Battery Power for Lawn equipment -- is it time?

The most active existing thread on this topic is, I think, this one over here.

 

i was reading that the lion batteries last longer and are low maintenance compared to lead acid. $400. more seemed to make sense, but maybe not.

 

i got the corded little sno joe this year, waste of money. i can't even imagine how bad the cordless version is

 

The Ryobi is equipped sealed, maintenance free lead acids. Going to LFP gets more complicated. The one battery I looked at can't be wired in series. I'm guess in the onboard electronics won't place nice with higher voltages. There are other options that do work, but there could be tricky getting them to work. You'd might also need a new charger.

But it may not matter. Ryobi might be coming out lithium versions to the riding mowers.
https://www.ryobitools.com/products/outdoor

Was it the 13 amp model? Works fine for me, but all my previous snow blower experince, EV and ICE, was with a Toro snow broom. I just wish the handle was longer, or at a higher angle for me. Now, with heavy or really deep snow, the Sno-Joe would have a better time using it like a shovel; go out and clear snow during the storm before the amount would be a struggle.

Since outdoor outlets are rarely more than 15 amps, it will likely take a battery model to get more powerful. I almost bought the battery version of the corded model I have during holiday sales. Instead, I got Autosocks to prevent major snow storms this season.

 

is that like washing your car to make it rain?

i got the 15amp just to clear8 or 10 feet on my patio away from the house because i have to pull all the snow off a shed roof addition that has chronic ice dams

it's so weak, i wound up shoveling again.

 

Does it have a the typical 15 amp plug? With that, a real 15 amp motor would be tripping the circuit regularly. A 15 amp appliance needs a 20 amp outlet.

13 amp was the max amperage blower they had when I got mine. It has a steel auger, which current Snow Joe models of that power rating are using plastic. The issues I've run into with it is when snow depths are taller than the mouth. Then it can get physical keeping the blower 'floating' on the snow to clear the top layer first, or going back and forth constantly to clear snow that collapses into the path. It isn't walk behind, but the newer 15 amp ones can be.

It also isn't dual stage. So dense or wet snow tends to clog the chute. The coded ones all seem to single stage still. Their cordless ones are available in 48V and 100V flavors. The 24 inch 100V one is dual stage and self propelled. Just $1500; $1000 if you already have the batteries and charger.

 

yes, standard 15amp plug and plastic auger. we get a lot of heavy wet snow, or if it's dry, it comes 12-18" at a time.
i'll find the link: amazon says i bought this february 2021, $148.

ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00

 

For affordable price and popularity as well as a range of different tools available, all of my power hand tools are Ryobi 18v ONE+ ecosystem. I have transitioned from Ryobi 18v ONE NiMH battery system and most of the battery packs are now Li type, although I still have a few NiMH battery packs and plenty of navy blue old Ryobi hand tools.

Naturally, trying to extend the use of the batteries which are the most expensive part of the investment, my first battery-operated yard tools were Ryobi 18v ONE+ tools. The Ryobi 18v ONE+ string trimmer and leaf blower were the very first yard tools I tried. They did not impress me. Both of them were completely underpowering for the task I needed to use them. I have not tried any other yard tools, such as lawnmowers and chainsaws in the ONE+ series, but I don't expect them to be very useful for my needs. I think the 18V battery system is just not enough power. Ryobi also has a 40V battery system, but being a completely different battery system from the 18V ONE+ I already own, I have not given it a try yet.

I also tried an Oregon Tools 40v battery-operated chainsaw, and I was really disappointed with the lack of power in it too. Compared to my gas-powered Husqvarna chainsaw, it was like a toy. But since I did not want to waste a battery pack that came with the chainsaw. And since I needed a replacement string trimmer, decided to purchase an Oregon Tools 40V battery-operated string trimmer. This turned out to be perfect for my wife to operate and seems to serve the function it is intended for. As long as grass and weeds are all needed to be trimmed, it works perfectly. That was a 100% improvement from the wimpy Ryobi 18V ONE+ string trimmer and better than its predecessor, the Black and Decker corded string trimmer purchased decades ago. Certainly not to mess with 100 feet long extension cord is a big help. However, for anything thicker than a strand of grass, I have to resort to my trusty powerful gas engine Stihl brush cutter.

At this point, I am nowhere close to 100% conversion to battery-operated yard tools. I have not used other battery-operated yard tools yet, but for now, I just don't think for a similar price point, I can replace the gas-operated lawn mower, snowblower, power auger, and generator. I did replace a gas-operated RIGID power washer with a corded electric power washer a few years back. The Portland electric power washer from HF was extremely budget-friendly, and super portable, but nowhere close to the power of the RIGID gas engine power washer.

Not a yard tool, but we recently purchased a Lupe battery-operated cordless upright vacuum cleaner from the UK to replace decommissioned Oreck XL upright vacuum. For a price tag of $799 (though discounted to $599 for pre-order), I was expecting this machine to be much better than 20 years old Oreck. As it turned out, it was a huge disappointment. The motor is exceptionally powerful and capable of sucking up almost anything on the floor. But the ergonomic is wrong, the machine is very loud, the battery charge takes hours and last only 30min. And the design flaw makes it very difficult to empty the canister and clean it after use. I will be re-packing it and returning it to the UK for a full refund. We may give a Dyson a try next, but I am starting to think corded Oreck may be a better choice for inside.

