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All things DIY

Review of LUBA2 Mower Robot Good, Bad, and Amazing.

March 21, 2024 veshapidze Leave a comment

LUBA 2 AWD 5000H Robotic Lawn Mower by Mammotion

I recently purchased an intriguing robotic mower to handle a very complex and hilly backyard.

LUBA 2 AWD 5000H Robot Lawn Mower, Perimeter Wire Free Vision Robotic Lawnmower is a relatively new entrant to the robotic lawn mower market and this is their second model (the first one being LUBA). It is more of an evolutionary update rather than just a refresh and the improvements are definitely worth the wait.

There are no comparable products on the market as of writing this article. I waited for years for iRobot (the makers of Roomba) to come up with a wire-free mower but that project if not dead does not seem to be going anywhere.

There are other options on the market such as Husqvarna Automower but virtually all of them require the burying of a perimeter wire which seems very archaic to me in today’s technological world.

LUBA 2 seems to be the real deal but it still needs work in both software as well as hardware areas. The manufacturer has a strong track record of pushing Over the Air (OTA) updates, so I am looking forward to improvements and new features as they come.

LUBA 2 robotic mower currently comes in 4 different models with 2 sub-models for each denoted with an “H” to indicate a high cut range of 2.2″-4.0″ vs 1.0″-2.7″ standard. A total of 8 variants. For a healthy lawn, I highly recommend the tall-cut version, especially for the northern regions.

LUBA 2 AWD 1000 – 0.25 Acre Cut Height 1.0″-2.7″
LUBA 2 AWD 1000H – 0.25 Acre Cut Height 2.2″-4.0″

LUBA 2 AWD 3000 – 0.75 Acre Cut Height 1.0″-2.7″
LUBA 2 AWD 3000H – 0.75 Acre Cut Height 2.2″-4.0″

LUBA 2 AWD 5000 – 1.25 Acre Cut Height 1.0″-2.7″
LUBA 2 AWD 5000H – 1.25 Acre Cut Height 2.2″-4.0″

LUBA 2 AWD 10000 – 2.5 Acre Cut Height 1.0″-2.7″
LUBA 2 AWD 10000H – 2.5 Acre Cut Height 2.2″-4.0″

Unboxing the Mammotion LUBA 2 AWD 5000H Robotic Lawn Mower

The mower was delivered by FedEx and there was visible damage to the outer box, however, the mower was well-protected with foam blocks and there was no damage to the contents. I was immediately impressed by the build quality. It almost had that Apple-esque refined feel. Almost too good to have it run around outside in the dirt and under the elements.

LUBA 2 AWD 5000H in a box LUBA 2 AWD 5000H unboxed, included parts

LUBA 2 AWD 5000H Robotic Lawn Mower Set Up

RTK transceiver

I made the mistake of installing the RTK transceiver too close to the house wall. It worked OK but the GPS drift has become immediately apparent after setting up a few zones. Therefore, it is recommended to install the RTK as far away from obstructions as possible. I simply moved it to my deck’s outer railing, and it seems to have improved the precision drastically.

Charging port

When I was planning the charging area, I chose the concrete driveway with easy access to the outdoor power outlet. Concrete made the most sense to me as it is relatively dirt and bug-free, as well as easy for docking. If a user has a concrete driveway or patio and thinking of installing a charger there, there are no anchors included for concrete so one would need to come up with a few washers and concrete screws – not the end of the world but would have been nice if Mammotion had included a factory set. Instead, the LUBA 2 robotic mower comes with a kit of long plastic screws that can be used to anchor the charger to the ground. I would be concerned about UV deterioration in the mid-term of these screws.

Plastic screws for anchoring the charging base to the ground

The charging base has a slot and electrical connection for the RTK station as well so if the user chooses to install it at the charging base, they won’t need to use two separate power supplies, which is nice.

Unfortunately at my location, I needed to cover a large backyard, and installing the RTK by the charger wouldn’t have given me good coverage. Besides, adding RTK to the charging base slot would only work over dirt, not concrete – something Mammotion may want to rethink and improve. The charging base is a relatively thin plastic and I am a bit concerned about its durability, especially when installed above dirt as over time from UV exposure it will likely become brittle. An aluminum base would be an improvement here.

