Sent the unit out for a first attempt to clear the drive. Noticed that battery life drained pretty fast with 12degree (feels like -2) temps. Had to recharge with not even 50% of the map done. This was different from prior runs. Still pretty please with the job and need to find a solution for track slippage when returning to charge and getting closer to the garage when running the route (it leaves about 24” wide path untouched) but I think I just need to change a setting with the new update.
Have you tried keeping the snow throw direction only on that one left side? That might help your pattern be a little more efficient. You can play with circle vs parallel too.
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I saw the wiki post in the FB group and after reading the page think spiral is the best. I’m going to have it finish the current run then charge and change the pattern. May eventually break the eclipse part of the drive into a second zone. We also park a vehicle on the other half of the eclipse and why it’s not mapped. I will need to map that and place a DNG box where it’s parked. Didn’t do that earlier as I wanted to see how it worked first.
There is a learning curve, but the forum and FB group have helped a lot! Thank you!
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Always happy to help. It absolutely does take lots of tweaking and observing. But once you get it dialed in, man it’s awesome. You’re doing all the right things. You’ll get it refined soon enough. Mines been out 4 times today already clearing the snow. Loving it. I don’t get much snow, so it’s nice to be able to play. I did lots of practice runs the last month or so. Tweaked some stuff recently, moved my dock, made a new pathway down my sidewalk. Sent it out a lot to be sure it would be good. So far, so good!
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It is my second snow with my Yarbo. I agree clearing pattern seems important enough to save a few percent. It makes a difference in completing the automatic schedule. I think the savings comes from minimizing turns.
I have two issues during this storm. One has been losing GPS signal during part of the run. There is a spot in the middle of the driveway where the signal drops under the overhead power lines and the yarbo drifts by 24 inches. That puts the Yarbo in loose gravel where it loses traction. The second is finding the charging location on the dock. Shoveling in front of the pad seems to minimize seeking in the hollow of the 24” drift the Yarbo has made for itself! The cause of the seeking seems to be dragging of snow into the charging pad while the rover backs up.
Sounds like you are getting some track slippage in that dead zone or it’s running without GPS for a while. You can back down the PPVS settings to dial back how long it can run on DR. Track slippage and slopes can decrease that accuracy quickly for it.
Are you doing any dock cleanings? Might help if you increase the number of cleans if not or are only doing 1.
Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s normal for Yarbo to drain battery faster in very cold temperatures and heavier snow conditions. As Bryan suggested, you may want to fine-tune your settings with the new update to see if that helps improve performance.
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