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Ryobi RM480E 38" riding mower won't move!

Apr 20, 2020#1

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

Apr 24, 2020#2

V

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?

Apr 24, 2020#3

V

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).

May 6, 2020#4

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.

May 13, 2020#5

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.

Sep 18, 2020#6

A

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.

Sep 20, 2020#7

C

CPeper

forcefed4door said:
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.

Sep 20, 2020#8

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.

Oct 2, 2020#9

Vtreconciled

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

Oct 6, 2020#10

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?

Oct 24, 2020#11

T

Thomp

Ask to speak to a technical support person, they seem knowledgeable and helpful. Shortly after I got mine 3 1/4 years ago, I had a stripped nut holding a blade on -- found it when swapping bagging blades. They FedEx'd one no charge. Unfortunately, recently I experienced the blades spin but no move problem, plus white smoke pouring out of left side. Black 'goo" was oozing out of the controller. Ryobi provided me with parts list and troubleshooting info. Since out of warranty I had to pay for controller myself (shop around, prices vary widely). I replaced the controller, it no longer smoked, but got a constant beep. Replaced the seat switch, no longer beeps, but still wont go. Traced it down to the drive motor -- Motor OK, but there are 3 Hall Sensors on a PCB, basically the equivalent of brushes that are used on brushless motors. Found out you can't buy just the drive motor, you have to purchase motor and whole differential. P/N's on hall sensors and PCB were useless (even had a friend fluent in Chinese try to determine a manufacture). After spending nearly $500 and countless hours, I determined it wasn't worth the additional cost plus looking a another $800. in batteries in a couple of years. It was good while it ran, but i am now parting it out on ebay.

Sorry for the long response... Just had to vent a little to.

Oct 27, 2020#12

R

ryobifail

At least I'm not alone, but this is scary....same issue. Would sometimes go and then stop. Sometimes could finish lawn. Now nothing. Purchased April 2, 2019. No service centers anywhere near me....

Nov 10, 2020#13

SunnyDay

The forward reverse switch is not very good on these mowers. I replaced mine, but installed it backwards and I now go forward when in the reverse position.

Mar 21, 2021#14

B

Brianbro

Same exact issue I have. Mower moves briefly then stops i called ryobi they sent me an accelerator pedal switch.i installed and problem not solved. I called back and said I needed to go to a repair shop but likely cause is controller. They didn't offer to ship me a new controller, but I will call back and hopefully get one. It seems straight forward for install

Mar 21, 2021#15

T

Thomp

Maybe this will help someone... I had a failure with a hall sensor on a drive motro & bad drive motor controller.

Testing Drive Controller Test for short circuit:

1. Set DMM to Resistance Mode.
2. Connect DMM red probe to red power cable
3. Connect DMM black probe to black power cable. Nominal resistance: 750K Ohms or more (or “Open”)

Check resistance in controller output:
1. Set DMM to Resistance Mode.
2. Check continuity between any two terminals (heavy Yellow and heavy Green for example).
3. Check continuity between two other terminals (2 and 3 for example).
4. The 2 measurements should be nearly identical. Nominal resistance: 18.5K Ohms Diode

Check Test Power and Ground Resistance at output circuitry
1. Set DMM to DIODE MODE
2. Connect black lead of DMM to heavy black wire (ground).
3. Sequentially connect red probe to each of the heavy Phase wires.
4. The measurements should be nearly identical. Expected reading : “OL” or “OPEN”
5. Connect black lead of DMM to heavy RED wire
6. Sequentially connect red probe to each of the heavy phase wires 7. The measurements should be nearly identical. Typical reading: 0.45V

Test Drive Motor
1. Set DMM to Resistance mode
2. Measure resistance between heavy green and heavy yellow wire.
3 Measure resistance between heavy green and heavy blue wire.
4. Measurements should be nearly identical -- Nominally 0.1 ohm

Testing Drive Motor Hall Sensors (in Mower)
Note: power should be ON and rear wheels raised so they can be rotated by hand.
Set DMM to “DC Volts”
1. Touch red probe to red wire.
2. Black probe to black wire.
3. Should measure 4-5V.
Leave black probe connected to black wire.
1. touch red probe to yellow wire Slowly rotate motor. Voltage should Jump between 0V and 4-5V.
2. repeat with green wire.
3. repeat with blue wire.

Note this test is conducted with coonnectors coneected and meter probes inserted into connecter shell.

Mar 31, 2021#16

L

Leo2005

No problems with my 480e yet but that's a lot of valuable info in here. Good to know.

Apr 5, 2021#17

D

Dingo-J

I am having the same problem. Everything else works, headlights light up, blades spin up, even get reverse beeping sound when I flip the direction switch to reverse, it just won't actually move forward or backwards.
I found if I unplug the fuse that comes off the 12 v power converter (unit is under right rear tire, fuse extends up and is on the right side side of batteries, can access if you take rear panel off). Once I pull the fuse out and reseat, then it works again
I find this happens when I try to push the accelerator all the way down, or if there is extra load, like blades running and a bit of an incline where I have to depress pedal further to maintain speed.
My only guess is the drive unit is going out and some protect mode is kicking in, then when I reset the fuse to the 12 v power converter it resets the "safety".
If anyone actually finds the fix would love to hear what part of was for sure

Apr 14, 2021#18

B

bkinter

I register just to share my experience. I had the same issues described here. 1.5 year old mower with only 32 hours on it. Would not go forward or backward but if I power cycled it would sometimes drive again for a few seconds or minutes even. I live in Los Angeles area where you'd think there would be plenty of service centers but nope, had to figure out a way to drive it 55 miles away. Ryobi's strategy to fix these is to send one repair part at a time to the shop to see if it fixes it, each taking about 2 weeks to send, install, and diagnose. I sent it in on February 8th and here we are 9 weeks later with no resolution. The worst part is the shop got it work temporarily and were about to have me pick it up but it failed again so it at least saved me having to spend a day getting it. I'll keep posted on what ends up fixing it.

May 2, 2021#19

D

Dingo-J

Update:. I ordered the 996508001 DRIVE MOTOR CONTROLLER $275.41

This solved the problem and was very easy to replace. Again, my problem was that the mower would stop moving forward or reverse, but everything else on the mower would function. Power cycling off and on would reset it, allow me to drive again, but that usually would not last very long.

I bought the mower used from a guy that bought it new 2 1/2 years ago. What ticks me off is that while replacing the drive motor controller, i discovered it was not the first time it had been replaced. That means this mower is now on ts 3rd drive motor controller, at least, in only 3 years. That is terrible. Based on how many people here are saying they have this same problem, and knowing the people on this forum represent only a small fraction of owners, this has got to be a known issue. Ryobi really needs to step up and offer an updated part with longer life.

May 2, 2021#20

D

Dingo-J

Dingo-J said:
Update:. I ordered the 996508001 DRIVE MOTOR CONTROLLER $275.41

This solved the problem and was very easy to replace. Again, my problem was that the mower would stop moving forward or reverse, but everything else on the mower would function. Power cycling off and on would reset it, allow me to drive again, but that usually would not last very long.

I bought the mower used from a guy that bought it new 2 1/2 years ago. What ticks me off is that while replacing the drive motor controller, i discovered it was not the first time it had been replaced. That means this mower is now on ts 3rd drive motor controller, at least, in only 3 years. That is terrible. Based on how many people here are saying they have this same problem, and knowing the people on this forum represent only a small fraction of owners, this has got to be a known issue. Ryobi really needs to step up and offer an updated part with longer life.

Update to my update. Was able to mow the front yard no problem then it started doing the same thing, only now I can't get it to reset at all. It's become a push mower. Won't ever make the mistake of buying a Ryobi again.

May 2, 2021#21

D

Dingo-J

Now that the drive motor controller has been replaced, it runs for about 30 minutes and then stops, yet everything else (lights, mowing deck, beeper, etc) works. I've done some testing and concluded it's an overheating issue. The reason I think this is because if I leave it sit for about 40 minutes it will work again. No idea what is overheating, if it is the drive motor controller or the motor, but I feel like that is about all it could be since everything else continues to function.

Anyone else having symptoms that point to overheating?

May 9, 2021#22

B

bkinter

Dingo-J said:
Now that the drive motor controller has been replaced, it runs for about 30 minutes and then stops, yet everything else (lights, mowing deck, beeper, etc) works. I've done some testing and concluded it's an overheating issue. The reason I think this is because if I leave it sit for about 40 minutes it will work again. No idea what is overheating, if it is the drive motor controller or the motor, but I feel like that is about all it could be since everything else continues to function.

Anyone else having symptoms that point to overheating?

Is it possible the thermostatic overtemp sensor is faulty? I never tested that before I sent mine in. When yours faults try checking the temperature at the sensor location and see if it's really overheated or not. Mine is still in the shop and day 90 just hit, so they owe me a new mower or a refund at this point.

May 12, 2021#23

D

Dingo-J

bkinter said:
Is it possible the thermostatic overtemp sensor is faulty? I never tested that before I sent mine in. When yours faults try checking the temperature at the sensor location and see if it's really overheated or not. Mine is still in the shop and day 90 just hit, so they owe me a new mower or a refund at this point.

I can't find that in the diagram. Is that the HALL sensor? I can't figure out what that part does, although someone else posted here that they had a bad hall sensor. the only heat sensor/cut off I could find in the parts diagram is on the charging port wire harness.

May 13, 2021#24

MowerMike

A Hall effect sensor is NOT a heat sensor. It's a magnetic sensor designed to detect position and movement, such as what is used in home alarm systems to detect opening of windows and doors.

May 13, 2021#25

D

Dingo-J

MowerMike said:
A Hall effect sensor is NOT a heat sensor. It's a magnetic sensor designed to detect position and movement, such is what is used in home alarm systems to detect opening of windows and doors.

Yes thank you. I looked it up online and understand now how that works.

The hall sensor can stop the motor from running by causing a "misfire" of sorts, but my mower will start working again if I leave it for 30 to 40 minutes, and I can't imagine a faulty hall sensor would reset and begin working again like that - which is why I still think it must be heat related. I'm open for ideas if anyone has some. I'll try and do some tests with the meter this weekend.

May 13, 2021#26

B

bertsmobile1

MowerMike said:
A Hall effect sensor is NOT a heat sensor. It's a magnetic sensor designed to detect position and movement, such is what is used in home alarm systems to detect opening of windows and doors.

