This is my first post here. I have an early (2003) Ambrogio mower, possibly known as MowBot Professional. I saved it from being scrapped and invested in good batteries, new keypad and new blade. After a few repairs to the motherboard it has been running well for the past 2 years. Just coming to the end of the mowing season here, one of the drive motors failed so I sourced some brushes and had it running again but only for a short time as the commutator had been badly scored. (I should have changed the brushes sooner. ) So the next thing was to replace the drive motors. Couldn’t match the originals which are 24v 5000rpm reduced by 180 to give 27rpm. I finally settled for a Chinese motor LVLOZ, 24v 8000rpm (no load) reduced by 218 to give 37rpm. A bit faster but my grass is quite flat. This motor was able to accept the original connector and also the disc holding the encoder magnet for the Hall effect. It works, and runs happily for 3 hours as before.
However - I miscalculated what the change in speed would do to it’s cornering where often one wheel is stationary while the other causes the rotation or turning. This is vastly amplified sometimes causing ridiculous manoeuvres.
I am sure there is a parameter in the software that could be tweaked to correct for this and was looking for any insight into reprogramming the original board.
My other solution is to mount a 2nd magnet on the encoder wheel so that it thinks it takes more turns than it actually does.
Realistically I suspect that this mower is maybe in need of being retired. Do people have any success in repurposing a chassis like this with an Arduino type motherboard? In another life I might have been up for it but may now leave it to someone else.
Mike
However - I miscalculated what the change in speed would do to it’s cornering where often one wheel is stationary while the other causes the rotation or turning. This is vastly amplified sometimes causing ridiculous manoeuvres.
I am sure there is a parameter in the software that could be tweaked to correct for this and was looking for any insight into reprogramming the original board.
My other solution is to mount a 2nd magnet on the encoder wheel so that it thinks it takes more turns than it actually does.
Realistically I suspect that this mower is maybe in need of being retired. Do people have any success in repurposing a chassis like this with an Arduino type motherboard? In another life I might have been up for it but may now leave it to someone else.
Mike
