Suggestion to improve work in hot conditions

[Frederic]

I’ve noticed that Yarbo’s time to mow during hot Summer days is heavily shortened by the battery temp issues that a lot of us started experiencing.
It is fine to let Yarbo on its wireless charger overnight during cool or cold days, the battery stays warm and ready to work. However during the Summer months, there needs to be an improvement in order to start the day with a battery temp as low as possible. Currently Yarbo continues to consume power during the night, requiring constant trickle charging to 100% and hence needlessly warming up the battery. Wireless induction charging generates a lot of heat which raises from the bottom plate to the battery compartment.
I’ve now decided and tested completely shutting down Yarbo manually at night once it has recharged at the end of the day. It makes a huge difference! I can start the day with a cool 25 degrees C or less battery. Before that, even when the outside temps were in the low 20s overnight, the battery started the day at 41 C. There is just no headroom to work in the sun and successfully recharge during the day. In those cases the batt temp reaches 50 degrees rapidly, sending Yarbo to rest and not recharging on its dock for hours until the battery cools down to 45C.

We know from electric cars that active battery temp management is crucial for a satisfactory user experience. Unfortunately due to Yarbo’s root design (a snow blower), only active heating and not cooling was taken into consideration to manage the temperature of the Li-Ion cells. I am sure a future version will introduce active battery cooling.
In the meantime the current situation could be improved through better charging/sleep management so that at least Yarbo can start the day with a cooler battery.

How about a nightly deep sleep feature where charging stops at 100% and all functions like networking, GPS, bluetooth and Halo hibernate. A wake up time setting could be added (linked or not to the scheduler) so that we do not have to manually power on Yarbo when work can start, usually after 9 AM in my region when all dew has dried and the grass is ready to be mowed. Ideally the power loss during hibernation from 100% could be minimal, and more importantly the battery could start the day at the same temperature as the outdoor temp. I know I would gladly accept starting the day with only 95% and a cool battery.

[Yarbo-Forum]

Thank you for sharing your detailed observation and solution. It’s a great workaround for those experiencing similar battery temperature issues.

We completely understand that charging failures due to high battery temperatures can be a significant challenge, especially during the hot summer months. We are actively working on ways to improve this issue and ensure a better user experience.

We also appreciate your suggestion regarding the nightly deep sleep feature. I’ll pass this along to our product team for further consideration to see if it can help address the concerns. Thank you again for your valuable input!

[Ryan]

My experience is similar using the corded charge rather than the induction charger. It is slower, but that make it easier to let charge to 65%-80% unplug before the overnight and top off while the dew dries before its works. The cool down overnight massively helps the battery lose heat and speed up the morning charge. I have been charging with the cover off in 78F garage.

I have yet to get a doghouse for the charger base, but not sure if it will help enough. The only logical location sees peak sun 10-4 with the least amount of breeze on property.

[derekduck]

It is not our responsibility to fix this. Yarbo needs to recall the “made for winter” batteries and provide quality lifepo4 batteries that can handle the heat. If it is 90F and the sun is shining the battery will overheat.