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Re: (ET) cordless electric mower
Hi Paul,
the "site at Tufts" is the mailing list archive for the elec-trak owners
email list. You probably knew that.
I own a Ryobi 2400 and have loaned it to a friend since I have a Elec-trak
E15 tractor that covers my needs right now. (I get enough exercise
cycling
to work and playing ultimate.)
My mother has a Neuton I bought for her, and she loves it. She's been
using
it for 3 or 4 seasons now, and she's 77.
You might try taking the mower to an electronics or appliance repair
place.
The capacitor value is not likely to be critical, and a good technician
should be able to figure out what is going on and repair the circuit.
It's
not rocket science in there (not that I could do it, but anyway...)
I bet the reason they discontinued it was some combination of the
following:
- fewer moving parts = less opportunities for typical lawnmower repair
shop
to fix it
- relatively expensive warranty service, due to poorly treated batteries,
and that pesky internal fuse in the charger
On my mower, I found that there was an internal fuse in the charger that
couldn't be changed without taking the cover off and opening up the
charger
box. After the third time it blew, I wired in an external fuse holder and
mounted it in the panel near the charging light and life was better. I
guess the reason it blew so often for me had something to do with my
flakey
garage wiring and turning on some other high-amp tool while the charger
was
running.
I also replaced my battery after about 8 seasons. Wow what a difference
that made in range.
Anyway, based on my experience the best thing for you to do is get the
Ryobi
fixed. Second best is get a Neuton with a second battery (or even a third
if your yard is big).
Good luck,
Joel
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul J. Campbell" <campbell beloit edu>
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<elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu>; <mr23 mn rr com>
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2006 6:12 PM
Subject: cordless electric mower
Dear Cordless Lawn Mower Lover,
I saw your posting at
http://www.repairfaq.org/samnew/lmfaq/lmcomelem.htm
(or else from a site at Tufts) but I can't tell from the site how
long ago you posted.
I bought a Sears (Ryobi-made) 24V 18" cordless mulching electric push
mower in 1994 and have used it for 10 seasons. This summer I just
bought my second replacement battery, mowed a couple of times, and
the mower went dead. Took it to Sears and paid $35 to find out that
they say they can't get the parts to fix it. Took it apart myself and
can see a bad capacitor and a burnt area nearby.
I really liked the mower, even if it couldn't mow high grass and the
cut quality wasn't so great, since I appreciate not having to wear
ear protectors in the heat.
So now I have a great new $100+ battery for a dead mower and am
inhaling fumes from a gas mower that I inherited from my mother and
keep as a spare (for situations like this or really tall grass).
Ideally, I should pair up with someone who is looking to unload a
working Sears/Ryobi (who would be so foolish?) or else is looking for
a battery or other parts for one.
I certainly want to have a cordless mulcher. Which if any of the
following are still available?
---Sears/Ryobi model that I have (Ryobi BMM2400 Mulchinator?) (would
be nice to be able to use that battery---otherwise, anybody want
it?)---why don't they sell it any more??
---Toro 24V, 36V
---Lawn Boy 24V, 36V
---Makita 24V UM401DW
Prefer mulcher, so not (yet) excited about
---Sunlawn EM1 reel lawnmower
---Brill Accu reel lawnmower
I have seen for sale currently
---B&D CMM 1000
---Neuton
---Bully: 12 V only
Our house is on half-acre lot, and mowing (good exercise) takes 45
min w/ 22" gas mower, over an hour with 18" cordless; it could be
useful to have a model in which spare battery can be switched in
easily.
Then there are the robot models, of which the
---Toro iMow
is in the same price class at $500 vs. the
---Friendly Robotics RL850 and RL1000 Robomower, which are two to
four times as much.
But I prefer the exercise anyway.
In summary: I would appreciate any advice or help you have to offer.
Thanks,
Paul Campbell
Beloit, Wisc.
--
--------------------------------------------------------
Paul J. Campbell
Mathematics and Computer Science
Beloit College
700 College St.
Beloit, WI 53511-5595
USA
ofc: (608) 363-2007
fax: (608) 363-2718
res: (608) 362-2805
web page: http://cs.beloit.edu/campbell