Not quite
The Hall Effect is the rising & falling of voltage being induced in a coil as a magnet passes it .
The only place you would find one in an electric motor is in the speed regulation system but their are cheaper & more robust ways to do that as well .

May 13, 2021#27

MowerMike

bertsmobile1 said:
Not quite
The Hall Effect is the rising & falling of voltage being induced in a coil as a magnet passes it .
The only place you would find one in an electric motor is in the speed regulation system but their are cheaper & more robust ways to do that as well .

Same thing. I am talking about the application and you are talking about the principle of operation.

https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/electromagnetism/hall-effect.html

"One of the main uses of magnetic sensors is in automotive systems for the sensing of position, distance and speed."

They have many other common applications, such as home alarm systems, as I noted in my previous post.

May 14, 2021#28

B

bkinter

I got my mower back from the shop after 92 days in service. No surprise it was the motor control board that was bad as many others have had fail. It works now but I can't charge it since it gives me a single red flashing light which according to the manual says "overheated batteries or dirty contacts to the charger port". I cleaned the connection (not dirty at all) and the batteries are cool since its only been 70F outside. Really frustrating.

May 14, 2021#29

B

bertsmobile1

The way of the future huh

May 15, 2021#30

D

Dingo-J

bkinter said:
I got my mower back from the shop after 92 days in service. No surprise it was the motor control board that was bad as many others have had fail. It works now but I can't charge it since it gives me a single red flashing light which according to the manual says "overheated batteries or dirty contacts to the charger port". I cleaned the connection (not dirty at all) and the batteries are cool since its only been 70F outside. Really frustrating.

I wonder if what your experiencing now is from a bad or not connected heat sensor. Check this out (below). I believe this part comes off the connections from the charging port.

May 18, 2021#31

Ralleyne

After a lot of troubleshooting the issue with my Ryobi riding lawn tractor was the speed switch control (part # 996499001) which on the frame on the right (right while sitting on the seat, left if facing the tractor) near to the spring on the accelerator pedal. It cost about $100 from Ryobi. A little difficult to get to with 2 small nuts to remove but fairly easy install. Could help someone if you are willing to try it.

May 20, 2021#32

T

Toonces

I'm having the opposite issue with my mower. The mower moves fine but the blades won't engage. There are only a couple hours of use on the thing. I bought it at auction, as new, so it's not covered under warranty. It did work fine when I first got it, then the blades stopped engaging. After a few turning them on/off/on they would engage and it would mow fine. Next time out, I'd have to repeat the same thing. Now they just won't start at all.

To me, it doesn't seem like it would be a controller issue since neither controller seems to be working. If it was a controller, I'd expect the other to work at least (wouldn't it?)

I've tried to find a schematic but haven't been successful. The wiring diagram available isn't all that helpful since it shows the wiring going into the harness and then out the other side.

I'm looking for any suggestions anyone may have. Have multimeter, will travel.

Is there a way to tell if there is an issue with the controller(s)?

Jun 1, 2021#33

D

Dingo-J

After replacing the drive controller I was able to mow but it would stop after about 20 minutes and wouldn't go again until it sat for about 30 to 40 minutes. Went out the other day and it would go at all. Pulled the accelerator switch and tested per the repair docs and it's bad. Ordered another one at $145!! Ridiculous!
It's not like electric powered vehicles are new, it's that Ryobi is using cheap parts, like a speed controller that uses brushed contacts instead of electric speed controllers. I shouldn't have to replace these parts every three years.
Will update once I get the accelerator control.

Jun 12, 2021#34

D

Dingo-J

Toonces said:
I'm having the opposite issue with my mower. The mower moves fine but the blades won't engage. There are only a couple hours of use on the thing. I bought it at auction, as new, so it's not covered under warranty. It did work fine when I first got it, then the blades stopped engaging. After a few turning them on/off/on they would engage and it would mow fine. Next time out, I'd have to repeat the same thing. Now they just won't start at all.

To me, it doesn't seem like it would be a controller issue since neither controller seems to be working. If it was a controller, I'd expect the other to work at least (wouldn't it?)

I've tried to find a schematic but haven't been successful. The wiring diagram available isn't all that helpful since it shows the wiring going into the harness and then out the other side.

I'm looking for any suggestions anyone may have. Have multimeter, will travel.

Is there a way to tell if there is an issue with the controller(s)?

Hey if you pm me your email I will send you the Ryobi repair manual. It has how to check using a Multi meter, what everything should read

Jun 20, 2021#35

V

vjg

Had that problem with mower not moving-- replaced the drive motor controller. was not difficult

Jun 20, 2021#36

V

vjg

Dingo-J said:
Hey if you pm me your email I will send you the Ryobi repair manual. It has how to check using a Multi meter, what everything should read

same problem - the blades start to run then shut off after 5 seconds. the PTO checks out with the multimeter. however I am stuck on what/how to check next. the master and/or slave motor controllers?

Jun 21, 2021#37

E

-ERP-

Two weeks ago I had the same problem as the OP. The mower will not mover forward or reverse, but the blades spin and the lights works, the battery pack is at 50v.
I tried to purchase a new motor controller, but they appear to be backordered until September.
I purchased a new speed controller, which should be here Friday. I would like test my current speed controller but I cannot find a link to the diagnostic instructions. Does anyone have a link or the instructions for testing this sensor?
Thanks

Jun 24, 2021#38

A

AbowhunterZ

Ok I have read about all the issues everyone is having and I have a new one. My mower is about 2+ years old and I have had no issues. I live in the Phoenix area and cut in 100+ degree weather and runs great...went out the other day and unplugged it and nothing. No charge indicator no lights no drive nothing! Look at manual but it really just says check the obvious things. Hoping someone has had the same issue just not posted!

Jun 24, 2021#39

gjohn

forcefed4door said:
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.

I have the same issue, last week mower stopped driving, but blades worked, it is still under extended warranty. Ryobi contacted repair company, and they picked mower up and 3 days later called said can't get it to replicate drive issue and plan on returning it Saturday. I will use the mower while they are still here, and maybe I can replicate the problem for them. Thanks for information, by the way did you ever figure out why mowers are not working. George

Jun 24, 2021#40

gjohn

bkinter said:
I register just to share my experience. I had the same issues described here. 1.5 year old mower with only 32 hours on it. Would not go forward or backward but if I power cycled it would sometimes drive again for a few seconds or minutes even. I live in Los Angeles area where you'd think there would be plenty of service centers but nope, had to figure out a way to drive it 55 miles away. Ryobi's strategy to fix these is to send one repair part at a time to the shop to see if it fixes it, each taking about 2 weeks to send, install, and diagnose. I sent it in on February 8th and here we are 9 weeks later with no resolution. The worst part is the shop got it work temporarily and were about to have me pick it up but it failed again so it at least saved me having to spend a day getting it. I'll keep posted on what ends up fixing it.

I hope that by now your mower has been repaired,

Jul 14, 2021#41

A

AbowhunterZ

AbowhunterZ said:
Ok I have read about all the issues everyone is having and I have a new one. My mower is about 2+ years old and I have had no issues. I live in the Phoenix area and cut in 100+ degree weather and runs great...went out the other day and unplugged it and nothing. No charge indicator no lights no drive nothing! Look at manual but it really just says check the obvious things. Hoping someone has had the same issue just not posted!

Update!!! found a blue wire that looked like it was chewed on by a mouse or something. it runs on top of the batteries and goes to what looks like a rectifier or something. Fixed it and everything stared working now!

Jul 18, 2021#42

Insta

Well another unhappy Ryobi RM480e user with the same problem. Mower ran fine and I parked it. A week later I tried to use it and it moves about four inches and stops. Lights and beeper work. Batteries are good and fully charged. Also when I start the blades the relay will trip and stop them. The mower only has 45 hours on it. I've paid $2,000 to mow my yard 25 times with this thing. Of course there isn't a repair center within 100 miles. What a waste of money this thing was. What a joke -- when I bought it I thought YEAH! No more lawn mower repair! I've definitely learned my Ryobi lesson.

Jul 26, 2021#43

D

Dr.Foo22

Joining the chorus: Mower blades spin, but the mower wont move. Its ~3.5 years old. From reading the above, I'm thinking its the drive motor controller or the speed switch controller. Does anyone have troubleshooting guides for those two parts? Would like to put a multi-meter on them before I throw parts at this thing.

Jul 30, 2021#44

D

Dingo-J

So I'm hesitant to say my mower is back up and running, but for now it seems to be doing fine.
I replaced the motor controller, the big symptom there was that everything else was functioning except it wouldn't move.
I also replaced the speed controller (the part that goes on the pedal and rotates as you depress the accelerator). Symptoms on that started by the acceleration was no longer smooth and in reverse you would have to keep depressing the pedal until all of a sudden it jumped into a pretty high speed reverse. Eventually it just stopped moving, and mimicked the exact same symptoms as if the drive motor were bad. When I tested the throttle control with the multimeter though I could tell that it wasn't putting out the correct voltage.

I had an additional problem where it stopped moving again while testing it but I believe the issue there was that I didn't seal up the connection for the throttle control and I think moisture got into the connector and caused a short. It dried out and now I've sealed those connectors and it seems to be functioning fine.

My next thing is to check the batteries as I think they're getting to their end of life and I'll probably need new ones.

I'm telling you when this thing runs it's actually quite nice especially with the bagger system. I wish Ryobi would have used better parts or at least that there would be better aftermarket parts available somewhere.

Jul 30, 2021#45

D

Dr.Foo22

Update: I pulled the batteries and charged them individually on a 10amp charger. Put it all back together, turn the key and the gauge lights up for a split second....then nothing. No gauge lights, headlights, or power to the USB. No blades. Turn the key off and on. Still nothing (not even the split second gauge flash). Unplug the battery, wait 10 sec, plug back in...still nothing (not even the flash).

The batteries were running down fast before all this started, so I'm going to start there. 3 years in Phoenix AZ heat likely didn't do them well. I'll take them to an autozone and have them tested.

Broken things are frustrating. Broken complex things with little documentation are even more frustrating.

Jul 31, 2021#46

S

slomo

Dr.Foo22 said:
The batteries were running down fast before all this started

Do you expect batteries to last a lifetime now? 2-4 years is all you "should" expect.

All batteries degrade and die in short order. Don't care if you are talking about a cordless flashlight, car, boat or screwdriver batteries. Most have X amount of charge cycles.