LUBA 2 charges surprisingly fast! It charged from 15% to 100%, I want to say within an hour – wasn’t able to get the exact time as I wasn’t expecting such a fast performance. I was moving a large and complex area and it had to charge twice – nice to have fast charging for situations like this.

Planning the First Cut

The app is pretty intuitive. A user would “Add” an area and LUBA 2 will prompt them to drive it to the starting point, where the user will start mapping a zone. The user can simply steer using a pair of on-screen circular “joysticks” on their phone. Left control is for Forward/Reverse thrust, and right control is turning.

Virtual joystick controls on the app screen

A user will simply need to drive their LUBA 2 around the perimeter of the first cut area and once the circuit is closed, they have the option to save it. Once saved, the user can apply numerous presets and customizations, cut height, pattern, etc.

This guy got curious as I was driving my RC mower and landed to check it out 10 ft away from me!

The user can also set up a schedule against the specific area. If the battery drains below 15%, LUBA 2 will mark the spot on their app and will navigate to the charger (See “Planning channels” below).

Planning Channels

No one wants a runaway mower or for it to cross places they don’t want it to cross. Just like adding cut or no-go areas, a user can drive LUBA2 to a cut area and create a connection (called a Channel), to another area or the charger. The channel is shown as a dotted white line on the above screenshot It was fascinating to watch LUBA 2 come back to the base to recharge. It drove to the base, did a zero turn, and backed into the dock slowly but confidently. The voice prompt alerted me that it was now charging.

The user will need to define channels if they would like the LUBA 2 to hop between the areas for moving. Just be sure to create a channel back to the charger from each area, so that LUBA 2 can come back for a juice break if it needs to.

No-Go zones

Setting up the one is pretty important. Being an owner of a Roomba vacuum cleaner, and LUBA 2 having a bumper as well as visual object detection and avoidance, I was under the impression that it would just bump once and automatically bounce away from the fences and other hard objects. On my very first test run, LUBA 2 got stuck its wheel on the channel post I use to protect my young trees from deer. It broke a piece of the rim on the front wheel.

Mammotion was very responsive and they are shipping to me a replacement part. While this didn’t affect the LUBA 2 mower operation, no doubt there is unnecessary friction from the sharp broken rim and this may degrade the cut time/range.

But I digress – absolutely, positively do go ahead and set up the no-go zones around large walls or obstacles where LUBA 2 can get caught or stuck. Adding a no-go zone works very similarly to the Site planning. A user can simply drive their mower to the cut area, tap to start mapping the go zone, and drive around the obstacle they want to exclude. It will create a yellow area for the no-go zone. If the no-go zone is at the edge of the defined zone, it will simply trim off the no-go area from the existing site. Another way to edit the pre-defined area.

Hills

One of the main reasons I gave this mower a try is because I have an impossible hill behind my house that is a pain to cut with a ride-on or a walk-behind mower. LUBA 2 is amazing! It climbs the steep hills like a champ. I just have to make sure to remove obstacles or first cut the existing tall grass in the area with a conventional mower. Once I get the LUBA 2 mower going, it should keep the grass trimmed.

Cutting

Users can start cutting manually by selecting the site (optionally customizing before each cut), or on a set schedule. The app lets the user see where exactly LUBA 2 is on a diagram, with time remaining, and percentage remaining. But here is the cool feature – the user can tap into the dual stereo high-definition cameras of LUBA 2 to live-stream what it “sees” to the user’s iPhone screen. Pretty cool and useful actually if it gets stuck somewhere, has trouble moving around, and wants to see what is going on.

