DIY Remote Controlled Electric Lawnmower
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- čas přidán 31. 08. 2021
- This is a rebuild of an RC lawnmower i built several years ago,
but using an electric mower this time. It pretty much operates
the same way an RC car / battlebot type vehicle does with just
two opposable motors and casters for front wheels.
In the future I plan to outfit the mower with FPV so that i can
drive it from inside the house, and possibly do automation even
further down the road.
Here's a list of my hardware:
- (2x) 35 A-h 12V lead acid batteries
- 275-Amp battery disconnect switch
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...
- Turnigy 9x 2.4 GHz transmitter / reciever (100 mW tx power, i think)
- Sabertooth 2x32 dual brushed ESC (32 Amp / 33.6V max.)
www.dimensionengineering.com/...
- 1" x 1" x 1/16" thick square tubing, welded with 0.030" flux cored wire
- (2x) 80mm 12V fans
Music:
Kevin MacLeod - George Street Shuffle
Heatley Bros. - Dimension Drift
Heatley Bros. - Sunset Beach
One of the best and well thought through remote mower with adjustable height for clipping. well done.
You should look at the Open Mower project. Making this autonomous would take it to the next level.
Thanks a lot for filming and putting this very informative video together. Definitely one of the best DIY rc lawn mowers I've seen hands done. The diagrams and parts list is extremely helpful.
Amazing, thank for the idea. I was thinking about building one but did not think that I could re-use existing pushed loan mower and motorize it.
Brilliant video! Great guide to building one of these, thank you.
This is something I've wanted to build for a LONG time. Glad to see you did it, I'll definitely have to try this build someday!
Fantastic project
awesome build. this is exactly what im putting together right now but the 18v mower deck
Did you build one ? If yes how is it holding up.
Wheels are attached with M8 (?) lock nuts. Axles are 11mm. Rear wheelbase is 17.5in, front wheelbase is slightly shorter (like 16.75in).
A reliable system without any unnecessary design or build feature.
I built my 2nd 1 about 3 years ago, the 1st one was 1 of their original 16 inch decks and had swivel casters on the front, the second one I left the original front wheels because I needed to get it running in a hurry and discovered that it is so much easier and tracks better just mowing forward and reverse. Not as fun to drive much more efficient. When I wear these plastic wheels out I am going to try a set of omni wheels.
And your explanation is very good
Great video! This channel deserves way more views than it gets.
I think there needs to be slightly more 'attention-getting' verbiage (at least to get more initial subscribers) in the title of the video but not so much that it's clickbait. The video quality, progression and information is certainly great. Not sure how much more attention something like 'I added RC to my lawnmower in a DIY project and it's awesome!' would get. You'd have to check to see what CZcams picks up for recommendations. Then again, another remote controlled mower video only has 9.6K views after a year so might also depend on a particular video's topic along with verbiage to get more people's attention. The channel certainly deserves it.
@@curiousviewer5991 True, nice thumbnails and a catchy title (plus a few keywords) go a long way! I try to make my videos "clickable", and so far it seems to be going pretty well! The more professional or impressive they look, the more views they tend to get.
A diamond in the rough golf courses next go I d vid and engineering
Beautifully built. Electric RC lawn mowers are really rare. I also want to build one but haven't decided yet which lawnmower I'll use as a basis or whether I'll put everything together completely myself.
Thank you for the inspiration
Nice job
great build and video, thanks for sharing. I am curious if there was any particular reason you put the casters on front and the drive wheels on back instead of the other way around. can see advantages to either, but am curious how you got there.
Great build!! I think if you get your nozzle between 1/4-1/2 inch away from where you are welding you’ll see a dramatic change for the better. Not busting your balls, just trying to help. Good job and I might try your exact build.
Thanks. I also had my feedrate turned up way too high in the video, so a lot of the welds were cold and didn't stick very well. I cut it down to half and since then I get way better results
L G: Is that the case for gasless wire, or just when using shielding gas? (I am about to buy my first MIG welder.)
@@PiefacePete46 I try to stay roughly 1/4 to 3/8” away from my weld with the nozzle of gassed wire or the tip of gasless, either one. I don’t recommend gasless but if you are trying to stay within a budget it will work. Just not as pretty and a lot more splatter. IMO
@@LG-yu8yx Thanks for that. :o)
@@HyperspacePirate Also try changing polarity if that's a DC metal snot slinger.
This + OpenMower could be incredible
I am building something similar with a Greenworks electric mower and was wondering how it works without the rear bagger?. Does it just mulch the clipping well enough? Thanks!
Yes, a very good job 😀👌👌👌👌
Well done.
Great detailed instructions and wiring diagram we all appreciate but hard to find. The dog ppl will surely pester you.