All these great sales gimmick features like no tune ups, no oil to changes, no gasoline emissions and no starts and runs are all true. Or "I" am saving the environment by using battery mower gear. Ever wonder how your electricity is actually generated? Most are dirty coal or nuclear. So the environment is getting hammered before the juice gets to your house. Maybe you have a baby solar grid at your house???

For me, there are 0 lawn crews using any battery anything tools around here. They wouldn't last 3 weeks on a typical lawn crew truck. Replacement batteries are a continual, very expensive cost that goes with them. Most are 80% the cost of a new tool so people push them to the curb.

slomo

Jul 31, 2021#47

D

Dr.Foo22

Batteries die?! Every 2-4 years?! Oh my! What horrible news! If only it said that somewhere in the user manual. If only I could read. The electricity from my wall doesn't come from magic? Or hopes and dreams? Or unicorn farts?! What is coal?

Thank you slomo. Thank you for coming to this thread full of folks who own electric riding mowers to tell all of us that not only do you not own one, but you think we are stupid for buying one. Thank you for contributing nothing useful to the thread other than an opportunity for me to make fun of you. You are a gentleman, a scholar, and a god among us knuckle-dragging sheep who make purchases based on sales gimmicks. Please ride off into the sunset on your gas powered mower (that is surely used by all the lawn crews in your area) knowing that you have made a difference in all of our lives...which are much smaller and less happy than yours. Or consider crawling back under your bridge (Troll).

In the meantime, I'm going to try to fix my battery powered mower...that I planned (and budgeted) to replace batteries every 3 years. That I do charge with solar panels on my home. That I have spent almost zero time or money maintaining since I've owned it (You can tell. I'm use to this thing just working. Its why I was frustrated.).

For the folks actually trying to fix their mowers: I'll provide an update after I run some tests. The service manual offered earlier in this thread seems really promising. I'm feeling optimistic about troubleshooting the various components and getting this thing fixed.

Jul 31, 2021#48

S

slomo

Dr.Foo22 said:
Batteries die?! Every 2-4 years?! Oh my! What horrible news! If only it said that somewhere in the user manual. If only I could read. The electricity from my wall doesn't come from magic? Or hopes and dreams? Or unicorn farts?! What is coal?

Thank you slomo. Thank you for coming to this thread full of folks who own electric riding mowers to tell all of us that not only do you not own one, but you think we are stupid for buying one. Thank you for contributing nothing useful to the thread other than an opportunity for me to make fun of you. You are a gentleman, a scholar, and a god among us knuckle-dragging sheep who make purchases based on sales gimmicks. Please ride off into the sunset on your gas powered mower (that is surely used by all the lawn crews in your area) knowing that you have made a difference in all of our lives...which are much smaller and less happy than yours. Or consider crawling back under your bridge (Troll).

In the meantime, I'm going to try to fix my battery powered mower...that I planned (and budgeted) to replace batteries every 3 years. That I do charge with solar panels on my home. That I have spent almost zero time or money maintaining since I've owned it (You can tell. I'm use to this thing just working. Its why I was frustrated.).

For the folks actually trying to fix their mowers: I'll provide an update after I run some tests. The service manual offered earlier in this thread seems really promising. I'm feeling optimistic about troubleshooting the various components and getting this thing fixed.

Loved the message.

Tomorrow is grass cutting time. Can't wait to fire up the gas engines.

Aug 2, 2021#49

cgeorg07

I am 8 hours in on the 42" zero-turn mower, and after 30mins, it struggles to cut and the blades cut off. Worked perfect for two months. Now I have to drive at a snails pace crawling along to cut the rest of the yard or the blades stop. I checked the batteries and they all read 13v and 100% charge. Does anyone know what it might be, so I can have Ryobi send out some parts?

Aug 4, 2021#50

A

andyl9063

hi guys, I'm having an issue with the blade. Mower runs around fine. Blade will not engage. Did someone have a manual on what to test?
I did test the red switch to engage the blade. I bypass it and jump the two cables behind it. The blades tries to spin and make a low cunk noise .

EDIT: In case anyone having the same issue as me, there's two plugs underneath that plugs into the two motors that run the blades. Those plugs, if you unscrew it, you'll noticed the wires get loose easily. Especially on the female side not male.

Aug 20, 2021#51

D

Dr.Foo22

Update: Took the batteries out, charged them individually on a noco genus 10, and got them tested at Autozone. Cold cranking amps measured on all 4 batteries: 320, 234, 202...and 30. Well, now I know why its not even turning on. Time to upgrade from the 75AH batteries to the 100ah!

Sep 1, 2021#52

B

Barb's 480ex

forcefed4door said:
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

Sep 5, 2021#53

D

Dr.Foo22

Update: The repair manual from Dingo-J is top notch! I followed the troubleshooting guide listed in there and tested these parts in order: the drive selector switch, brake sensor, and the speed switch/transducer. Looks like the speed transducer failed. Just ordered a replacement. I hope that this fixes the issue. If not, the next part to test is the motor control unit.

Sep 12, 2021#54

T

Tmdep

My RM840e worked perfectly for 4 years as a lawnmower and for pulling a sweeper to remove pine straw prior to mowing at a Tahoe vacation home with a relatively small lawn (<0.5 acres). About a month ago it quit. I drove it out of the garage for about 60 feet and then it stopped before I actually reached the lawn. If I let go of and then depressed the accelerator pedal it would go another 10 feet or so. Repeating this would give me another 3 or 4 feet, then one foot, then 6 inches. My wife helped me push this 700 lb machine back into the garage where I spent several days and long hours trying to discover what was wrong. I dreaded the thought of somehow loading a dead 700 lb machine onto a truck or trailer and hauling it to a distant Ryobi service center, which, by the way, doesn't exist in our area. Home Depot who sold the machine to me denied any responsibility for fixing it. Other HD's in our area said they didn't even sell it except on line.
With help from my brother and a cousin, we reasoned it could simply be a defective switch somewhere or wiring damaged by a gnawing rodent, so we removed most of the cowling to expose suspected components and wires. I also discovered that I could mobilize the mower by pressing down ever so slightly on the accelerator, giving me several dozen feet of movement both forward and reverse until it gave out again. Pulling the PTO switch caused the blades to start but then quickly stopped, within seconds. The fuel gauge (battery meter) read 48 volts and about half capacity as judged by the vertical bars. Two separate calls to Ryobi were not very helpful - one thought that the fuel gauge might be the problem and another sent me the RY48110 Riding Mower Service Trouble shooting guide that I then used to determine that the switches (brake, seat, alarm), lights, fuel gauge, charging port, USB, etc. were good, not the problem. I slid the 75ah battery tray out, disconnected all four batteries, and tested each one individually. Each showed 12+ volts, so I (wrongly) concluded that the batteries were OK. Armchair reasoning lead me to suspect that the only thing that could cause all three motors and controllers to fail at once must be the battery pack. After researching SLA/AGM batteries on line, I purchased a Foxwell BT100 Pro 12 volt automobile battery analyzer (Amazon $36) and discovered that one of the batteries was defective - CCA capacity was about 15% of the other three which read between 350 and 400 amps (despite all 4 reading 12+ volts). I then purchased a Duracel 80 ah deep cycle, group 24 SLA/AGM battery with type C (flat) terminals at Batteries and Bulbs ($216.89), replaced the suspect battery, and now the mower runs better than ever - mowed the lawn without a hitch. Incidentally I found one of the best prices on Amazon: Mighty Max $144.99, free shipping.
The 50% battery meter (fuel gauge) reading was probably correct since three of the batteries were perfectly good and the meter read across all four, not individually. The 48.0 volt reading apparently shows the battery voltage requirement, not the actual voltage. This meter has been a problem for many, as judged from online chats, and there are at least 3 versions of it, one of which can be hacked. The hack didn't work for mine but it has a tiny black button underneath (unreachable) that allows cycling among actual voltage, capacity, and hours mowed. Instead of bolting this meter back in place, I left it out so I could reach a finger underneath to cycle the readings.
Amazon actually sells a similar gauge for $16.40 that looks about the same size as Ryobi's. I haven't tried it but here is the link:

https://www.amazon.com/Runleader-RL-BI004-Indicator-equipment-equipment/dp/B01G4XR6F8/ref=asc_df_B01G4XR6F8?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80676757991735&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584276302826431&psc=1

Suggestions for Ryobi:
1) Please fix this meter. Ideally it would read the capacity (load test) of each of the four batteries but at least allow cycling (place the black button on top where it would be reachable).
2) Show real Ryobi riding mower service centers instead of Home Depot and others that deny any training with these machines.

Sep 12, 2021#55

dayfamily95

Dr.Foo22 said:
Update: The repair manual from Dingo-J is top notch! I followed the troubleshooting guide listed in there and tested these parts in order: the drive selector switch, brake sensor, and the speed switch/transducer. Looks like the speed transducer failed. Just ordered a replacement. I hope that this fixes the issue. If not, the next part to test is the motor control unit.

Anyway you could send me a copy if that manual? Our 2yr old riding mower stopped working yesterday?

Sep 13, 2021#56

D

Dr.Foo22

Update: New speed transducer installed and we have some progress. Now when I push the accelerator pedal, the mower moves about 50% of the time. Not great. Going to pull the part and test it. Maybe I got a bad one? Then I'll pull the drive controller.

Sep 19, 2021#57

X

xenomatic

Dingo-J said:
Hey if you pm me your email I will send you the Ryobi repair manual. It has how to check using a Multi meter, what everything should read

Hi Dingo-J, I understand your repair manual is great, Could you please email me a copy? Thanks, xenomatic

Sep 30, 2021#58

T

Theotherfuel

I just had the issue with the blades stopping after a few seconds, turned out that the harness to one of the mower motors got sliced. Also have had the problem with the mower not moving at all, that was the 48 to 12v DC-DC converter.

Oct 1, 2021#59

S

slomo

Dr.Foo22 said:
Update: Took the batteries out, charged them individually on a noco genus 10, and got them tested at Autozone. Cold cranking amps measured on all 4 batteries: 320, 234, 202...and 30. Well, now I know why its not even turning on. Time to upgrade from the 75AH batteries to the 100ah!

What is the price on the new batteries?

Oct 5, 2021#60

D

Dingo-J

I would be curious what batteries people are going with. My batteries, or at least one of them, is bad and I'm thinking about upgrading all four of them to the 100 Mhp batteries and wondering if anyone has an Amazon link for what you found and that works.

