Electric Mower Power Loss

I have a 19" Black & Decker LawnHog. When I was mowing yesterday, I had to push it at a crawl to keep up any kind of speed at all.

Granted, the grass was tall. I missed a week due to traveling and the rainy weather. Oh, did I mention it's been raining? And I fertilized it 2 or 3 weeks ago. So there was a bit of grass, clover, all that, to cut. And I had the mulching plug in.

Still, it just didn't seem to have the oomph it used to, even when I was cross-cutting on a second pass. I put a new blade on over the winter and I cleaned the bottom of the deck. Still not what I remember.

I'm wondering if it's time to check the brushes or something. I'm also wondering how I would get to those.

 

I think you should convert to a 240v supply and put a variac on that baby

Seriously.....in the link is the parts breakdown. Looks like you lift the cover and the motor should be visible.

Black and Decker Hog parts

 

I like your first idea better.

Yeah, I guess it's time to have a look under the hood - after what, maybe eight years?

 

I had to go out on a service call and I checked with the parts guy there......he said check the flux capacitor.

 

I think the braking is pretty hard on the brushes judging by the amount of arcing you see when you let go of the handle.

 

? ?

 

The next time you see him, please thank him. I'll do that.

Just as soon as I get back to the present.

 

Maybe I'm the only one that took their new mower apart to see what was going on with the blade brake. I had the mower shipped to my work so I unboxed and played with it in the warehouse. I noticed the flashes of light when I let go of the handle. So... you've just gotta take it apart and see what's going on.

 

Oh, OK, got it. It's getting shoved down the list with other problems cropping up, but that's what I'll do. Thanks.

 

I just picked up a Homelite 24 volt cordless mower from Goodwill for $19. It's similar but about 10 years older than your B&D. It barely ran but enough to know that the motor and charger were good. I took the battery pack apart and sure enough the two sealed batteries had swollen badly. Someone was naughty and probably over charged it. I happened to have a couple 24 volt batteries lying around in the shop. A little work with a saw to enlarge the battery compartment and it works like a champ.

 

I'm about to go out and give it another try. The grass has been growing really fast, so we'll see.

Might switch back to bagging the clippings, just to see what happens. Just for this once.

 

After reading your first post at the top, you said you replaced the blade, did you happen to put it on upside down, which is very easy to do. Have a good one. Geo

 

No, I'm pretty sure it's on the right way. I can check, though.

The mower has been cutting better now that I got the yard leveled out, but it still doesn't seem as peppy as it has been in earlier years.

 

How old are the batteries? The one I got from GoodWill would run on the original ones but did not have much power and ran down much sooner than it should have. With a new battery it is a totally different mower and I'm still going to see how long it lasts on a charge.

 

I think the lawnmower is a corded mower so it won't have batteries. There might be something entangled around the shaft under the mower that is restricting it from spinning fast enough.

 

I would like to have a cordless mower, but the one I have takes a cord.

It's doing better now that I got ahead of the tall grass. Seems like it's still not as sturdy as before, though. I'm thinking of sticking my meter in the female end of the cord to see what's available to the mower.

 

Remember, voltage drop will only show when the mower is running.

 

It's a shame you are up in northern VA. I've had fun comparing my corded and 24 volt cordless side by side and wouldn't mind letting you try my cordless to see if you like it. I am surprised that I like the corded model better mainly because of it's lighter weight. I am really curious to try one of the cordless lithium battery models.