I am begging you for part 2 of the sub kayak it’s my favourite video of yours
So cool!
Job well done
put the motionsic rc head tracking gimble on it for fpv. a heading hold gyro would help making straight lines too
the problem with these designs is the front leaves a big section uncut.
Really really like this. You know you have to automate this! Not really with GPS etc but a dumb mower that just bobbles about on its own. Am no expert myself but the metal cage you built. Could aluminium tube be better for less weight and then longer run time?
Honey have you seen the kids....
Awesome video!!
wow, very interesting. How much rpm and Watts have your Wheelchair motors?
Well engineered, excellent quality, should be more durable than some of the robot mowers I've seen. Now, marry it to a Roomba controller and you have something that even I'm not too lazy to use!
C'est quoi un contrôleur roomba
i like that he put a diagram that was very helpful. what curious what did he do to connect his remote to the receiver ?
Hi great video! What type of motors should I look for to build one???????
Nice job. Personally I’d want it to mow without my direction using GPS 😂
What size square tubing did you use? Square tubing ain't cheap
super cool
I wish I could be ok with that level of craftsmanship. Would definitely save a lot of time
That’s amazing
Great project! Thanks for sharing. Is there anyway you could share the frame measurements? I don't know how to weld, I plan to take it to a shop for welding I wanted to give them the measurements.
Apply a webcam and a screen and you could sit in the house watch tv and mow the yard at the same time. lol
Use a Beaglebone blue and automate it since it has a gps chip, etc.
@@dogcreek-customs5168 Would you just store/wire it next to the sabertooth?
Did the self propeller work but not the blade when that switch was broken?
This is what consumers want. :)
Also note there is a bagger/mulch plug and handle extension safety to make sure are satisfied.
What kind of brushless motors did you use?
How do you connect the mower toggle switch on, start button, throttle handle, and mower ground. Please include a diagram also for those switches. thanks
hopefully nobody ever accuses you of being a welder 😛 Flux core is a pain but you can grind it and increase feed for better welds. Would be cool to see automation and control for self-mowing without human intervention.
How long last this lawnmowe battery? Mean originally
I've done similar thing in 2016, a broadcast spreader. I push mow for the exercise :) but not willing to push around 100 lbs of Milorganite in an incline!!! Kudos for not cutting the St. Augustine down to 2" like some do in my neighborhood. On the other hand, you are cutting more than 1/3 of the grass which is not good for any grass. I guess the build took some extra time :)
Really 100 pounds?
How many square feet are you covering with that much milo?
@@jaxturner7288 32 lbs per bag covering 2500 sqft each... The bag says 5000 sqft for Florida. I use 3 bags which weighs 96 lbs for 10500 sqft... 96 lbs is "around 100 lbs", right?
@@thekaduu so you push mow 10k but pushing a broadcast spreader over 10k requires excessive effort?
Or maybe you were trying to use a drop spreader that holds 100 pounds of product at once?
@@thekaduu are you in Florida?
Or is that 100 pounds still a bit less than you could be throwing down if you wanted to get serious?
@@jaxturner7288 Yes... we have about 15 degree incline and broadcast spreader I had was the small Scotts spreader. It would take about one bag at a time. I motorized the spreading and adjustment knob, put it on a platform that is driven by two power chair motors. Designed the circuits to control all 4 motors and the RC receiver input. It takes 2 x 12V lead-acid batteries in series or 2 x 3C Lipo batteries (10000 mAh each) in series....... About "push" mowing... It is self propelled but still require walking behind it. It takes 70 mins to finish mowing and around 7000 steps per mow.
Great job. When is coming out. I am too old to be pushing lawnmower. 🤷🏾♀️
Just curious about electrical part,
1)does battery switch(positve side after battery) include fuse like combo switch?
2) doesn't have any issue on 24v power supplying to 12v fan?
If possible,i like to know how did you connect 24v wire 10awg to 12v wire gauge size.
Amazing. I want one! Hehe
Yea thanks bud now i know what im doing this summer
Ok my mower is already self propelled so I just need a way to turn the mower and start/stop the self propelled motor. How would I get started with a project like this?
how long the mover can work? How you reload?
Main handle wires: Orange/brown is start button, yellow is bail switch. To start mower, bail goes first, then start button.
Great build! When is the AI assisted autopilot version appears?
There was something really unsettling about your mower arm switch description so I inspected mine more closely.
Again, the arming sequence is: bail goes to ground first, then the power button is pressed.
If you looked closely at what was happening, the yellow wire at start is actually at *FULL MOWER BATTERY VOLTAGE*, *NOT 5V*. When the bale is pulled, the lights come on which is the hint that something has happened, and that's when 5v appears on the orange line.
If you're using a physical switch this is probably fine.