Oct 17, 2021#61

D

Dingo-J

Dingo-J said:
I would be curious what batteries people are going with. My batteries, or at least one of them, is bad and I'm thinking about upgrading all four of them to the 100 Mhp batteries and wondering if anyone has an Amazon link for what you found and that works.

That was supposed to read 100 AH, not mhp.

Oct 17, 2021#62

P

Phblawn

I have the same problem. Mower won't move, but everything else works including blades, lights, and even the beep sound while in reverse. Mower is 3 1/2 yo, so slightly out of warranty. Local service center won't touch it due to previous bad experiences with those mowers (I don't have details about that). Still trying to get service somewhere with Ryobi rep.

Oct 29, 2021#63

P

Pete46beards

My problem seems different from most of the above: I bought the M480e just under a year ago, worked fine all summer. But a couple of weeks ago it suddenly stopped being able to go up a slope. Now it has gotten so that it will barely go at all. But it is clearly not electronic: the switch works, the drive motor engages, and it tries, like an old car with a slipping clutch. Somewhat better in reverse. Blades work fine. Gotta be mechanical, not electronic. The nearest service center might as well be in Brazil, and I don't have a truck capable of carrying the beast. Anybody with a similar issue?

Oct 29, 2021#64

T

tomofcg

Yes. This is frustrating. I wiggled the wires that connect to the key mechanism. That fixed it for one mowing. I used two jumper cables to connect to each of the two wires which go into the key lock mechanism (bypassing the key lock mechanism). I connect the other jumper ends to a plastic part. When I want to start the mower, I take the jumpers off the plastic and connect them to each other. It starts every time, but I haven't had to mow since I did this, so I don't know how durable this kludge will be.
When I connected the jumper, I noticed the jumper teeth scraped some clear plastic off the wires ends. I'm guessing this plastic was interfering with the electrical connection. This was probably waterproofing for the electrical connection. Seems like a good idea, that goes wrong, when the plastic shifts around.
By jamming the jumper onto the ends of the wire, I bent the connector on the ends of the wire. I'll never be able to reconnect those bent ends onto the key lock again. That probably voids my warrenty. But what good is a warrenty when I don't have any way to haul this mower to be repaired?

Nov 12, 2021#65

S

slomo

Dr.Foo22 said:
Update: Took the batteries out, charged them individually on a noco genus 10, and got them tested at Autozone. Cold cranking amps measured on all 4 batteries: 320, 234, 202...and 30. Well, now I know why its not even turning on. Time to upgrade from the 75AH batteries to the 100ah!

Larger packs have more cells. More cells = more failure points. Using a 100ah would be a step back in reliability.

Jan 17, 2022#66

E

ElectRon

To all posters: Ryobi has had my ZT480e for 5 months now, that's on top of the 4 months that the local Ryobi repair center had it (before they returned it to me still not working). The unit will not move forward or backward. The problem is in the control arm sensors, they have no parts to fix it. We can only hope that they are trying to re-engineer the mower.

You can call Ryobi and TTI until you are blue in the face. They are very nice, even helpful, but they never keep their promises. Try to call back and you get referred to another helpful person. They are stalling! They have a major problem here and are just trying to buy time. Don't think for a second that you are making progress getting your mower fixed. You are not. I've been down this road with at least 5 technical and service representatives and managers. They will just go silent on you and you have to start all over again. They promised to pay for my grass cutting until my mower was returned. They paid for 4 weeks, then stopped. I have not been paid in the last 6 months despite sending my receipts many times to many individuals, all making wonderful but worthless promises.

I will be pursuing a class action suit against Ryobi and Home Depot over this matter. Contact me if you want to join!

Jan 17, 2022#67

MowerMike

Sounds like the same design team that was used on the Space Shuttle.

Jan 17, 2022#68

B

bertsmobile1

Right way to go Ron
A letter from your local MP will usually get you a refund or replacement but does nothing for the rest, some of which are to timid to take the proper actions
Just be wary of using litigation funders because all they want to do is get large amounts of money out of HD & Ryobi which does nothing to fix the problem , even if you do get your money back .
Fortunately down here we have the Dept of Fair Trading so for $ 55 ( Aus) I can lodge a complaint and they will take up a class action but the damages are limited to a realistic amount to cover out of pocket expenses & replacement so million dollar amounts for the mental anguish of your mower not working & your grass being too long don't happen.

Jan 17, 2022#69

StarTech

But isn't battery power the greatest thing around? I think I wait it gets better perfected. Great for handhelds not so riding mowers at leas not yet.

Jan 17, 2022#70

E

ElectRon

Thank you for your kind words. Stay tuned to see how it moves forward.

Best, Ron

bertsmobile1 said:
Right way to go Ron
A letter from your local MP will usually get you a refund or replacement but does nothing for the rest, some of which are to timid to take the proper actions
Just be wary of using litigation funders because all they want to do is get large amounts of money out of HD & Ryobi which does nothing to fix the problem , even if you do get your money back .
Fortunately down here we have the Dept of Fair Trading so for $ 55 ( Aus) I can lodge a complaint and they will take up a class action but the damages are limited to a realistic amount to cover out of pocket expenses & replacement so million dollar amounts for the mental anguish of your mower not working & your grass being too long don't happen.

Jan 21, 2022#71

S

slomo

StarTech said:
But isn't battery power the greatest thing around? I think I wait it gets better perfected. Great for handhelds not so riding mowers at leas not yet.

Sure is. What would a person buy next? Haven't seen a wind up rider yet.

Jan 21, 2022#72

StarTech

slomo said:
Sure is. What would a person buy next? Haven't seen a wind up rider yet.

I know it is hard to figure out. Here I fencing the property and buying a few goats but of they probably get banned too.

It was not too long ago when EFI vehicles came on the market and there were a lot teething pains with them until they perfected them. It was a huge learning curve for both the manufacture and the mechanics.

Jan 21, 2022#73

B

bertsmobile1

Battery powered tools have their place
The No 1 thing in their favour is convience , particular for stuff that is rarely used .
However they are not the answer to CO2 pollution that they are marketed as and in fact over all pollution for battery power is significantly higher than petrol power.
And of course a petrol powered chainsaw will not burn down your house .
There is still not an economic way to recycle the batteries and of course you have the problems of recycling the old tool when batteries are NLA for them .
Because battery power is a lot cleaner than alternator power the factory can confidently use a lot more complex electronics which lends itself to built in obsolesence much like the chip in a printer cartridge that prevents you using all of the ink .

Jan 22, 2022#74

1

1 Lucky Texan

I'm quite certain ICE-powered tools and the fuel stored for their use have contributed to the severity of house fires. One of the reasons many ordinances are around requiring water heaters to be lifted off the floor is to reduce the chance of fumes being ignited.

That said, it is true that batteries are approaching the energy density of low-grade explosives.

Jan 22, 2022#75

B

bertsmobile1

To date there has supposedly been 22 houses burned down due to faulty batteries / chargers on electric cars.
If a can of fuel ignites you can put it out with a variety of extinguishers
If a battery ignites you can not put it out so all you can do is try to drag it clear of the building
Phones & lap tops generally just char the besk and stink the house out for months
However most tools now days & particularly big batteries used for ride ons & cars are near impossible to get close enough to without furnace suits .
Combustable liquids usually make an existing fire worse
Very rarely are they the cause of the fire.

Tell your insurance company you are bolting a Tesla Power wall to your house and see what happens to your insurance premium.

Feb 9, 2022#76

C

CJShadow

One more joining the party. I've got an intermittent mix of both issues. Last summer the blades would sometimes not engage, but toggling the switch a few times would usually get them going again. 2 weeks ago, started getting the loss of forward/reverse. Toggling the key would bring that back, sometimes. Mine's about 4 years old, so I've gotten great use out of it so far. I've been trying to track down this troubleshooting repair manual, but have only been able to find the zero turn version posted. I've emailed Ryobi tech support, and they have the bots working the inboxes with canned responses.

I see @Dingo-J hasn't been on in a few months, does anyone else have it, that could send it my way? Thanks for any help

Feb 26, 2022#77

C

CPeper

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

I just replaced my motor controller in the left hand side and it has appeared to fix the problem. Purchased a Homelight 996508001 drive Motor Controller from SEPW.com for $288 and a 3 month lead time. Haven’t been able to give it a full test yet because it’s winter but was able to drive it around the garage. I plan to open up the failed unit to see if I can find and replace the failed component.

Mar 29, 2022#78

L

Lazyworm

Hi, I wonder if anyone still have the repair manual that can share with me? Mine starts fine, but it stop and beeps after few sec and the The letter H at the digital display blinks. I noticed if it move very slow without making the letter H blinks, it can move further.
I wonder if it is related to the speed sensor or temperature sensor mentioned earlier in this thread. I tested the seat sensor with the multimeter and it seems fine,

Mar 31, 2022#79

F

Fourdoor

Anyone have Dingo-J's repair manual that they can e-mail me? I messaged him, but he hasn't been on the board in the last 5 months, so I am not hopeful about getting it from him. My issue is different than the common one in this thread, but the repair manual would be a great help.

Keith

Apr 5, 2022#80

rlbindy

Fourdoor said:
Anyone have Dingo-J's repair manual that they can e-mail me? I messaged him, but he hasn't been on the board in the last 5 months, so I am not hopeful about getting it from him. My issue is different than the common one in this thread, but the repair manual would be a great help.

Keith

I'm not sure if this is the exact troubleshooting guide that was posted earlier, but it's the one the repair shop gave me back in 2020 for the rm480e. It's a pretty useful manual, hope it helps others looking for help on this thing. Mine has been working fine now since I got the drive controller replaced. The shop had it for about 2 months at the end of the mowing season in 2020. I'm going to test the batteries out since I think I'll be due for new ones this season. I plan to use it for awhile before I go all out just to make sure it's functioning to start the season.

It's too big to attach to this post but I'll include a link to it in Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fKIkId97MnDxbb8Kpo3okl2VAhGpMNx8/view?usp=sharing

Apr 5, 2022#81

rlbindy

Lazyworm said:
Hi, I wonder if anyone still have the repair manual that can share with me? Mine starts fine, but it stop and beeps after few sec and the The letter H at the digital display blinks. I noticed if it move very slow without making the letter H blinks, it can move further.
I wonder if it is related to the speed sensor or temperature sensor mentioned earlier in this thread. I tested the seat sensor with the multimeter and it seems fine,

See my post. It's got a link to the troubleshooting manual.