Shortcomings and a Wish List

I think Mammotion could improve in the areas I mentioned above that were a problem. Wheels need to be made from a sturdier material than plastic, as well as the base station. This is an outdoor product, exposed to elements and I am worried about the long-term exposure of plastic to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

LUBA 2 would benefit from AI integration for obstacle detection and even the mowing plan. It simply spends too much time trying to mow the perimeter. It used up 50% of the battery on the perimeter cutting. If a user has many small areas this will be an issue. A user can disable the perimeter cut or reduce the number of passes (the default is 3 passes!). Even with the single pass, the battery was drained quickly and it will do it every time it cuts the same site.

I wish there was a way to exclude some areas from cutting with a pattern to just perform a perimeter cut. If a user has a very narrow path to mow, it would be painful to watch LUBA 2 try to go back and forth on a 2-foot wide area to mow a pattern. It is a waste of battery life and a huge increase in mowing time.

I would love to see more battery life. The robotic mower is light enough to have a second battery pack and the extra weight would likely help the grip.

I wish the live video had audio. I was actually surprised it didn’t.

Speaking of video, I wish Mammotion had provided a way to capture the video (and audio) live stream feed on the local network, other than their app so that one could feed it to an NVR. Having a recording of a video would be a nice feature. It will allow the user to later go back to see any trouble areas or indeed if anyone were to walk by and damage or steal their LUBA 2. This should be easy to do and I suspect such a feed already exists.

More to come…

I am still learning and evaluating the LUBA 2 mower and I intend to update this review as I learn more. As of now, I feel like it has great potential to replace my main mowers and to take over a very time-consuming task for me.

Around the House, Technology

DIY Solar Filters for Binoculars

July 31, 2015 veshapidze 4 Comments

DISCLAIMER: You assume all risks for any solar filter build. Extreme caution is required when observing the sun. Do not allow children to use binoculars as they may not be aware of safety issues. Read all instructions and safety information by the polymer sheet manufacturer and fully educate yourself on solar observation safety before proceeding with making your own solar filter or performing a solar observation. Below instructions are for my own record only and I disclaim any responsibility of any harm, permanent blindness or any type of injury any solar observation may cause you.

Did you know that you can do star-gazing during the day? Our own star, sun, in-fact provides the most spectacular star-gazing experience you can ever do with its full glory, color, and true spherical appearance. You need the right equipment though to do it safely, especially during a solar eclipse, when many people mistakenly think that sun is not as bright during the eclipse. In fact, solar rays can be as damaging during an eclipse as staring at sun unobstructed.

Your options are to get a telescope with a special solar filter or just use regular binoculars fitted with DIY solar filters. The more powerful the binoculars, the better. This article will demonstrate how to build a Do It Yourself solar filter that perfectly fits your binoculars. For this project I will use Bushnell 10×50 binoculars and will provide cut-out templates for its size, but any pair of binoculars should work – just make your own template and print it out. (You can use something like youidraw.com to create vector drawings free without software download).

Materials & tools required:

Bushnell 10×50 binoculars (or any binoculars you already have)
Black Polymer Solar filter sheet
Thin cardboard sheet
Scissors or Utility/Razor knife
Clear, gift wrapping tape
Printer (to print out template)
Filter cut out template (pdf)
PVC coupling or pipe 2.5 inch diameter (or diameter that is larger than your binoculars large input lenses)

Step 1.
Print out the Filter cut out template at 100% size (un-check any options to scale, fit-to-page, etc. in your printer dialog window).

Step 2.
Cut out the templates and use template A to draw two circles on the polymer sheet with pencil. Use template B to draw doughnut shapes on thin cardboard sheet.

Step 3.
Carefully cut-out the drawings you have made with sharp scissors (Tip: keep protective cards on polymer sheet while cutting).

Step 4.
Prepare the cylinders. I happened to have a couple of wide media core ends available that were a just a perfect (loose) fit to my binoculars, but you can also use a 2.5in or size that fits your binocular lens PVC pipe or coupling (your local hardware store should have many different ones you can choose from).

I sawed the core ends to form two pipes with tapered ends.

Step 5.
Drop he polymer circle sheets into the pipes. Then slide the cardboard “doughnuts” on top for them to hold the polymer filters circles. If your pipes do not narrow on the inside, simply glue or tape the cardboard “doughnuts” that we cut out earlier to one side of the pipe. Then cut out two more cardboard “doughnuts”. Slide the polymer filters and finally slide the cardboard “doughnuts” on top to hold the polymer filters. Tape the cardboard “doughnuts” from the inside as shown below.