If you're trying to use a soft switch (i.e. a remote disarm), this can potentially blow your electronics.
Fortunately I doublechecked this before plugging any of my circuits in.
What was your solution?
@@DM-lw6qx It just needs an open-drain output to pull it to ground; you just have to make sure whatever you use for that bale line can handle the full 42v Vdss/breakdown voltage.
So that's what I used. If your microcontroller has an open-drain output mode that can handle that kind of voltage, then you're good to go without an extra MOSFET, but my microcontroller is... unspec'd.
@@GoatZilla gotcha. Thanks for the info! I just got a 40v kobalt and checked the start wire, you where correct .
Could you show what kind of remote control you used
Powwr controller for motors where is from?
The controllers are very expensive
- Sabertooth 2x32 dual brushed ESC (32 Amp / 33.6V max £125
Are there cheaper ways of doing this ? cheap RC toys with new drivers etc.
Drivers for cncs seem cheap. Can they be used with a microcontroller control?
That’s a great idea converting it into electric mower. U should convert the lead acid batteries into lithium ion battery pack To save weight and noise and able store it upright. Your design is nice for quick and simple, but there’s no fail safe kill switch, and fail safe remote kill switch incase u lost signal and the mower kept going into the street and mow your kids or someone dogs. Optional but nice to have is remote start and stop. Remote deck raise and lower. Your frame design is simple but it’s take too much surface space and long and rear heavy and probably doing wheelies since the heavy gas mower is gone. I’d mount the batteries on top. If it’s was lithium battery then it’s just one smaller pack. And since u have battery operated mower already u should use the mower battery to run the motors instead having different type of batteries to charge, lastly u want to keep your cars and shin from scratches , those sharp metal corners need a cover. I’ve built three different frame versions for the past 10+ years for my own use and am the first one is also aluminum frame like yours.
CZcams it is a shame that my version 15.6 Beta 4 of iPad OS the comments are not showing. Update CZcams. The video is definitely very interesting. But I find comments, always informative, people sharing their thoughts and experiences.
I enjoyed the video. I want to make it too, but I'm worried about the battery. To do a 25V 250W motor, use the CYTRON MDDS30 motor drive. Please give me some advice.
I have a pair of 35 AH 12V batteries, and that's enough to mow my entire lawn 2 or 3 times before they need to be recharged
@@HyperspacePirate thank you
How are you charging the batteries? You pull the wires off the terminals and charge one at a time with a standard 12 volt charger?
I have a 24V charger so that I can leave them connected in series. In the previous revision of the lawnmower i built several years ago, i did charge them one and a time with a 12V, but disconnecting them from each other wasn't necessary
@@HyperspacePirate Thanks, after looking at my charger, I see it does both 12 and 24 volt so I should be good.
Ayy. New to the channel and digging the content.
Quick word of advice. Look up DIY sound isolation chambers (cardboard and sound foam) that you can mold around your mic. That alone will help clean up the audio quality a hell of a lot
I have 2 questions.
Did you manage to add lawnmower cutting motor start from remote control?
What hapeen if you do not connect third wire(5v) to switch. In my case i have 3 wires aswell but they are thick
Havent connected the blade to RC yet. It would just be a matter of connecting a relay to an RC switch on an aux channel, but im lazy.
I don't recall the third wire doing anything when i connected it to GND or 5V. I'd just plug in your mower battery and short leads together to figure out which one is the start signal
@@HyperspacePirate my wires been easycto check. In handle switch one wire( blue) was connected to brown and yo black. Blue to black normally closed, blue to brown normally open. So at swith on, black is hanging no where. Not sure if it going to do anything at swith off(like help to stop motor quicker).
As you said to use relay, i needed to buy switch, that is controlled by receiver, asccan not connect directly from receiver to relay feed. In my case i needed to buy solid state 25A relay, which can be controlled from 3v.
So far looks good, my dumborc waiting till get delivered sabretooth controller
iv been looking into doing the same thing. in my research some ppl recommend flyback diodes next to your motors and decoupling capacitors to smooth things for your IC... any thoughts on this?
Since the switch on the electric lawn mower is only 5v and the receiver is also 5v. Is there any way to connect the mower switch to the receiver of the RC? To switch on and off the mower? Thank you so much.
Yeah, probably. I just didn't bother to figure it out
Defiantly needs automatic control!
now you just need to make a program with the dimensions of your property and have it drive itself aha. Roomba for your grass
Was not 24 v too fast? What power are motors? How long time can it drive on single charge?
like 2 hrs
@@HyperspacePirate i will try on 12 v 12ah, two in series
Omg it’s a battlebot
Any ideas on how to power the blade's motor from the 24v battery bank? So there is only 1 thing to charge?