May 28, 2022#82

S

shucker mower

Dr.Foo22 said:
Joining the chorus: Mower blades spin, but the mower wont move. Its ~3.5 years old. From reading the above, I'm thinking its the drive motor controller or the speed switch controller. Does anyone have troubleshooting guides for those two parts? Would like to put a multi-meter on them before I throw parts at this thing.

Hello DR. Foo - I have the same problem - fully charged, blades spin, not accelerator response, Ryobi service tech emailed me the procedure to check the accelerator transducer and transducer cable. In my situation the cable did not show the correct voltage. The Tech thinks it is the motor controller board. It would be nice if it is something else.

My mower is just past the 3 year mark, 101 hours, needs new batteries, may not be worth the batteries and repair bill.

Jun 3, 2022#83

F

Fourdoor

shucker mower said:
Hello DR. Foo - I have the same problem - fully charged, blades spin, not accelerator response, Ryobi service tech emailed me the procedure to check the accelerator transducer and transducer cable. In my situation the cable did not show the correct voltage. The Tech thinks it is the motor controller board. It would be nice if it is something else.

My mower is just past the 3 year mark, 101 hours, needs new batteries, may not be worth the batteries and repair bill.

$1000 in batteries (for me, upgraded from 75 ah to 100 ah) is a lot less than $2,700 for a new electric riding mower... and that is for a 50 ah version. If you can figure out and repair the accelerator problem it is well worth keeping the mower you have now.

Now, if you are itching to get a zero turn, or the new Lithium Ion version just admit it to yourself and buy the new toy

Otherwise, fix what you have.

Keith

Jun 15, 2022#84

R

RLMguy

Lazyworm said:
Hi, I wonder if anyone still have the repair manual that can share with me? Mine starts fine, but it stop and beeps after few sec and the The letter H at the digital display blinks. I noticed if it move very slow without making the letter H blinks, it can move further.
I wonder if it is related to the speed sensor or temperature sensor mentioned earlier in this thread. I tested the seat sensor with the multimeter and it seems fine,

Hi all. I joined the forum to pass on multiple issues with my RM480e (since 2017 purchase) and their solutions. Great mower but just has not been reliable for me (bad luck it seems). I do all my own repairs (out of warranty and never in a repair shop). Hoping to help others. I'm on the 3rd Drive Motor Controller and I've upgraded the batteries (75AH to 100AH MightyMax AGMs) and the charging system (Clore Automotive 4-bank charger and rewired mower for 12V independent (vs 48V series) charging). These are only my opinions/experience to date - could be wrong - but likely right

Symptom: 1 week after purchase: Key on, gas, loud clunk. Can't move fwd or back. No power to anything (no lights, no blades, no power).
Fix: The Drive Motor Controller had dead short on input. Fuse blown on power cable. Ryobi actually sent me the replacement controller/fuse under warranty and I installed. I got lucky having a rep that trusted me to install vs using the service shop (who at the time had no clue as the mowers were brand new). Rep said "there is a newer part number than what you have". So... it appears there was one redesign of some sort and my older mower had the older part. Pretty sad that controller design is such that it lasted one week.

Symptom: 4.5 years after purchase: Mower works great night before, overnight charge, key on and mover lurches 2 inches fwd and dies. No fwd, no back. As others have said, I notice if I move the gas very so slightly, the mower will continue inching fwd. Any hard gas, kills it. Other items still power (blades, lights etc). The failure happened not mowing or under load.
Fix: I was so confused why an overnight sit would do anything to the mower. 1st I tried the accelerator ($120) replacement - no go - same problem. Then I had to find (good luck) a new drive controller again ($400) - they seem to be national back ordered. I put it in, and problem is fixed for now. This is the 3rd controller in less that 5 years. So..I opened the old controller (for those thinking about it) and there is nothing that can be fixed inside as it is filled with heat conductive goo (that apparently melts and leaks under stress - as one reviewer mentioned). Again - why did the controller fail just with mower sitting? And why can the motors still turn with ever so slight pedal?

Symptom: Flakey gauge (after full charge - shows 70% sometime - other times its 100%), poor run time, and weird charger behavior.
Fix: This is the 1st sign of one or more of the 4 batteries failing (no matter if your gauge/DMM shows good voltage, etc). You will need to replace batteries to restore performance. I had (but did not know at time) a weak battery in my mower at time of delivery. This is an issue as the 48V pack charges in series. Series charging is really not a great idea/design because if ONE battery in the system is not as capable as the others, what happens in series charging is good batteries are OVERcharged and bad batteries are UNDERcharged. This problem continues, getting worse and worse with time. Ryobi should have come up with a delivery concept where they check/provide/install verified batteries at time of purchase (not mowers sitting out on the delivery floor for a year or in rain out in front of Home Depot (like mine was) with weak or bad batteries). It took me a year and half for my weak battery issue to show up and get figured out (out of battery warranty of course). By the way, you can change just one bad battery at a time, but if you understand series charging, then you understand why its alway best to replace the entire 4-pack together.

Symptom: Plug-in the charger over winter season and batteries are dead or really bad in Spring
Fix: This happened to me. I was like: It was plugged in all winter? I contacted an engineer at Delta-Q Technologies (maker of charger) and I was floored when he confirmed "For SC48s on older (pre-2019) Ryobis, the interval between top-up charges is 30 days"!!!! This means (and explains) that charger power output is turned-off and the packs are not topped off for 30 day intervals when the mower is left plugged in for months unused! And if you have a suspect/weak battery - then the pack is going to fade quickly in that 30 days. This is NOT a good design spec from Ryobi - as its common for these mowers to sit over many months without use. I'm assuming this problem is fixed as he said "pre-2019", but the rest of us are stuck with a bad design?? Sulfated (weak batteries) quickly climb to the full voltage but are not really charged - then fade in voltage quickly when charger output is removed. This is what my pack was doing. In other words, pack looks charged but isn't, especially when a few days goes by. I got fed up with the poor charger behavior, installed a new battery 4-pack, and rewired the mower for independent 12v charging on each battery. I use a four bank 5 amp charger - and all my issues with batteries are gone - independent charging is the way to go. I've run my mower for almost an hour in thick grass many times and the gauge never even moves off 100%. There are some safety issues with rewiring as you bypass the key lockout when you aren't using the stock charger port. So...you have to be out of warranty and be smart about hooking up your charger if you chose to do what I did. Just like with at car, don't drive off with your charger plugged into the garage outlet.

Symptom: Right headlight cuts in and out sometimes.
Fix: Took apart the connector and found that the wire was NOT connected to the pin. Only resting inside the connector. Poor build quality. Had to re-crimp the wire to the pin. Working now.

Enjoy your mower! LOL

Jun 16, 2022#85

M

Mowitor

RLMguy said:
Hi all. I joined the forum to pass on multiple issues with my RM480e (since 2017 purchase) and their solutions. Great mower but just has not been reliable for me (bad luck it seems). I do all my own repairs (out of warranty and never in a repair shop). Hoping to help others. I'm on the 3rd Drive Motor Controller and I've upgraded the batteries (75AH to 100AH MightyMax AGMs) and the charging system (Clore Automotive 4-bank charger and rewired mower for 12V independent (vs 48V series) charging). These are only my opinions/experience to date - could be wrong - but likely right

Symptom: 1 week after purchase: Key on, gas, loud clunk. Can't move fwd or back. No power to anything (no lights, no blades, no power).
Fix: The Drive Motor Controller had dead short on input. Fuse blown on power cable. Ryobi actually sent me the replacement controller/fuse under warranty and I installed. I got lucky having a rep that trusted me to install vs using the service shop (who at the time had no clue as the mowers were brand new). Rep said "there is a newer part number than what you have". So... it appears there was one redesign of some sort and my older mower had the older part. Pretty sad that controller design is such that it lasted one week.

Symptom: 4.5 years after purchase: Mower works great night before, overnight charge, key on and mover lurches 2 inches fwd and dies. No fwd, no back. As others have said, I notice if I move the gas very so slightly, the mower will continue inching fwd. Any hard gas, kills it. Other items still power (blades, lights etc). The failure happened not mowing or under load.
Fix: I was so confused why an overnight sit would do anything to the mower. 1st I tried the accelerator ($120) replacement - no go - same problem. Then I had to find (good luck) a new drive controller again ($400) - they seem to be national back ordered. I put it in, and problem is fixed for now. This is the 3rd controller in less that 5 years. So..I opened the old controller (for those thinking about it) and there is nothing that can be fixed inside as it is filled with heat conductive goo (that apparently melts and leaks under stress - as one reviewer mentioned). However, I did notice a thermistor on the outside cabling. This made me think, WHAT is that for. Does temperature affect the drive controller? There is NOTHING in the manual about temperature limiting the physical operation of the mower (yes there is a temp sensor on the batteries and one inside the charger - but these are all related to charging - please don't confuse that with this thermistor on the controller I'm talking about). I noticed that Lazyworm above has said he has an "H" on his gauge???? My gauge is not digital, and cannot display an "H". Does anybody else have a gauge capable of displaying "H" and if so, can we get Ryobi to tell us what that means?? Seems like "H" would mean heat - but what heat? Outside temp? Controller temp? He/she had the same issue as me - that is - it could move slowly fwd then cut off. Others had said that going uphill caused a cutoff. I'm wondering if that thermistor (i.e. outside temperature) on the controller is cutting off/failing the drive control? Why is the thermistor there and what does it do? I don't see any temp conditions in the manual. Could these $400 controllers be shutting down do to a simple external thermistor failure - just a thought/wag. I wish I knew how to bypass that 3-wire thermistor correctly - because then I could see if it fixes the problem.

Symptom: Flakey gauge (after full charge - shows 70% sometime - other times its 100%), poor run time, and weird charger behavior.
Fix: This is the 1st sign of one or more of the 4 batteries failing (no matter if your gauge/DMM shows good voltage, etc). You will need to replace batteries to restore performance. I had (but did not know at time) a weak battery in my mower at time of delivery. This is an issue as the 48V pack charges in series. Series charging is really not a great idea/design because if ONE battery in the system is not as capable as the others, what happens in series charging is good batteries are OVERcharged and bad batteries are UNDERcharged. This problem continues, getting worse and worse with time. Ryobi should have come up with a delivery concept where they check/provide/install verified batteries at time of purchase (not mowers sitting out on the delivery floor for a year or in rain out in front of Home Depot (like mine was) with weak or bad batteries). It took me a year and half for my weak battery issue to show up and get figured out (out of battery warranty of course). By the way, you can change just one bad battery at a time, but if you understand series charging, then you understand why its alway best to replace the entire 4-pack together.

