Aldi Ferrox battery mower, around 130 quid with battery/charger i'm told.
40cm cut, seems sufficiently powerful, I can't see it struggling unless your lawn is neglected.It's surprisingly sturdy, feels a fair bit more substantial than the prior plug in mowers i've owned.
Easily adjustable cut height.
I'd highly recommend.
Did you get the charger / battery thing sorted or was that an 'extra'?
Would you say it's any easier to manhandle than a corded mower with a similar capacity?
I ask because Mum (92) was considering such a thing a while back (we looked at them in Homebase) and likes to be self sufficient and if it was fairly light / manoeuvrable and didn't have a cord to trip over (more than cut though) it might be a solution for her?
Cheers, T i m
We got it sorted, it's approx 85 quid without battery, 130 with, we bought it with and battery/charger turned up today.
It's easier for *me* than pissing about with an extension but TBH it feels a fair bit heavier than our prior pair of Bosch Rotaks. It's OK when it's on the ground but it is a bit of a lump to carry.
I suspect she may struggle. Documentation suggests it's 16.5kg.
Good.
I suppose you might want to buy it without if you already have a matching battery system.
Ah.
And I'm guessing the battery wouldn't add sufficient weight to make it easier to move after detaching it first (like they do with some take-down mobility scooters)?
Assuming she can keep it on it's back then front wheels when getting it in over the step up to the garage (as you would a pram / baby buggy going up a kerb) then she would only be levering the weight up with the handle, rather than dead-lifting the whole thing (with the front half being easier as she would be pressing down and with a better lever). Whilst she's still strong she's not always that steady on her pins but I was thinking that the handle (like a walking frame) and even weight might help her?
Do you lift the battery out to charge it and if so is that reasonably light / easy would you say?
Did you run the battery flat and if so what sort of run time did it give?
Cheers, T i m
A self-propelled battery mower, might provide some mechanical advantage when pacing the yard. It is not likely to help when putting the mower away though (width of mower versus width of doorway? mess?).
Paul
I wonder how long the battery lasts for, ie does the time it runs get lower with increasing age, and when its ready for a new battery will they still be around to buy? Brian
I have a self-propelled Mountfield (60V 4A battery). It is very good, and cuts well. The self-propelled speed can be adjusted to suit the user. I also found out by chance that the self-propelled motion works whether the blades are rotating or not - in other words, it can be used to just move the mower around on the flat, or up and down slopes, etc.
However, it is at least as heavy as the corded mower it replaced (25Kg), and the battery is not only heavy, but the contacts in both the mower and charger hold it very firmly indeed. I doubt that anyone with a hand or wrist weakness would be able to pull it free.
Agreed, just not sure they are available at that price break and how much heavier it might make it?
It's not that difficult (and something she had done regularly for the
50 years she has lived there with a whole range of mowers).She seemed to take to her G-Tech battery cleaners and so it was losing the cord that was the draw on them (less likely to be a trip hazard) and so the same thought with a battery mower.
Her main mobility issues are the *distance* she can walk *comfortably* (bunions) and sometimes, balance (typically after standing up or turning round quickly etc).
That's why we tell her off when we go round there and catch her standing on a chair and cleaning the windows! ;-(
Cheers, T i m
Hmm, it was the 'self propelled' bit that got her into trouble on a mobility scooter recently but the mower should be ok as long as it's not a 'ride on'. ;-)
Assuming a push mower is reasonably free rolling her back lawn is literally right outside the garage door (where a mower would be stored) but the front lawn is accessed down the side of the (semi-detached) house and so it could be handy for that. It's all very much on the flat.
And does it *need* to be removed for charging?
The dust collection container on her hand held G-Tech cleaner is a struggle for me to get off (without risking throwing it across the room when it does) and she can actually get that off!
We bought her a convertible shopping trolley, two wheels when taking it there empty and then 4 wheels when it's loaded and it seems to have the capacity of a wheely bin. She often pulls that back into the house (up two steps) on her own with little issue so it's not a strength / grip issue.
Daughter is due to re-lay the rear lawn after the rescue lurcher Mum was looking after ripped it up like a racetrack so we have some time to check stuff out.
Cheers, T i m
You are probably right as I've generally been able to get parts for 'big brand' stuff but have never tried (needed?) for anything from Lidl / Aldi?
If it comes with a 3 year warranty (at that price) it might not be an issue?
Cheers, T i m
No, it's "walk-behind".
In which case it should work very well for that purpose. If access to the garage for storage is either on the level or over a small step it should be relatively easy.
Yes, though depending on how much lawn has to be mown, it may be able to do several cuts before needing to be recharged.
It isn't cheap...
The neighbours previous battery mower, lasted four years, before I saw it appear out on garbage day. The battery on that wasn't modular, so did not lend itself to easy replacement.
One weakness of lithium, is if you let it run down, below the "low" fill line, the charger will refuse to charge it. For safety reasons (plated out lithium). I expect the reason the mower was unusable after four years, is improper maintenance over the winter interval.
Paul
Absolutely no help, but thought you might like Granny Turismo:
I've had a battery mower - this is it's fifth season. Removable batteries.