 

My father bought a 24 volt lead acid self propelled mower, worked “OK” for a while but the self propelled gears broke then the charger broke, no repair parts were available, got almost 2 years out of it terrible investment and the warranty wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on

If going electric
Corded first
Lithium only second

Make 100% certain the company you buy from uses common battery architecture and chargers across many different types of tools, sticks with the same typ of batteries many years and is a high volume common brand.

Lead acid is expensive and short lived many “green” companies change products often and are similar to fly by night, avoid everything but the largest brands with a clear methodology to batteries.

 

Except for the light and chute clearing tool, the linked one is the one I have. The auger is steel supporting a rubber material. Got it at least 5 years ago. Can't recall if it was labeled 13 or 15 amp.

Adapters might exist as a solution. I got one that let's me use Dewalt 20V packs with my 18V tools. While There isn't one to get those 40V packs working with 18V tools, there are ones that would let the Ryobi use those 20V Dewalt or 18V Milwaukee packs. Some also have an USB port to let you use the battery as a power bank.

These days, you might not be tied to the manufacturer's battery ecology for their tools.

I got a cordless Shark stick vac that is working well. Only two complaints. The minor one is with the helpful stickers Shark uses to point out functions, features, and filters on the vacuum. They come off easy from plastic, but not the metal stick this model uses. The other is that I wished it could disconnect the floor head from the stick by your foot like the corded Shark I have.

 

Last Saturday, sunny day, our kids "descended" on us. We had pretty much every outlet and extension cord available in use, for:

(Corded) impact, for snow tire swap out on our son's car
(Corded) wet/dry vacuum, for our daughter, cleaning out her car's interior
(Corded) recipricating saw with pruning blade, for me, breaking down about a ton of pruned tree branches
(Corded) leaf blower, for above

We also have:

(Corded) electric craftsman push mower, got maybe 15 years back, from Sears (gone).
(Corded) string trimmer, maybe 20 years old, on semi-permanent loan to daughter

 

Our Ryobi lawn mower manages to do our ½ acre lot effectively. 40V 6Ah batteries. One will do the trick

But if we let the grass get too long, the 2nd battery sure comes in handy.

The gauge shows capacity/discharge which is really nice, especially because from reading - it's apparently best to have it no more than ¾ full during winter storage. Anyone else storing their batteries partially discharged?
.

 

I'm still, like Mendel, tied to utility power (except for my ICE tools). My electric dethatcher pulls 12 amps and I have a corded leaf blower. I did upgrade my lawn extension cords this spring to 3-wire, 12 gauge to handle the high current and provide a bit more safety, three lengths of 50 foot extension to reach all points of my property.

I do have several Makita 18v tools (Hammer drill, Impact wrench, and Jig saw) so I probably will stay in Makita's battery ecology in the future.

JeffD

 

i have been keeping mine full, per the instructions. i will change that behavior next winter, thanks!

 

The goat who started the splinter thread, I'd read the original but not committed to battery operated yard equipment. But the 80 V, Greenworks Pro made me realized it was a great solution, The latest item being the 21" mower which is an impressive piece of work. So I too had "reported" myself with a suggestion the threads be merged. And I thank our moderator for doing the magic.

Bob Wilson

 

Thanks. I will have to check what is available out there. I have never investigated that route. While all of my power hand tools are from the Ryobi ONE+ series. I have several other brands of corded hand power tools. I prefer Makita, but it can get pricey even corded ones. Cordless tools from Makita can easily cost twice as much as Ryobi without a battery.

We wanted an upright vacuum cleaner, not a stick vac. Most Dyson cordless vac also falls into the category of stick vac. For small jobs and hard-to-reach places, a stick vac is ideal. But for deep cleaning our carpeted floor with 11 cats roaming around freely, we need a strong suction and good powerhead brush that beat out most of the pet hair yet is still lightweight and easy to maneuver. The 8lb Oreck upright has been almost perfect for this task, except for the cord attached to the wall. I was hoping a newly designed Lupe upright vac would fill the gap...

I bought an Oregon Tools string trimmer with Gator speedload spool head. The string disk is a bit more expensive than the ordinary trimmer lines you can buy in bulk, but it does not break as often, and changing the spool is so easy. Really takes only a few seconds. Plus the parts are readily available. I don't know if the head attachment is compatible with your brands' trimmer, but it may be worth investigating.

 

My slightly older 56 V Ego is the same width (I think) and has also been completely satisfactory.

The day I unboxed it was, honestly, a few weeks beyond when I ought to have bought it, and the lawn was such a jungle that a small crowd of neighbors spontaneously gathered to watch the new electric thing fail. It didn't break a sweat.

It didn't even audibly slow down the way a gasser would. (In fairness, that's not really a measure of power; I think the rpm feedback in the electronic motor control just stays a lot tighter than the mechanical feedback governor on a gasser.)