Symptom: Plug-in the charger over winter season and batteries are dead or really bad in Spring
Fix: This happened to me. I was like: It was plugged in all winter? I contacted an engineer at Delta-Q Technologies (maker of charger) and I was floored when he confirmed "For SC48s on older (pre-2019) Ryobis, the interval between top-up charges is 30 days"!!!! This means (and explains) that charger power output is turned-off and the packs are not topped off for 30 day intervals when the mower is left plugged in for months unused! And if you have a suspect/weak battery - then the pack is going to fade quickly in that 30 days. This is NOT a good design spec from Ryobi - as its common for these mowers to sit over many months without use. I'm assuming this problem is fixed as he said "pre-2019", but the rest of us are stuck with a bad design?? Sulfated (weak batteries) quickly climb to the full voltage but are not really charged - then fade in voltage quickly when charger output is removed. This is what my pack was doing. In other words, pack looks charged but isn't, especially when a few days goes by. I got fed up with the poor charger behavior, installed a new battery 4-pack, and rewired the mower for independent 12v charging on each battery. I use a four bank 5 amp charger - and all my issues with batteries are gone - independent charging is the way to go. I've run my mower for almost an hour in thick grass many times and the gauge never even moves off 100%. There are some safety issues with rewiring as you bypass the key lockout when you aren't using the stock charger port. So...you have to be out of warranty and be smart about hooking up your charger if you chose to do what I did. Just like with at car, don't drive off with your charger plugged into the garage outlet.

Symptom: Right headlight cuts in and out sometimes.
Fix: Took apart the connector and found that the wire was NOT connected to the pin. Only resting inside the connector. Poor build quality. Had to re-crimp the wire to the pin. Working now.

Enjoy your mower! LOL

A lot of great information RLMguy. Thanks for posting for us fellow sufferers. How do you know that little skin tag on the soon to fail drive controller is a thermistor? mine has 3 gray wires, the battery thermostat has 2 wires and is easy to test. Were you able to detect any damage inside your controller when you opened it up or just too much goo? My 2nd one just went bad so I might dig in to it soon if I don't just toss it in the heap.

I've been noodling how I'm going to do individual 12v charging but I can't find any information on how the lockout operates. Mine is stuck in lockout status due to me shorting my charge port. If I do individual charging I could just remove the charge port, I think, if I could figure out how to disable the lockout switch. I'm assuming it must receive a signal from the charge port via the blue wire and acts like a relay to interrupt the power but beyond that I don't know how it works.

Jun 16, 2022#86

S

slomo

Has anyone got this resolved yet? Up to 9 pages now on this epic saga.

Jun 16, 2022#87

R

RLMguy

Mowitor said:
A lot of great information RLMguy. Thanks for posting for us fellow sufferers. How do you know that little skin tag on the soon to fail drive controller is a thermistor? mine has 3 gray wires, the battery thermostat has 2 wires and is easy to test. Were you able to detect any damage inside your controller when you opened it up or just too much goo? My 2nd one just went bad so I might dig in to it soon if I don't just toss it in the heap.

I've been noodling how I'm going to do individual 12v charging but I can't find any information on how the lockout operates. Mine is stuck in lockout status due to me shorting my charge port. If I do individual charging I could just remove the charge port, I think, if I could figure out how to disable the lockout switch. I'm assuming it must receive a signal from the charge port via the blue wire and acts like a relay to interrupt the power but beyond that I don't know how it works.

Hi Mowitor. Thanks for the kind words - just trying to help out others anyway I can with my sagas.

Great point on the thermistor. Just went out and confirmed (cut off the coating on my failed controller), that what I thought was a thermistor is an unused connector (on the drive controller) not shown in the service manual (my bad) - I'll edit my previous post. This is a bummer, as I was hoping there was some sort of correlation of heat related shutdown - as many seem to post that the mower "resting" for some time gets it to move again (odd if not somehow heat related). I also was confused on one person saying they had an "H" on their gauge. Would like to understand that response better.

On opening the controller box, "goo" is probably not the best description. Its goo that the entire electronics board was dipped in and then the goo hardened (almost plastic like). This I believe is to conduct the heat to the casing. As a result - I don't see how you can service anything. Its completely encased in goo.

On the interlock, I tried to understand the wiring, but as you say - its confusing. It appears plugging IN the charger shorts two port pins which in turn cuts off main power availability. Its tied in with the seat switch also. If your port "short" remains, that would explain the lockout. The service manual has a connector to connector wiring diagram but not really a schematic diagram - which is what is needed. Its got to be a simple bypass somehow however. I think the port assembly is relatively cheap compared to a controller. Are you saying your mower is completely down (locked out due to your port issue)?

Jun 16, 2022#88

sgkent

one observation is that EV is unreliable at this price point.

Jun 16, 2022#89

S

slomo

Ah I'm sure they are fine. Probably wouldn't put the wife and kids in one.

Jun 17, 2022#90

B

bertsmobile1

FWIW
A bomb is simply a device with a large amount of stored energy that can be released instantaliously
This can be chemical like gunpowder, dynamite or fertilazer & diesel
Or it can be physical like ripping atoms apart
Or it can be electrical like a massive big battery
So every battery is every bit as dangerous as a can of fuel and in fact is more dangerous
Fuel can only burn within a specific range of fuel to air ratios ( well fuel to oxygen to be more specific ) and then you still need an ignition source strong enough to set it off
A battery can spontaneously combust if internal damage causes the oxadizing & reducing agents to come into direct contact and because all of the parts needed are there it can not be stopped till all of the chemicals is consumed

Lithium batteries hold a massive amount of chemical energy.
If discharged too quickly, if charged too quickly if they get too hot the battery breaks down internally causing it to explode and then burn
The explosion is simply because the pressure of the gasses produced exceeds the strength of the battery case
A lead-acid battery will do the same thing if the vent is blocked .
However with a lithium battery the heat produced is high enough to melt titanium and the only way to stop the burning is to drop it into liquid nitrogen and freeze the chemicals but the instant you take it back out it will start to burn again

And Musk wants us to bolt one of these to the walls of our houses and drive around with them under our cars .
Even worse with most EV's if the battery spontaneously combusts, there is no power to unlock the doors or open a window and you only have a few seconds before the intense heat turns you into a side of roast beef .

Petrol can leak out after a collision and 99.9% of the time it runs down the drains & pollutes the water till the bacteria consume it, unless of course it is a TV or movie collision when it always explodes because they look spectacular on the screen
over 1/2 of the collisions of EV's have resulted in a battery fire
Now Musk wants you to trust that the onboard computer will prevent any chance of collision but to date that seems to have a lot bugs yet to be fixed
While EV's have been involved in far fewer major collisions ( no idea what a major collision is defined as ) more than 50% of the occupants have been burned to death before they could get out as compared to 0.025% of the occupants of petrol / diesel cars who die from fire or fuel fume entering the cabin.

Now those numbers came from research funded by a motor vehicle manufacturers lobby group so they probably have been massarged a bit but the trend would have to be correct .

While this is not directly related to mowers there was over 100,000 cases of house fires in 2019 big enough to have the fire department called out that were attributed to failures with battery chargers connected to lithium batteries and this is important for lithium powered garden equipment .

Convienent that are
safe they are not

Jun 18, 2022#91

MowerMike

Just for the benefit of the trolls trying to derail this thread, the lawn mowers being discussed here use SLA batteries and NOT Li-Ion batteries. Not surprisingly, none of the problems being discussed involve fire. I personally feel sorry for the poor souls that have been the victims of the horrible Ryobi QC in these very expensive OPE.

Jun 18, 2022#92

B

bertsmobile1

1 Lucky Texan said:
no question modern batteries are approaching the energy density of low-grade explosives. In the industry I just retired from, they had to limit shipping of coin-cell and other batteries to non-passenger aircraft due to the danger.

and quick searching does indicate 'battery fires' are more problematic to deal with. Likely due somewhat to less experience and training by firefighting agencies.

But most of what I saw supported more fires in ice vs ev vehicles. Or one source saying there was insufficient data to support claims either way. Ice vehicles also have a battery (flooded lead cell) , I remember some Ford products recalled due to some fires that started from spontaneous shorting/overheating of something underhood part when parked.

In most fires a fuel is oxadised by oxygen from the atmosphere
With Li batteries the oxadizing agent is the negative plates so once they start "burning" then there is no way to stop them other than freezing in something at least as cold as liquid Nitrogen.
It is not a case of training or better proceedures, it is simply a chemical reaction that can not be stopped till one of the reagents has been fully consumed
Fire is a redox ( oxidation-reduction ) reaction of a fuel being oxadized and the flame we see is a byproduct of the reaction.
Physicasits have been argueing about exactly what a flame is since the first time we lit a fire
Toss a burning Li battery under water & it still burns, you just do not see any flame
the instant you lift it out then the flames reappear

Jun 18, 2022#93

MowerMike

This forum needs better moderation. There's too much trolling and hijacking going on here. It's simply rude to hijack someone's thread and change the subject completely. If y'all want to start another thread about the flammability of Li-Ion batteries, then go for it, and get the hell out of this thread.

Jun 20, 2022#94

Ryobi sucks

Unbelievable!

I thought I did so much research on the Ryobi RM300e but clearly I was way wrong. I bought it on June 4th I tried to mow for the 3rd time ever it lasted all of 5 minutes then suddenly I had the same issue so many others on here have. I could not move forward or reverse all the mower does is beep at me when I do try to move actually specificly it beeps 8 times. The blade will engage, lights work, batteries full. It just won't move. I'll call Ryobi tomorrow to see what they say but if it's not a simple I mean super simple fix (I bought this mower specifically because they advertise it as a less maintenance alternative to gas and I know absolutely nothing about engines, gas or electric) I'm taking this Lemon back to Home Depot.

Jun 20, 2022#95

M

Mowitor

RLMguy said:
Hi Mowitor. Thanks for the kind words - just trying to help out others anyway I can with my sagas.

Great point on the thermistor. Just went out and confirmed (cut off the coating on my failed controller), that what I thought was a thermistor is an unused connector (on the drive controller) not shown in the service manual (my bad) - I'll edit my previous post. This is a bummer, as I was hoping there was some sort of correlation of heat related shutdown - as many seem to post that the mower "resting" for some time gets it to move again (odd if not somehow heat related). I also was confused on one person saying they had an "H" on their gauge. Would like to understand that response better.

