SOT: cordless lawnmowers

[Scott]

I spoke to an electrical engineer friend last night, who was pretty uncomplimentary about them. However, I think he was answering a different question - whether battery powered is as good as mains powered.

The problem is that I live in a flat. We have a garden that no-one seems raving keen to maintain. There is no power supply at ground floor level. I don't expect my downstairs neighbour would appreciate being asked on a regular basis to drop a cable out of her kitchen window.

The grass is a bit long for a mechanical lawnmower and I wondered about the capabilities of a lithium-ion powered electric lawnmower?

Please don't suggest installing an outdoor power supply with RCD, employing a gardener, petrol driven mower, appointing managing agents or taking legal action against all my neighouurs as I have thought about all of these :-)

[Ash Burton]

It seems you have answered your own question, you would appear to have no alternative to a battery powered mower.

[Adrian Caspersz]

Goat ;->

[Roger Mills]

Well, he hasn't eliminated a mains mower powered by a petrol generator!

[misterroy]

buy a long extension and plug it in in your own flat, or talk to your neighbour?

[Tim+]

Um, or just dropping an extension out of his own window?

Tim

[Tim+]

A *long* extension.... ;-)

Tim

[Tim Watts]

The Bosch Rotak 36V is every bit as good as a small mains model - and in many ways similar to a smaller petrol.

The advantages are unlike petrol, it doesn't throw a spaz on a wrong sided steep slope and no mains cable obviously.

1 battery will do a smaller lawn, 2 batteries allow almost continuous mowing if you throw a coffee break in somewhere. 3 batteries and 2 chargers would allow unlimited mowing.

Grass pickup is good and it will tackle long dry grass if you start on a high setting.

Mine's about 3 years old and still going strong - just reground the blade yesterday.

I like the system so much I have the hedgtrimmer (can share batteries but is a touch heavy, unless you use the smaller battery intended for it.

Got the strimmer and leaf blower yesterday and very pleased with both. The blower eats batteries but is light, powerful and one battery is enough to clear the pavement of small debris after clipping.

The nice bit is once you have a set of batteries and charger or a pair of chargers, you can buy any of the devices in barebones format (like most better power tools).

Overall, I think the 36V system is *that* close to average domestic mains power levels of usability and the only real downside is juggling batteries.

[Tim Lamb]

I'll raise you to Geese! Excellent burglar alarms as well!

>

[Scott]

I would be reluctant to store petrol indoors; hence my concern about a petrol lawnmower.

[Scott]

Not that far up, actually,so it would be possible. As I don't suppose I could use one on a reel, it would mean a lot of cable lying about. This was the purpose of my question - how good are battery operated mowers? Actually only Tim W has given an answer.

[Scott]

It may come to the second. I am sure she would be okay occasionally but would find every week or two irksome. It also presupposes she is in at the times I am able to cut the grass.

[Tim+]

What's wrong with a reel for storage? Yes, you should probably unreel it when using the mower but I don't understand your objection.

It sounds like a good product if it is your only option but a long extension and mains electric mower will be considerably cheaper I think.

Tim

[Clive Arthur]

My father's front lawn is about 4m x 6m, I just checked on Google Earth. He is elderly, lives in a semi, and his neighbour is a nice guy who has a battery powered mower and mows both similar-sized front lawns.

I was there last week while this was happening. Neighbour managed to cut his, and half of dad's, before his battery died. He finished it the next day.

I don't know what mower he had, but it seems that 36 square metres was about its best effort.

Cheers

[Scott]

Unless I am missing something, without reversing gravity how would I get the reel at the bottom and the plug at the top? If I drop the reel out of the window would it unwind itself? When finished I would presumably need to throw the plug and cable out of the window, where there are stone chips below. Or can you get locking reels that I could pull up and would this risk damage to the cable? It just doesn't seem very practical, unless I am too risk averse :-)

[Tim+]

As-Schwabe 880010 Reel for Extension Cable 285 mm 50 m Cable

Or cheaper still...

Streetwize LWACC3 Cable Tidy 25 m

Just wind on a long extension any way you want. Then you can "wind out" the socket end out your window, the reel stays at the top.

Tim

[Yendor]

What about a simple push mower, no power needed, works great.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Scott pretended :

Probably, but rather too quickly :oÞ

Assuming one reel would reach, could you not unreel it completely in your flat, then lower the reel via the cable, then plug it in?

You can get some decent cable reels, plastic on a tubular metal stand with two sockets and built in overload protection. Always fully uncoil them, so as to avoid heat build up damage to the flex.

[damduck-egg]

Ours Rotak is a lot older than that , possibly around six years or more and still on the original battery even though I have been quite brutal with it regulary. I think they have had a cosmetic refresh or two since we got ours but the battery is the same.

One downside is that they are more expensive than the equivalent corded model by a good margin which is why they probably do the job as intended. That makes them a bit of a niche item for people with a particular set of circumstances like the OP or people like myself whose grass cutting is around lots of irregular shaped areas where I don't want to drag cords . I could use petrol but with the demise of the rural petrol station I can't be arsed to do an 8 mile round trip to fill a can of petrol and spend minutes behind someone buying grocerys or a lottery ticket.

G.Harman

[Malcolm Race]

As you are obviously in a leasehold flat, who is responsible for maintaining the grounds - the freeholder or a contractor paid by him? This should be covered by your maintenanance agreement.

Malcolm