more.

 

Be careful with that. I can't tell you anything good or bad about the particular mower you're looking at, but I will 99% guarantee you that the Snapper you remember is not building electric lawnmowers. At best they are putting their name, sales channel resources and warranty network on a machine contract-built in the People's Electric Lawnmower Factory #58 alongside 12 other brands. That's how my Greenworks got turned into a Stihl.

EDIT: hehe. Yep, this Snapper is actually a Globe Tools, a.k.a. Greenworks Commercial mower.

Check out their GM210 82 volt 21" mower. Now just imagine it done in red and black and you have that Snapper. Just a few minor differences in fasteners and detail plastic moldings.

 

Oh! The horrors -- an irregular line.

I use a corded weed whacker that I've had for 25+ years. I'd get a battery powered one if I needed to get one now.
I find that the edge is as straight as the care I take.

Mike

 

You are correct. Please forgive a typo that embarrasses the heck out of this electrician and it's too late to edit it.

There are lots of video reviews on the EGO and I haven't found a bad one yet. And I just discovered that they have a 3rd generation now that mulches better, cuts just as cleanly, but sacrifices a little run time. I was leery of a battery powered mower, but this 2nd generation that I have cuts at least as well as a gas powered one.

And here's a consumer review of a 2nd generation from a Tesla owner.

 

https://www.homedepot.com/s/ego%2520lawn%2520mower?NCNI-5

FREE shipping and a 90 day trial period.

 

This is the one I got last year. Fit in the back of the Prime still in the box with room for another with the seats down and would still have room to spare.
EGO 21 in. 56V Lithium-Ion Cordless Electric Walk Behind Push Mower, 5.0 Ah Battery and Charger Included-LM2101 - The Home Depot

 

I've gone completely with the Lowes Kobalt 80v system now: push mower, trimmer, leaf blower, and chain saw. I also picked up a display battery for $25 during a local store clearance campaign so I've got 5 total (of the lowest capacity) which is more than enough for even the heaviest of use mowing (peak tropical wet season) and combined with the 30 min quick charging, we don't run out of battery.

As far as use, the string trimmer is the most "efficient" of the group (never used more than 1/2 batt) with the mower and blower being the least. I gave my old 18v blower with newish batts to a family member with smaller needs. I really liked the weight of that system but the power and run time of that older tech really pales in comparison. I use the super powerful blower the most because of A) needs due to large oak trees and B) so convenient I don't have excuses not to use it for quick clean ups.