On opening the controller box, "goo" is probably not the best description. Its goo that the entire electronics board was dipped in and then the goo hardened (almost plastic like). This I believe is to conduct the heat to the casing. As a result - I don't see how you can service anything. Its completely encased in goo.

On the interlock, I tried to understand the wiring, but as you say - its confusing. It appears plugging IN the charger shorts two port pins which in turn cuts off main power availability. Its tied in with the seat switch also. If your port "short" remains, that would explain the lockout. The service manual has a connector to connector wiring diagram but not really a schematic diagram - which is what is needed. Its got to be a simple bypass somehow however. I think the port assembly is relatively cheap compared to a controller. Are you saying your mower is completely down (locked out due to your port issue)?

Maybe the coating on the board is for waterproofing it. My fish finder's board is dipped too, it's to protect the board from corrosion. That stuff more likely traps heat than conducts to the housing. Maybe a failing component heats up in there which causes a short or open. Also possible that the manufacturer put a thermistor on the controller board.

I think the "H" that you are referring to is on everyone's gauge. It's the only dot that lights up unless you do a mod. Hours.

Definitely my charge port is toast. There's a little square area at the top between the positive input and the top sensor port. I'm guessing there's some kind of circuit/relay that got damaged in there. Anyhow, since it wasn't working I couldn't measure voltage signal from the blue wire. It appears that wire should send 48v (also tested and not 12v not 24v) to the relay interlock which closes the power interrupt loop. I'm not going to install another charge port but if anyone has this symptom an easy test would be to check the voltage coming from the blue wire at the back of the charge port (not in the Ryobi troubleshoot and test document). As you mentioned, the blue wire voltage is interrupted when the charge plug is plugged in. That in turn opens the relay and disables power.

Jun 20, 2022#96

Ryobi sucks

Ryobi sucks said:
Unbelievable!

I thought I did so much research on the Ryobi RM300e but clearly I was way wrong. I bought it on June 4th I tried to mow for the 3rd time ever it lasted all of 5 minutes then suddenly I had the same issue so many others on here have. I could not move forward or reverse all the mower does is beep at me when I do try to move actually specificly it beeps 8 times. The blade will engage, lights work, batteries full. It just won't move. I'll call Ryobi tomorrow to see what they say but if it's not a simple I mean super simple fix (I bought this mower specifically because they advertise it as a less maintenance alternative to gas and I know absolutely nothing about engines, gas or electric) I'm taking this Lemon back to Home Depot.

Called Ryobi and they said I need to push the mower around a bit to reset the Motor control sensor. I did and still nothing so they said it needs maintenance. I told them I've had this mower for 2 weeks and they said oh just take it back. Definitely will never buy a Ryobi again

Jun 21, 2022#97

S

Slowpok22

Have the same issue, with the Ry48111, found the test list, and went through them all, and finally got stuck on the hall sensor, had to hook up a phone charger, got the 5 volts, but when hitting the 3 wires got all sorts of different readings, but no movement when turning the wheels,
Called ryobi and chatted with them a while, he told me I could order that part and sent me the number to call, we'll you can't get that part, called ryobi back and this time he said I couldn't, can order the drive motor? Guess not gave me a part number for the whole transaxle.
Before I pull the trigger and spend $500, thought I'd get an an opinion, to see if I'm missing something.
Jeff

Jun 21, 2022#98

S

Slowpok22

Slowpok22 said:
Have the same issue, with the Ry48111, found the test list, and went through them all, and finally got stuck on the hall sensor, had to hook up a phone charger, got the 5 volts, but when hitting the 3 wires got all sorts of different readings, but no movement when turning the wheels,
Called ryobi and chatted with them a while, he told me I could order that part and sent me the number to call, we'll you can't get that part, called ryobi back and this time he said I couldn't, can order the drive motor? Guess not gave me a part number for the whole transaxle.
Before I pull the trigger and spend $500, thought I'd get an an opinion, to see if I'm missing something.
Jeff

Jun 21, 2022#99

S

Slowpok22

Anyone know of a way to bypass the hall sensor to test

Jun 27, 2022#100

J

jjtokarz

My RY48111 today stopped going in reverse only. Admittedly I was driving through some overgrown brush so I'm thinking maybe connection got broken somewhere. I will update with what I find. Going to check electrical connections first. Hoping to get a repair manual for the mower that shows how to do this but do not have one currently.

Jul 22, 2022#101

J

Johneable

Ryobi sucks said:
Unbelievable!

I thought I did so much research on the Ryobi RM300e but clearly I was way wrong. I bought it on June 4th I tried to mow for the 3rd time ever it lasted all of 5 minutes then suddenly I had the same issue so many others on here have. I could not move forward or reverse all the mower does is beep at me when I do try to move actually specificly it beeps 8 times. The blade will engage, lights work, batteries full. It just won't move. I'll call Ryobi tomorrow to see what they say but if it's not a simple I mean super simple fix (I bought this mower specifically because they advertise it as a less maintenance alternative to gas and I know absolutely nothing about engines, gas or electric) I'm taking this Lemon back to Home Depot.

Mine beeps 4 times, won’t move either. Called Ryobi, said it is a defective GUAGE! Ok. Sending me a guage. For the life of me I don’t see how that is the problem. Been a couple weeks, no gauge. Will check back After replaced.

Jul 22, 2022#102

R

richh

have been though 2 sets of batteries, only 3 years old. one battery cell swelled and smoked/boiled and in a pannic i disconnected the battery cables. pushing the thing to my shop i noticed the wheel drive resisting like it was trying to generate electric to something.Now trying to connect another set of batts and NOTHING works now....bad need of an electrical shematic... can someone help.

Jul 23, 2022#103

S

SeniorCitizen

Please donate all Ryobi electrics to the government to keep the white house lawn manicured .

Aug 30, 2022#104

KJR77

I’m jumping into this thread and registered to see if someone has a similar problem. Although the OP and others issue here is similar, my issue is a bit different but maybe related. 1.5 year old RM480e with 21 hours on it and just this week it started to click repeatedly when the ignition key is turned to ON position. Shows half battery life and clicks down below like it’s trying to engage something under the seat - battery area. Will not engage FWD or REV or move. However after repeated attempts (I find that the way I turn the key seems to matter) it shows full battery doesn’t click and engages without issue. I’ve gotten stuck in the backyard turning it off to empty bags and it seems super finicky on that ignition switch. My thought was fault switch but after reading this I recall numerous times my FWD or REv wouldn’t engage until I repeatedly turned it off and on. Thoughts?

Aug 30, 2022#105

J

Johneable

Sounds like the key switch. Easy to access, check for loose connections. Maybe spray some tuner cleaner in switch.

Sep 7, 2022#106

B

bushed286

Lazyworm said:
Hi, I wonder if anyone still have the repair manual that can share with me? Mine starts fine, but it stop and beeps after few sec and the The letter H at the digital display blinks. I noticed if it move very slow without making the letter H blinks, it can move further.
I wonder if it is related to the speed sensor or temperature sensor mentioned earlier in this thread. I tested the seat sensor with the multimeter and it seems fine,

Hi @Lazyworm did you find a solution? I'm having the exact same issue.

Oct 1, 2022#107

S

sledbiker

My RY48112 got hit by lighting, doesn't do anything, just a Brick. The charger got hit hard and was connected to both 110v and mower.

What your thoughts

Oct 1, 2022#108

B

bertsmobile1

I think you were lucky that the mower did not catch fire .

Oct 15, 2022#109

Xergxies

Just ordered a new drive motor controller 996508001. Looking at testing my batteries too, since my mowing time is down significantly. I saw posts about MightMAX AGM batteries with flat connectors but how are you connecting that to the ryobi terminals since the old batteries look to have round posts similar to car batteries? Thanks for all the great info!

EDIT: Installed the drive motor controller and mower working again. Sucked up about 15 loads of leaves before the battery went yellow. Will look at replacing one or two of the batteries this year.

Apr 14, 2023#110

R

RaYzerman

Well, went to use the lawn tractor and everything works except it won't move..... it's only a year or so old and has 20 hours... going in for exploratory surgery today...... I won't be happy if it's the controller..

Apr 14, 2023#111

R

RaYzerman

A stroke of good luck........ a mouse chewed off a wire to the FWD/REV switch. EZ fix.

May 23, 2023#112

R

repap

Dingo-J said:
That was supposed to read 100 AH, not mhp.

Where can I get a repair manual on this mower. Bought in 2018...with no problems til now.
Need to troubleshoot if its the batteries for controller. Either case I don't want to spend money on batteries if the rest of the electrical system is aging out. Thanks.

Jun 22, 2023#113

K

kd0gd

Dingo-J said:
Update:. I ordered the 996508001 DRIVE MOTOR CONTROLLER $275.41

This solved the problem and was very easy to replace. Again, my problem was that the mower would stop moving forward or reverse, but everything else on the mower would function. Power cycling off and on would reset it, allow me to drive again, but that usually would not last very long.

I bought the mower used from a guy that bought it new 2 1/2 years ago. What ticks me off is that while replacing the drive motor controller, i discovered it was not the first time it had been replaced. That means this mower is now on ts 3rd drive motor controller, at least, in only 3 years. That is terrible. Based on how many people here are saying they have this same problem, and knowing the people on this forum represent only a small fraction of owners, this has got to be a known issue. Ryobi really needs to step up and offer an updated part with longer life.

I'm in the process of removing the drive motor controller and I'm not finding it to be an easy process. I have 2 connectors left to disconnect and I've spent about an hour on each one with no success. The two connectors are the multi-conductor connectors, that is not the single conductor power connectors, and besides not having much room to grab these connectors with tools or hands I haven't figured out the exact process to separate them. On the white connector I do see a tab that I think has to be pressed but as I noted I'm still not able to pull it apart. On the black connector I haven't even figured out where the lock is. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've attached a picture of the two remaining connectors.

Jul 10, 2023#114

jlpatte2

kd0gd said:
I'm in the process of removing the drive motor controller and I'm not finding it to be an easy process. I have 2 connectors left to disconnect and I've spent about an hour on each one with no success. The two connectors are the multi-conductor connectors, that is not the single conductor power connectors, and besides not having much room to grab these connectors with tools or hands I haven't figured out the exact process to separate them. On the white connector I do see a tab that I think has to be pressed but as I noted I'm still not able to pull it apart. On the black connector I haven't even figured out where the lock is. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've attached a picture of the two remaining connectors.

