New Kobalt Li-Ion Lawn Mowers at Lowe's

[xdoomsongx]

AFAIK, Li-Ion battery performance does not improve after several charging cycles. How hard was your mowing ? Was the mower running at full speed the whole time ? How long did each battery last ?

I have been thinking about it more, and I may have been working it more than expected. It didn't seem bogged down, but it was certainly working compared to its full tilt sound. I have it set up for mulching, and I plan on switching over to bag when I get home, perhaps that will give me better efficiency. I want to make this work, as otherwise I have been very impressed by it. It has the ability to run both batteries at once, and that is what I did, I may start running it with the 2ah battery first, then switch to the 4 when it is done and put the 2 on to charge while I mow with the 4. Might get a little longer life out of it that way. I will give these ideas a shot and report back this evening when I can try it out after work.

Does the Kobalt come a a 2Ah and a 4 Ah battery?

Any 'sense' or guess which battery may be discharging too quickly? There have been some reports of people getting bad batteries when buying the Greenworks mower.

Or, maybe your mower failed to switch over to the other slot?

perhaps try using and timing the small battery first, then use the large battery and time it. Indeed, you may need to try using/depleting the small batery first, put it on the charger, then use the large battery. When the large batt is depleted, the small batt may have 10-15 minutes of new energy.

But, you could have a discussion with Lowes about whether they want the entire package back, or just swap batteries if you can determine a battery is bad.

what run time does Kobalt advertise?

I am going to see what happens running each battery solo. IIRC the box states 85 minutes for run time, with both batteries running at once. Thanks for the thoughts.

 

[MowerMike]

I think you are incorrect in your assumption that it runs on both batteries at once. Even though both batteries are installed, it only uses one at a time and automatically switches over to the second battery when the first one is depleted. There should be a small red LED light in each battery bay that illuminates for the active battery. If both charged batteries are installed, it will begin using the battery in the left side battery bay as you see the mower from the rear, and then automatically switch to the right side battery bay when the left side battery is depleted.

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

I think you are incorrect in your assumption that it runs on both batteries at once. Even though both batteries are installed, it only uses one at a time and automatically switches over to the second battery when the first one is depleted. There should be a small red LED light in each battery bay that illuminates for the active battery. If both charged batteries are installed, it will begin using the battery in the left side battery bay as you see the mower from the rear, and then switch to the right side battery bay when the left side battery is depleted.

^^^^ my experience with my GW as well.

 

[xdoomsongx]

I think you are incorrect in your assumption that it runs on both batteries at once. Even though both batteries are installed, it only uses one at a time and automatically switches over to the second battery when the first one is depleted. There should be a small red LED light in each battery bay that illuminates for the active battery. If both charged batteries are installed, it will begin using the battery in the left side battery bay as you see the mower from the rear, and then automatically switch to the right side battery bay when the left side battery is depleted.

This is good to know. I wasn't sure how it utilized the batteries. Shouldn't be an issue then running them one at a time. I didn't notice a red led, but I'm not the most observant of people. Thanks.

 

[mwhitlock]

Maybe you were (inadvertently) only using the 2ha battery and got excellent usage.

I'm going by Lowes's in an hour to by the Kobalt 40-Volt Max 19-in Cordless Electric Push Lawn Mower. It's on sale at 25% off and with my Lowes card I'll get an additional 5% off of the sale price. I'll follow up in a few days to give my opinion.
I had a Black and Decker 18" 36v cordless for 2 years and took very good care of it. This past winter I took it apart to clean it to be like new. I even disassembled the motor an cleaned it up inside and out. Last weekend I started it up to use it for the first time and the motor is running backwards. Not sure how I did it but I'll wait until later to fix it. I really just want a new electric mower. 2 years ago Lowes only had a couple to choose from and now there are around 10. It keeps getting better and better.

 

[xdoomsongx]

Just an update, I got home and had both batteries fully recharged and ready to go. I pulled the mulch plug and put on the bag, then put the 2ah in the left slot. Pretty happy to report that I got just about 30 minutes of mow time this way, but it was in my back yard where the grass is thin for lack of a better description, I'm guessing that this lead to the longer than stated run time. I was able to finish up the other side of my yard with the charged 4ah battery. The bag fills up very quickly (I emptied it four times mowing the thin grass in my back yard), but the hassle of stopping and emptying a bag is much better than the hassle of messing with gas and oil. I think that I may end up getting another 4ah battery for it in order to get the mowing done in one go. For now, I'm keeping it around to see how it goes over several more uses. I have to say the looks from the neighbors as I mowed down grass with something that sounded like a vacuum has already made it worth the purchase :smile: .

 

[exotion]

You don't live in spokane do you? One of my customers just bought one of these machines and he seems to like it.

 

[mwhitlock]

I bought the 19" Kobalt 40v mower. It only has one battery bay but did come with one 4ah and one 2ah battery. I just mowed for about an hour on the 4ah battery and it showed to be on the last 10%. I'm happy with that for battery life and performance. I really like the way it uses more power when it's working harder.
I used the grass catcher too. I like the grass bag on this mower because of the very wide opening. Makes dumping the clippings into a yard bag very easy.

I wonder about cleaning after use though. Is it ok if water is getting into the battery bay? I cleaned the mower by spraying it down with a garden hose and very little water got into the bay (battery was removed) but it's pretty dusty in there. I used a damp rag to clean it this first time.

 

[MowerMike]

I wonder about cleaning after use though. Is it ok if water is getting into the battery bay? I cleaned the mower by spraying it down with a garden hose and very little water got into the bay (battery was removed) but it's pretty dusty in there. I used a damp rag to clean it this first time.

Well, the Owner's Manual specifically states "do not expose the mower to water" and common sense would tell you that no electrical tool should be soaked with water. Sooner or later you are going to ruin it that way and may cause a short circuit. I clean mine after mowing with my leaf blower, and if there's any buildup under the deck, I use a plastic windshield ice scraper.

 

[exotion]

Shop vac works good to