Ryobi RM480E 38" riding mower won't move!

[forcefed4door]

Anyone have any experience electrically with such a beast? There is 0 repair/technical service info on these mowers. Seems a lot like a golf cart chassis and has some similar parts. I have spent a few hours trouble shooting. I have unplugged almost every accessible plug to check connections. I have voltage checked in various sections as well. If I move the rocker to forward or reverse It won't move. Blades can engage though! The 48v selanoid is fine. If I turn the key on and off enough times it will suddenly work fine like nothing is wrong. But if I turn key off and on during use it will not move once again... Turning it on/off powers the selanoid each time with a common click sound. I'm really at a loss... Jumped out all possible circuits that could cause this as well such as parking brake and seat switch. Any ideas? I'm really guessing it could be the pedal sensor or the main drive control unit. This mower is only 2 years old

 

[videobruce]

The 1st question is have you contacted Ryobi??
I have three of their products and have talked to customer support more than once (for various reasons other than problems) and found they are above average to deal with.
That also depends on whom you speak to (like any place else).

Do you hear the drive motor(s) engaged (powered) by listening for any hum like noise (assuming one could/would hear something like that)?
Can you check for power going to those motors?

 

[videobruce]

In the owners manual I found this;

Mower won’t move:
Start key not installed or is in OFF position.
Parking brake is set.
Direction control switch is in neutral (N).
Brake is depressed and/or accelerator pedal is not pressed.
Charger is connected to mower.

Attached is a wiring diagram if that helps thou it's not the exact model as far as I can tell. There is the possibility it could be electronic (PCB related).

 

[forcefed4door]

Thanks for the reply, and it's definitely an electronic issue. If it cooler outside 40ish degrees or below it'll move around perfectly fine and at that point I just leave the key on all day until I get home from work to mow the yard and at the point it's 60 plus degrees outside and works like a charge. But if I turn that key off and back on in that temp range it will not move, but blades will engage just fine.

And you are right about Ryobi. They were trying to force me to bring in for a repair, place was 2hours away and was gonna charge 300 for a pick up and drop off with a 2 week minimum turn around. After speaking with Ryobi I demanded and new drive motor controller, 300plus dollar part. They ended up sending me a blade motor controller. They let me keep that and have since just shipped out the correct part. I've also purchased a 12v power converter for a great price. I'm starting to stock up parts when I find them cheap so I can make any future repairs needed. Almost 3 years old and the 75ah batteries still have an excellent charge as well. Just hope I get it sorted out soon because it's very annoying.

 

[forcefed4door]

Not much support here yet for these mowers I guess... But I can say in my situation, the drive motor controller was the culprit. Mower works like new once again, luckily the warrenty covered it saving me 300+ dollars. Pretty simple to replace once you cut through all the heat shrink over connections.

 

[AngLws]

This may help. It is a service bulletin I talked someone into sending me when I had my very first power problem. There is something called a temp sensor lead that must be properly attached so that batteries can charge correctly. Please let me know if that's the issue with yours. I have had kind of the opposite problem. My mower will move fine without blades engaged, but once reaching max speed or if I try to go up the slightest incline will stop and start beeping to return and charge. When blades are engaged, well that's weird too. If the ground is level and if I go very, very, slowly and don't lower the blades more than 3 or 4 notches from the top, it will mow a half hour or so, but even going down hill will just turn off if I try to lower blade to reasonable level.

 

[CPeper]

Thanks for the reply, and it's definitely an electronic issue. If it cooler outside 40ish degrees or below it'll move around perfectly fine and at that point I just leave the key on all day until I get home from work to mow the yard and at the point it's 60 plus degrees outside and works like a charge. But if I turn that key off and back on in that temp range it will not move, but blades will engage just fine.

And you are right about Ryobi. They were trying to force me to bring in for a repair, place was 2hours away and was gonna charge 300 for a pick up and drop off with a 2 week minimum turn around. After speaking with Ryobi I demanded and new drive motor controller, 300plus dollar part. They ended up sending me a blade motor controller. They let me keep that and have since just shipped out the correct part. I've also purchased a 12v power converter for a great price. I'm starting to stock up parts when I find them cheap so I can make any future repairs needed. Almost 3 years old and the 75ah batteries still have an excellent charge as well. Just hope I get it sorted out soon because it's very annoying.

Did this ever get resolved? My RM380e is also 2 years old and is acting similarly. Everything works except the drive motors. After my last grass cutting I parked it in the garage with charger on an now it just won’t go. I can’t believe there is not some built in diagnostics.

 

[EagleRising]

I am having the same problem. My RM480e just stop moving. Blades work fine but it will not move forward or backwards. I would appreciate any help anybody can provide.

 

[Vtreconciled]

Yup...I’m having the same problem. Just started happening today. Blades will run, but the mower won’t move!

 

[rlbindy]

Mine is now doing the exact same thing as of today. My blades spin up, the batteries are fully charged but no fwd/reverse. The brake is disengaged, Purchased in September of 2018. My warranty is good through January. This is the first problem I've had with it. I'm capable of replacing parts, but after calling Ryobi today they don't seem too keen on actually sending me a part. They want me to take it to a service center, I called one who won't even touch these mowers and will try to call another tomorrow. Did any of you actually have success with having them just send your the drive controller itself?