Did you ever get this? I'm trying to disassemble right now and am stuck on this white connector as well. The black one on mine had a bit of a clip and it kinda came apart "fiddling with it a bit" The tiny bit of "lock" like thing on the white one broke off with only very minor pressure so I'm worried I have broken it beyond separation

z
...
Ok, after futzing with it for about another hour, I found you (probably) needed to push down on the white piece; since I had broken it off, I had to come in under it from the far sided with a ~Medium flat blade screw driver. Attached pictures to show the mechanism in better detail when open

Jul 23, 2023#115

T

TedM

I just joined this forum because I did a search and found this thread. Mine just failed like all the above! Dad-gum those Chinese!!! I should have known better...

Sadly, I just paid $800 for new batteries a few months ago. The mower seemed pretty good for the first 3-1/2 years until batteries started fading. My only real complaint until now is that I might go through 2 sets of blades a season which is not terrible at $28 a set from Home Depot. They are so thin you can't sharpen them too many times before they need to be replaced. I also had to weld up the mower deck after it cracked... also too thin!

After reading this: I THINK I WILL PART MINE OUT NOW, TOO!

I was already toying with getting rid of it. I HATE to buy chinese goods if I can help it!

Jul 23, 2023#116

T

TedM

I'm sure it's too late to respond to this, but here's what I ordered to replace my 75 Amp/Hr originals. Best price I could find and they worked great until my Motor Controller crapped out on me!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S1RT58C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Sep 1, 2023#117

1

1dennis3

kd0gd said:
I'm in the process of removing the drive motor controller and I'm not finding it to be an easy process. I have 2 connectors left to disconnect and I've spent about an hour on each one with no success. The two connectors are the multi-conductor connectors, that is not the single conductor power connectors, and besides not having much room to grab these connectors with tools or hands I haven't figured out the exact process to separate them. On the white connector I do see a tab that I think has to be pressed but as I noted I'm still not able to pull it apart. On the black connector I haven't even figured out where the lock is. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've attached a picture of the two remaining connectors.

Where did you find a new controller? I'm having the same issue; everything works but it will not move. I hate the idea of just throwing parts at it but I don't know what else to do. there is very little about how to fix this issue.
Its 3 years old.

Sep 1, 2023#118

1

1dennis3

Dingo-J said:
Update:. I ordered the 996508001 DRIVE MOTOR CONTROLLER $275.41

This solved the problem and was very easy to replace. Again, my problem was that the mower would stop moving forward or reverse, but everything else on the mower would function. Power cycling off and on would reset it, allow me to drive again, but that usually would not last very long.

I bought the mower used from a guy that bought it new 2 1/2 years ago. What ticks me off is that while replacing the drive motor controller, i discovered it was not the first time it had been replaced. That means this mower is now on ts 3rd drive motor controller, at least, in only 3 years. That is terrible. Based on how many people here are saying they have this same problem, and knowing the people on this forum represent only a small fraction of owners, this has got to be a known issue. Ryobi really needs to step up and offer an updated part with longer life.

Was this a RM480e mower?

Sep 7, 2023#119

P

petereb

repap said:
Where can I get a repair manual on this mower. Bought in 2018...with no problems til now.
Need to troubleshoot if its the batteries for controller. Either case I don't want to spend money on batteries if the rest of the electrical system is aging out. Thanks.

I am new to site found manual for these F****n mowers its manualsib.com, good manual a lot of pictures and descriptions.

Sep 22, 2023#120

A

ApresMaModification

1dennis3 said:
Was this a RM480e mower?

For information, I replaced my driving controller because the Ryobi one died just after 260 hrs in my case. I put a generic 3000 watts controller because in my case cost way less 3 to 4 times less and time will tell me if it will be more reliable? The bad, little more complicated to replace the original controller because you need to figure out the new connections needed. Especially the few info I found for Ryobi connection, my mower look like don't have the same color for wire.... The good, I just tryed and it work near as it was before with original Ryobi one, exception made, take care when backing, now I have full power and speed while backing. Another thing, now to get working mower, I must press The reverse enable red light to have working mower. The very good in my wanting list, is now, I have Ebrake when I press little the brake pedal and normal brake when fully depressed. Picture provided is when I was modifying it.

In case someone wanting to know why I replaced it. While driving at full speed on the road as I done it frequently, rear wheel nearly locked, then the mower died. Another symptom, he was very hard to push like if the motor was on brake. Found moving controller was now full short circuit at entrance and outside (Why it was so hard to push) and after opening it, I forgotten to try to fill it, all glued inside. A luck, I had 4 LifePo4 batteries, one of them tripped seeing this short circuit and cut power then my 125amps fuse never needed to blow. It's why needed to disconnect and reconnect to later found this moving driver was now short circuit. Since only 260 hrs and 300$ US + shipping to replace it, I decided to try less costly alternative. In my case I choosed to try this 3000 watts https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0..._asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1#customerReviews, why You can see the blue controller in the posted image. As before it pull like 25amps at near full capacity, maybe 2000 watts version will be enough? I choose to not take a chance and it's anyway cost way less in my case compared to Ryobi controller one.

But now I must take care to not forgot to put key in off position because now I don't have the buzzer anymore.

Sep 30, 2023#121

P

petereb

ApresMaModification said:
For information, I replaced my driving controller because the Ryobi one died just after 260 hrs in my case. I put a generic 3000 watts controller because in my case cost way less 3 to 4 times less and time will tell me if it will be more reliable? The bad, little more complicated to replace the original controller because you need to figure out the new connections needed. Especially the few info I found for Ryobi connection, my mower look like don't have the same color for wire.... The good, I just tryed and it work near as it was before with original Ryobi one, exception made, take care when backing, now I have full power and speed while backing. Another thing, now to get working mower, I must press The reverse enable red light to have working mower. The very good in my wanting list, is now, I have Ebrake when I press little the brake pedal and normal brake when fully depressed. Picture provided is when I was modifying it.

In case someone wanting to know why I replaced it. While driving at full speed on the road as I done it frequently, rear wheel nearly locked, then the mower died. Another symptom, he was very hard to push like if the motor was on brake. Found moving controller was now full short circuit at entrance and outside (Why it was so hard to push) and after opening it, I forgotten to try to fill it, all glued inside. A luck, I had 4 LifePo4 batteries, one of them tripped seeing this short circuit and cut power then my 125amps fuse never needed to blow. It's why needed to disconnect and reconnect to later found this moving driver was now short circuit. Since only 260 hrs and 300$ US + shipping to replace it, I decided to try less costly alternative. In my case I choosed to try this 3000 watts https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0..._asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1#customerReviews, why You can see the blue controller in the posted image. As before it pull like 25amps at near full capacity, maybe 2000 watts version will be enough? I choose to not take a chance and it's anyway cost way less in my case compared to Ryobi controller one.

But now I must take care to not forgot to put key in off position because now I don't have the buzzer anymore.

Where did you find schematic for original controller so you could wire up replacement

Oct 2, 2023#122

A

ApresMaModification

petereb said:
Where did you find schematic for original controller so you could wire up replacement

In this forum, a post, someone published I will call it one version linking to google share if I remember correctly. But to connect it you don't really need this schematic, what I done is I tested all wire needed (And it's why I can say in my case I didn't get exactly the same color). For info, about motor, it's easy, same color at generic driver, same for hall sensor. In my case, color was not the same for the accelerator for the return signal (To not forget, it's a hall sensor then no resistance, then needed to test resistance on both side of the wire to be sure it's the good wire). For forward reverse, I prefer to use a new switch compared to the original. Now I use a (Normal 120 volt light switch) bolted on steering, then I don't need to remove my hand from steering anymore to go to reverse.

On my own Ryobi 480E, I built too a full electric shovel and it's why I already have a lot more hours on it. The moving driver broke at 260hrs, right now I'm already over 300-330 hrs and with generic driver still work as it was before, exception made buzzer and mower need I click the red light to get mower turning. ;-)

Nov 4, 2023#123

W

Wil TryHarder

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all the positive input on this subject.
And thanks to whoever made the service manual available on google.
I have the ‘not moving’ problem. Just I slight jerk forward or backwards and then stops.
I guessed at the drive controller but unfortunately it wasn’t that.
The drive motor is passing the meter test.
But the Hall Sensor is failing its test across yellow green and blue wires, it holding on 5v not switching to 0v as the wheels are turned.

My question, can the hall sensor be replaced or do I have to get a whole new motor?

Thanks in advance.
Wil

Nov 4, 2023#124

A

ApresMaModification

Wil TryHarder said:
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all the positive input on this subject.
And thanks to whoever made the service manual available on google.
I have the ‘not moving’ problem. Just I slight jerk forward or backwards and then stops.
I guessed at the drive controller but unfortunately it wasn’t that.
The drive motor is passing the meter test.
But the Hall Sensor is failing its test across yellow green and blue wires, it holding on 5v not switching to 0v as the wheels are turned.

My question, can the hall sensor be replaced or do I have to get a whole new motor?

Thanks in advance.
Wil

Good question and I'm curious to know the answer since I didn't dismounted this motor. What I can say is dismount this motor and you will have the answer if there is easy access to those hall sensor with this motor. With my Ebikes, the hall sensor are accessible once dismounted, and this Emower use nearly the same drive as the Ebike.

I'm curious if you share pictures. LOL

Jun 14, 2024#125

P

phmnhm

Did anyone buy the replacement motor and remove the mower to see if it continues to drive with this motor? Price is up to $376 now and just want to be sure before I buy it?

Jun 14, 2024#126

S

Slowpok22

phmnhm said:
Did anyone buy the replacement motor and remove the mower to see if it continues to drive with this motor? Price is up to $376 now and just want to be sure before I buy it?

I bought one, because the hall sensor test I did while I was on the phone with ryobi support failed, it's a small sensor that theoretically can be replaced easily, but they decided you need to replace the motor instead, which when I was trying to figure it out you couldn't buy just the motor, it came with the trans and motor as 1 part, as it turned out it did not help at all.

You are dealing with a substandard company, what I ultimately did was through more money at it, and purchased the drive controller, but had to wait 3 months (basically the whole summer) for it to be restocked. But that fixed it.

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Ryobi RM480E 38" riding mower won't move!

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