Step 6.
Add some friction grips. For this, I used foam packing peanuts. Cut three thin pieces of packing peanuts for each lens (6 total), to the thickness that can pack the gap between the binocular and the solar filter just tightly enough to hold them securely. Tape the foam pieces in 120-degree interval as shown below.

Step 7.
Now carefully slide both lenses onto the binoculars and make sure they are snug and won’t fall off. If the lenses are too loose, replace the foams with thicker ones. Be sure that the lenses are securely sitting and won’t fall out during use – you don’t want to look at the sun with unprotected binoculars!!!! It will most certainly blind you instantly.

Step 8.
You are done. Please use extreme caution when looking at the sun with filters. The way I do it, I put binoculars with solar filters on close to my eyes first, fully lowered and away from the sun. Then raise the binoculars toward the sun. When I am done observing, I keep the binoculars close to my eyes, lower the binoculars pointing well-away or opposite from the sun and only then take the binoculars off. This way I avoid accidentally looking at the sun without the eye protection.

DISCLAIMER: You assume all risks for any solar filter build. Extreme caution is required when observing the sun. Do not allow children to use binoculars as they may not be aware of safety issues. Read all instructions and safety information by the polymer sheet manufacturer and fully educate yourself on solar observation safety before proceeding with making your own solar filter or performing a solar observation. The above instructions are for my own record only and I disclaim any responsibility of any harm, permanent blindness or any type of injury any solar observation may cause you.

Around the House

Installation of Mounting Bracket for Mini Split Ductless Air Conditioner Condensing Unit

February 28, 2015 veshapidze 6 Comments

So, I am in the process of installing a new ductless mini split Pioneer air conditioner, similar to this one

. One of the steps involved was to set-up these mounting brackets to the exterior of concrete foundation wall, where the condenser will be secured. Unfortunately the mounting brackets came without any installation instructions so it took a bit of figuring out. Took about an hour and it was a pretty easy job.

Tools I needed:

hammer drill
Masonry drill bit 1/2 inch size
Socket wrench with deep 17mm socket (or possibly 11/16in would have also worked)
Socket wrench 9/16 inch
Wrench 9/16 inch

1. I unpacked the brackets and laid them out. The kit included the mounting brackets, masonry/concrete expansion anchors, rubber pads, bolts nuts, and washers.

Mounting Bracket for Mini Split Ductless Air Conditioner Condensing Unit 2P (For 9000 and 12000 BTU Condensers)

2. I measured the required distances from the side walls and any other objects as per condenser manufacturer’s instructions (mine was at least 12 inches away from the walls or obstructions). Then I put the first bracket against the wall and mark the hole openings on the concrete. Measured the distance between the mounting “feet” of my condenser (mine was 18 inches across). Using a level, I drew two horizontal lines from markings I just made on the wall and marked the holes for the second bracket (18 inches away). Finally, I drilled the holes using a hammer drill and 1/2 masonry bit.

3. After holes were drilled, I Inserted concrete anchors in them, put up the brackets against it and tightened with provided washers and bolts using 17mm deep socket wrench (11/16 inch should have also worked but I only had metric with deep sockets). I tightened all bolts gradually before finally tightening them firmly. Level placed across the two brackets helped to ensure they were both plumb and level.

4. Next I secured the brackets in open position using provided bolts, plastic and metal washers (to prevent rusting bolts against metal washers) and nuts. I needed a 9/16 inch wrench for that

5. Next, using included longer bolts and washers I put rubber paddings – for now, held by friction only.

6. While aligning properly, I carefully placed the condenser on the rubber pads with bolts protruding through the holes, placed metal washers, then plastic washers and finally tightened with bolts using 9/16 inch wrench, while holding the bolts with 9/16 inch socket wrench.

This part of the installation was complete and I was ready for next phase.

Tags: BRK-FLD-2PINSTR