This one is made to go on boat roofs, so I assume waterproof. I think you can turn it off, but not positive about that. Covering the solar collector would stop it.
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@Yarbo-Forum , can you find out if we can buy a battery cover to cut up for one of these?
Then we’d have one cover for summer with this solar thing on it, and one for winter when we want to keep the heat in.
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How are you getting the battery temperature? I just posted under another topic that may be related? My diagnostic only shows version, network, etc.
Under Main on the Diagnostics page. Scroll down a little.
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Ha! I never scrolled down. Thanks! I think this is the cause of my issue. Temp is 50 and rover stopped charging at 42%. Will it start charging again when cools or will I have to intervene? Manual charger is plugged in now.
You shouldn’t need to do anything. It will start charging again when it cools. You shouldn’t need to use the manual charger, wireless and wired all have temperature controlled charging.
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Yep. Temp went down to 48 and it started charging again. Great to know. Thanks again!
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And it isn’t even the warmest period of the year, yeah! Get ready to cool your core actively, when you want to mow more than one battery circle per day, expect when it’s raining or cloudy but then it’s wet and you don’t want to mow anyways because of the clogging…
Perhaps there can be a reflective mylar cover (assuming the aluminized layer does not interfere with the antennas) that covers the whole top of Yarbo (except for cutout for top light). It would not even have to lay flat against the body. It could be a rigid flat plastic plate painted with a UV resistant high reflectivity paint and held on by a bungy strap to the handles. Just thinking out loud.
One of the guys taped a sheet of reflective thermal bubble board over his rover and posted some temp data with it mowing and charging. It’s posted around here somewhere.
It’s working well. Although temps were lower today I haven’t been stopped from charging in temps as high as 93 Fahrenheit.
Definitely worth a try.
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A hat accessory. The hat is better, because it allows a breeze under the hat and can shade more from different Sun angles.
Here are my Yarbo “hat” results for today’s mowing:
09:00 AM Batt: 26C Air: 19C Sunny On Dock 100% Charge
11:00 AM Batt: 28C Air: 29C Sunny On Dock
12:00 AM Batt: 31C Air: 29C Sunny On Dock
01:30 PM Batt: 35C Air: 31C Sunny Start Mowing
03:30 PM Batt: 39C Air: 31C Overcast Mowing
03:45 PM Batt: 40C Air: 32C Partial sun Start Recharging 45%
04:30 PM Batt: 45C Air: 31C Partial sun Recharging 75%
04:45 PM Batt: 47C Air: 31C Partial sun Recharging 85%
05:15 PM Batt: 51C Air: 31C Partial sun Recharging 100%
The battery temperature did not rise much while mowing in full sun. Charging heats up the battery a lot more.
Yarbo’s experimental white hat was made from 12mm thick EPS white foam board from some packing material. It is only held on with straps to the handles. It would be ripped apart in a strong wind gust. I might make one from the black foam packing material that Yarbo came with. As long as the foam is insulating, it will shade Yarbo and not transfer heat from its top surface down to the battery cover. I could make it a bit smaller than the first experimental one.
The 20Kg weights on the back hitch are to keep the tracks on the ground when backing up a slope. My yard is all slopes.
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I love the extra weight at the back hack. I will borrow from you this idea for the next winter season. Have used previously some special rack and small sandbags on top of the core. Was not the best solution to say the least. Your idea is just genius!
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Anyone have any information on adding fans to the core (23). Amazon has some USB cabinet fan controllers with temp sensors that I’m tempted to try but due to how… Tight everything is I’m not sure where best to add fans.
Also, has yarbo confirmed that the battery heater is not being engaged?
I have been having overheating problems when charging to the point where the unit ran out of power.. while sitting on the charger because it was too hot to charge…
I watched mine today as it overheated around 47% charge. Then a few hours later… Still overheating but was down to 38% so something is draining the battery. I know the battery will drain when not charging… But what all is drawing power in that state? Should just be the core electronics which shouldn’t take too much power and the Halow upgrade.
Note.. it’s not charging but battery temp currently 56c and outdoor temp is 90.
Charging causes the heating. Without modifying things, what works for me is getting under some shade and moving a lot of air over the battery compartment.
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