What do people do to get the layer of ice off the charging dock? I’ve tried scraping it off.
I can’t get Yarbo to charge reliably.
Is it safe to use salt?
I’ve confirmed with our field service engineer that it’s safe to use salt on the charging dock to help remove ice.
Hope this helps!
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Thank you for looking into that!
If we were to use an adjustable heat gun what is a safe temperature to use?
I would keep it under 100F personally, if that’s possible. Probably closer to 90F.
I also feel like a bucket of warm water could help break up the ice enough to allow a snow shovel to clear it.
I’d be leery of adding any salt as it’s generally corrosive.
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Yeah, I wouldn’t want to use a heat gun for this task. Too much potential for damaging the plastic.
If it was me, I’d either go the bucket of hot water route like Bryan suggested, or I’d use a hair blow dryer.
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Fair enough a hair dryer. I was hoping Yarbo support would chime in.
Support said up above that salt was fine to use. Don’t know if that helps.
Personally I wouldn’t use salt. Better safe than sorry. Salt loves to corrode electronics.
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I’d be curious if you can use one of those rubber sidewalk heating mats under the front 3/4 of the dock and the runway in front of it. They produce just enough warmth to melt ice, but not interfere with or melt the plastic dock. It might work.
I would think temporarily that would work great to melt the snow/ice. I wouldn’t let Yarbo zero turn or drive on that though.
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I was just contemplating this the other day but had the same reservations as Bryan…another reason we should get better docking behaviors. Timing the mat to run just before Yarbo leaves the dock could allow it to break off the ice chunks at the bottom and push/clear them without having the run the mat for too long. Yarbo already draws quite a bit of power.
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Two thoughts:
- A heated blanket in a garbage bag (or similar plastic barrier) set on top of the docking station until the ice clears.
- Seems like a heated dock should be added to the Customer Feedback list. I’d want it to heat up 5~10 minutes before the Yarbo starts or returns from snow blowing not all the time.
They’ve explored the heated dock initially and it proved to be problematic long term from a melting ice pool to freezing/thawing/heaving of the dock and electronics. At least that’s my understanding. A periodic swipe with a plastic snow shovel has kept mine clean. But I don’t get a lot of snow either, typically.
It’s okay to use a heat gun to melt the ice, and we’ve confirmed with our field service engineer that there’s no specific temperature limit you need to follow. That said, please be cautious around the yellow sticker area on the docking station — the heat gun could potentially melt or damage that part.
I must tell you I am surprised you did not give us a spec on the temperature. I have heat gun I use to re-flow solder and its maximum temp adjustment is 1200F and will push a fair amount of air.
That would certainly melt the ice and anything below it. I’d stick with 100F max personally since that is close to a max ambient operational temperature the dock would likely experience as an extreme. Possibly slightly more in more southern areas.
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Yep. If you’re gonna use a heat gun, be really careful.
I’m gonna stick to my suggestion of using a hair dryer as an safer alternative.
For folks that decided to put their dock on pavers, maybe put the heat mat under the sand that the pavers are on, then put the dock on that. The radiant heat would take some time, but would be “track-safe” for all the confusing Yarbo contortions during docking.
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