It's very doable, but it would require a relatively large DC-DC boost converter because i think the blade motor pulls somewhere in the range of 600-700 watts
Using his answer of 600-700 watts, I'm thinking maybe I will get a DC-DC step-up converter to test out. There are some on ebay and amazon that are 1200w (20a) and 1500w (30a) for $20-30 US. Those are max output, so it could turn out the 1500w may still not be enough, or it may be too much current for starting the motor. I also have a self-propelled motor as well, so I may be hitting that limit. Or maybe just break it up into two and get a bigger battery. Maybe I'll get inspired soon and see what current my 40v motor actually uses. It is a slightly different model.
I'm building a kobalt it has room for 2 40v kobalt batteries but the amps are too low. So I stuck with the 12v & 40v batteries. I hope you find a solution
@@DM-lw6qx I found a boost converter that has sofar been able to handle the 24v to 40v conversion on most grass. I am using a 8S ~26V LiFePO4 "SuperBeast" pack from Battery Hookup to power it. Still working on software but super fun to drive it around with a remote control and sit on it lol
@@orangezeroalpha I found a boost converter that has sofar been able to handle the 24v to 40v conversion on most grass. I am using a 8S ~26V LiFePO4 "SuperBeast" pack from Battery Hookup to power it. Still working on software but super fun to drive it around with a remote control and sit on it lol
How do you charge the lead acid batteries?
Any car or motorcycle battery charger. Trickle charge feature helps.
What are the motor specs? I have a similar set up, but I am having issues with the sabretooth 2x32 motor controller cutting off. My motors ended up being 24v 75amp (which I did not check before the build). Just curious. Nice video. I wish this had come out before I build mine. I would definitely had followed some of your ideas.
Nice job on that.
So, when are you going to add some AI so that the mower can do the job by itself?
One thing I thought of, to make that easier, is perhaps find a used iRobot Rumba vac for the AI module and sensors.
You could add extra sensors, perhaps via Arduino, to detect the cement of the driveway and sidewalk to force the unit to not go out of bounds.
Also, the idea of a burred cable to use as an invisible fence would work, although, one would have to be sure that the inductor sensor is sensitive enough so as to not allow the mower to "escape!" LOL
Just some idea.
By the way, I love that lime green that Robi is famous for.
omg I want one
Belle construction le système est bon .et pourquoi ne pas avoir laissé les roues et mettre des plaques métalliques ou repose les roues .pour une thermique il pourrait se faire la tondeuse mis sur le traver et pour faire les tours on descend la tondeuse de votre appareil une foi fait on la remonte er apprêt le gros problème c'est de rouler en ligne droite c'est la qu'il y a problème alors si vous avez une solution je suis preneur
This is pretty much exact design I did a few years ago, except I didn’t use my electric mower. I also attached a couple cams and arduino to it so I could remote control from my iPad in the living room. But your having the same issues I did - it’s not very stable. Doesn’t stay straight, takes a lot of finesse to get it to mow. Over all very pointless to own an RC mower, even web enabled one. I did look at using gps to keep it more stable but decided not to spend so much money.
How much channel iron did you use
@ 28 lb of steel tubing.
Zero channel iron.
I always wan,t to ask this question, but noone have answer yet: Why dont you just use the mower's lithium battery to power the wheelchair motors (driving motors)? That way you just need to charge/maintenance one power source
Maybe would drain that much faster and you would run out of mower power, it would have to be tested the amp draw.
Amperage draw on them is almost maxed out without driving the wheels so… that’s why.
Kids, is this the best way to motivate your dads to do the lawn?!!
Следующий шаг: Поставить на него "мозги" от робота пылесоса и маячки по территории чтобы автоматизировать подстригание травы.
no idea what motors to buy
Have you ever did the remote start via rc controller? If so. Could you explain how to do that? Thank you!
Could you open your mower up? Does it have the interface board?
7:37 i started readying my hand to skip because i thought you were going to say "-word from our sponsor". maybe the internet has conditioned me too well.
Version 3.0 needs to be zero-turn and automated
Can you fabricate a kit that I can purchase and assemble.
Great build.. Especially on a used recycled mower.. Love doing that myself, budget hobby guy myself (wife's will do that)...
When is the build for the automated Roomba gps style mower coming?
Love this video and the setting, I would love to have the dimensions of the metal around the machine. I do have the same one. Can you please provide the information. If you can. Thanks
Hi, can you build me one !? 😅 and how much would it cost 😊
grinder and paint makes me the welder i aint
The LAWMOWER is here to cut your case, short
You really should record the sequence of mowing and have a play button that lets it mow according to that sequence
battle bots if bots fought grass
I want one
I want to buy this item
How's that submarine going?
Debugging motor controllers at the moment. Should be sail-able once that's done.
you should be a welding teacher
A welding teacher would bead the welds.