Curious what you consider "improper maintenance" - not recharging batteries? I always keep mine charged. But what else is to do over winter on an electric mower? I always clean mine out every other cut. I suppose re-sharpen the blade.
Jim
That's very clever / funny and can even picture my Mum as part of it (and would be up for it and wouldn't need the fake legs). ;-)
Since Dad died she is generally up for anything, as long as it means spending time with her friends or family. So if we were thinking of her and offered to take her to a garden centre or us and a trip to Santa Pod, she would probably say 'yes please' to both (and could just turn her hearing aids off at The Pod). ;-)
Cheers, T i m
"Sloppy", would be running it down to zero, pushing it into the garage, shutting the door, coming along next spring and noticing "gee, the charger refuses to charge it. Broken charger ???".
That sort of thing.
The average consumer isn't a rocket scientist.
To give an example of science, a twit down the street left their Prius in the drive for six months, no apparent "engine turnover and charge" or anything else. Is the battery pack in a Prius, impervious to such treatment ? Is it lithium ? Or NiMH ? It just seemed strange that they left the Prius sitting there, and drove some other gas guzzler instead. Why would you own a Prius, if you didn't plan to take it out every couple days and allow it to maintain itself ?
You would think they would rotate their two vehicles and keep them all happy.
Paul
I thought it was (she got thrown out of her mobility scooter recently, hence the lighthearted reference). ;-(
I was thinking she could be more stable behind it than walking unaided, if it's heavy enough.
It's actually it's just 'up a step' (on the way in) as the garage is probably 6" higher than the concrete outside it.
Ok, thanks.
<snip>No, I'm familiar with Mountfield mowers (we had a petrol rotary / driven one). ;-)
Cheers, T i m
It probably shuts down at some low but not zero point. So it's likely OK to do that if you don't leave it for years such that it self-discharges into the danger zone (Li-ion self discharge is small but non zero). Similarly it's OK to store fully charged, but a bit more stressful on the battery. Better would be to fully charge it and then run for a few minutes to make it a bit more relaxed, best would be to store at 40% SoC which is the best spot for a storage charge.
Depends on the Prius - the Plug In ones are lithium, the others are NiMH. But they all have a 12V lead acid which is used to start the car and run accessories, the alarm etc. 'Starting' means opening the contactors to connect the HV NiMH battery to the inverter, and running the brake servo, which takes a gulp of current (~20A for a few seconds).
If your 12V battery is flat because the alarm ran it down it won't 'start' but the NiMH battery is sitting there disconnected perfectly fine. The 12V is just a regular lead acid car battery (although AGM).
With a flat 12V battery I can 'start' my Prius with a tiny 12V lithium jumpstart pack which is enough to get the contactors open and the HV system up and running. If the HV battery is a bit low it'll fire the engine to recharge it. I don't know what happens if the HV is so flat it can't fire the engine, but it doesn't seem to suffer much from self-discharge. It's possible there's a bypass route to run the inverter directly off the 12V but I doubt it.
When I was looking at them to buy, often dealer cars would have a flat 12V battery - but happily jumpstarted.
It's what I've done, but driving a few miles every couple of weeks hasn't been enough. I've had to externally charge the 12V on a few occasions (or jumpstart and leave the car powered up where it charges the 12V from the HV battery - it will run the engine periodically when the HV gets low).
Theo
<snip>
As an aside and knowing you like yer stats n stuff <g>, do you have the real world mpg figures for *your* Prius perchance?
I get how by combining an IC engine running at optimal levels with an electric motor / battery and being able to recoup energy whilst braking sounds like a good idea but how does all that relate to mpg ITRW?
Cheers, T i m
When I was doing ~6-10 miles each way daily commuting, with the occasional
100+ mile journey I was getting about 60mpg. Now I'm driving 3 miles each way once a week or less, with no long journeys it's more like 50mpg. Lose maybe 5mpg in the winter.The main thing here is cold engine starts - on a 3 mile journey the engine has barely got up to temperature before you shut it down again, which hurts the MPG. It also needs to recharge my regularly-low 12V battery which is a small additional load.
On mine it always starts the engine for a few minutes to begin with (to warm up the cat for emissions purposes) and it can only run on pure electric up to 42mph at which point the engine kicks in. On the 2003-9 model there's only a 1.2kWh battery and a 20hp electric motor so, while it can do pure electric with the engine off if you're gentle with it below that speed, most of the time the engine is ticking along with the motor helping out when needed. The newer models are more powerful on the electric side than mine (the early ones were very conservatively designed).
The usage pattern is very different from say a diesel - hybrid is best in slow or stop/start traffic, say up to 40mph. Diesel is better at motorway but poor for town driving. Most of my driving is 60mph+ so isn't ideal for the hybrid, but I think the cold starts might lean a bit in favour of it. And of course every journey starts and stops at 0mph so there's always a bit of lower speed driving which compensates for lower efficiency blasting it down the motorway. I would guess motorway efficiency is roughly 50mpg unless you're behind a lorry when it can be more like 80mpg.
Horses for courses...
Theo
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