Automower Part 9: Winterization

This is part 8 of the series “Automower”, click here to read the “Part 1: Introduction to the Automower”.

Now that you have been through the season with your automower, let’s talk winterization. Reflecting the maintenance during the season, the automower need little work in preparaton for winter.

1. The automower:

Before storing the robot for the winter, it is strongly advised to fully charge battery.

Cleaning the automower is as simple as bringing the robot back inside and to give it a good blow. It is not recommended to pressure wash the automower. To access every part of the robot, you can pull and unclip the two wires in the front, then strongly pull the top away from the bottom part. You now have access to the space between the cover and the main frame, where all the clippings gather.
After blowing the robot, give a careful inspection of the main frame, any cracks are a potential door for water to enter, resulting in corrosion on the PCB, and that will cost you a lot more than a new frame (around €60).

Once the robot is clean and turned off, store it in a freeze proof location.
One good solution for storage of the automower is to install supermarket type shelves similar to those in the picture below.

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2. The charging station:

Husqvarna recommend bringing in the charging stations, but it can be difficult if you have installed garages for them. I personally do not bring the charging stations in, but I do uninstall the power supply.
If you are storing the charging stations, I recommend marking them with each robot, that will save you the need to re-assign them all the next spring.

If you are winterazing your charging stations aswell, Husqvarna is selling waterproof box for the connector of the boundary wire.

We now have covered every subject about those little romba, let’s recap what I like and don’t like about the automower.

Click here to read “Part 10: Recap, what I like and don’t like on the Automower.”