That’s significantly better. Glad to hear the positive results!
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I have a very sloped driveway (pushing 30 percent). The flaw I have seen with the slope mode is that it doesn’t raise (or run) its auger when it is going uphill on the path it had just blown. One small rut or bump in the path and Yarbo runs into unblown snow going uphill with auger down and not running. Often then gets stuck. Sometimes recovers but often doesn’t.
If it went up the hill with auger raised and running (slow is adequate), in the same path (first time back up) or better yet in the middle of cumulative cleared paths (thereby minimizing possibility of it getting bumped into unblown snow) it works way better. When I do this manually on my sloped driveway it works great. But using the existing slope algorithm with these logic flaws it usually fails. I have suggested this change to technical team and they seem interested in entertaining my ideas (I am very encouraged by this) but nothing has changed yet (I only made my suggestions a few weeks ago). I remain hopeful that they can make these changes. The hardware seems very capable of doing my sloped driveway if the algorithm is right.
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It tends to drift right when it goes back up. I agree there is an issue there. Auger off is for power saving. I kind of like that idea. Quiet mode would be an acceptable option I guess. My understanding is if it does encounter track slippage it will engage the auger. Is this not happening for you?
Typically it doesn’t reengage the auger until it’s much too late in my experience. It should reverse back up on the first path or clear a turn around area and once multiple paths have been completed it should offset at least one row back into the cleared area. Mine struggles with all the above mentioned even on very gradual slopes or “flat” areas
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@ Bryan.Wheeler … Mine does re-engage the auger if the track slips but by then it too is usually too late by then. I would personally prefer it to run the auger on low going up the hill even if that means increased battery usage as it tends to use as much or more battery anyway doing countermeasures once the track starts slipping after getting off course.
In my case I need Yarbo going back up the slope in forward (as it currently does) rather than backwards because with the auger raised and going backwards on the slope it becomes front heavy and about 75 percent of the track surface loses contact with the snow (not effective).
@ rcguymike … I agree with your comment that it should go up at least one body width away from the unblown part of the area (up the middle of the cleared area might be easier and safer though) so it doesn’t get bumped off track with little time to react and get back on track.
But my slope is considerable (30 percent) and so it needs all the help it can get in the algorithm.
Also note that my Yarbo is always tending to drift to the left, not right. Not sure why or if there is something that can be done with this or if this is just a characteristic based upon design.
I don’t have the experience you guys have though… I have had mine only a few weeks and used it only 12 days before it went down on left wheel blocked error. Although it did probably get 15-20 hours of run time in those 12 days. I don’t have as much experience with it as some of you yet. My replacement core arrived yesterday but it will be a few days before I get home and can give it another try.
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I just don’t see how zero turn could ever work on the first pass like this:
Also on the edges of a plan once the snow starts getting deeper it’s either going to bury the back end of the tracks in an icey bank or try to turn the blower into it and just slide and/or dig a hole.
The other problem I see with running the auger at slow speed is if the snow is wet/packy it could clog the chute too😅
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Yes, this is my concern too with that solution. Your proposal of one path over in uncleared makes the most sense. Auger off, saving power, nothing to hit, some drift would be fine. It would just have to clear a good couple of paths first.
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