Comments on: Hot or Not? Cordless Electric Lawn Mowers

By: Deb

Deb — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:27:51 +0000

Dean -

I have the yardworks 60-1767-6 cordless and of course have had the same problem as everyone else with the battery. I went back to Cdn Tire and they sold me a battery in a case. If I’m reading your last post correctly, if I dissassemble the case, I will find 2 12 volt batteries in there? I can take them out and then wire them into the mower? The batteries in the mower are lableled as a model 6-DFM-17 and I can’t find anyone who sells these.
Please, HELP

By: Dean

Dean — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:53:35 +0000

There’s a repair shop here ( I live in Halifax NS), that Home Depot uses for warranty work and they gave me the business card. It’s actually a battery for a Yardworks mower, but the repair guy said the only difference is that one’s green & one’s white. Same battery. It comes in a case with a carrying handle that you have to disassemble, but keep the case, as it’s a pop-out version so you can charge the battery over the off season inside since it has the charger jack on the case.
take the battery out of the mower after the last mow of the year, wire it back into the case, then once a month plug it in for a day to keep the charge up. Should be fine for next year too another tech says. Wiring’s pretty easy, a phillips screwdriver and a quick sketch of what you see when you take the cowling off & you can’t go wrong. The only thing to remember is it’s two 12V batteries in series, and one batter has a red wire where the other has a yellow one, but they’re the same wire.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:06:50 +0000

Where did you get a replacement battery for $25? I ordered one last summer from Homelite when mine (like everyone else’s) went out after the first year, and it ran $100+. It, too, started dying–by the end of the summer it would take 3 full charges to mow my yard. $100+ per year? Forget it. I went back to a gas one this year and haven’t regretted it.

Electric mowers are a great idea, but if the Homelite model is any indication, they’re just not there yet.

Stay away from Homelite.

By: Dean

Dean — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:19:14 +0000

update time. Yesterday I went & bought a new battery & switched it out myself for 25 bucks. Charged it up overnight. Today, mowed the lawn like new. We’ll see how well it holds up through the year and into next season. Hey, you’d spend at least 25 bucks on gas , oil & other maintenance for a gas one over a season right?

By: Dean

Dean — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:16:44 +0000

There’s a thought………if only I could play guitar ……….. wait could a mower be converted to a musical instrument when it’s useless for anything else?

By: bob

bob — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:39:17 +0000

Write a funny song like that “United Broke my Taylor Guitar” guy.

By: Dean

Dean — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:20:45 +0000

OK - afterthought time - would Homelite reconsider if I started a facebook
“Homelite 24V rechargeable mowers are garbage” group and seen how many members it gets?

By: Dean

Dean — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:15:35 +0000

Well, update on my last. I’ve trickle charged my 20″ homelite continuously now since my last post, every other day it goes from red charge light to green. Two days each time. Friday it was green, the grass was short and it was sunny & dry, so I figured what the heck & tried it……… it cut twice as much as the last time I tried it, but still, after about 8 minutes after reading full charge…….. nothing…. the power couldn’t have drained faster if it blew a house breaker…. I’ve got Home Depot trying to get a copy of my receipt for me since I can’t find mine….. but their policy, after 30 days it gets taken to their repair guys,
(return and/or exchange is 30 days), & then I end up with a battle to just get it replaced with a better mower once & for all compared to taking it for repair after repair every new season, if they fix it at all.

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:40:10 +0000

Well, I wish I had of read all this before I bought my homelite last year when my old gas mower gave up the ghost. Had I seen all this I would have simply gotten another gas one from the get-go. Got mine somewhere around last august or so. Not quite a year old. Mowed the lawn once this year so far and it was great. This week, tried again and now am on day three back to the charger and it’s quitting after about ten - fifteen minutes in the grass. Don’t worry, it’s not a hayfield, it’s been a very wet year here so far & we’ve had few dry days to do yardwork. Just downloaded the manual online from manuals.com since I can’t find the one it came with , which means I can’t find the receipt either. Paid around $300.00CDN for it, so I’m going to keep trying. If it won’t charge up soon it’s getting trailered back to Home Depot as is with a big *JUNK* sign painted on it in flourescent yellow.

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:26:46 +0000

Have had the Homelite 20 inch 24 volt mower that is not talking a charge after one and a half seasons. Getting the run around on the repair. They know it was a bad product, but Homelite or American Mower Company is not going to stand behind it. Seem like a collective lawsuit could uncover tons of bad mowers, and force their hand on repayment for anyone who ever bought this mower. Any Mower lawyers out there?

By: Kurtis

Kurtis — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:00:21 +0000

FWIW, I bought the Homelight 20 inch 24 volt mower 15 months ago. Used it last weekend without trouble. Today it refused to start. Plugging in the charger doesn’t light the charging indicator. This early death coupled with its poor performance means I’m not going to bother repairing this puppy unless there is something obvious that I can fix when I take it apart. Definitely another thumbs down on the Homelight cordless mower.

By: Kaos

Kaos — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:43:15 +0000

I just bot Yardworks 16″ rechargeable reel mower I tried a small area manually just to see how it cut I had to go over n over the same area 3-6 times b4 I finally reached down n ripped the dandelions out by hand That was fun. Next day battery charged & ready to go Ran for bout 15 mins & the front left wheel fell off. I called the toll free # only to have a machine tell me I had the wrong model #. Checked to make sure it was not my mistake I called back n again was told I had the wrong extension meaning my model # was wrong. So does anyone want to buy a 1 of a kind defective mower?

By: Hack

Hack — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:07:52 +0000

I’ve had the Homelite for a couple years. After the first winter, it wouldn’t start. I went online and found people in a similar state who thought the batteries had frozen and were killed that way. I went to batteries.com to get replacements (need 2, about $70 shipped) but when I hooked them up, the mower still wouldn’t start. Tinkering around, I realized that it was just the poorly designed switch, and I could get the mower to run if I manually held it in. I got a $4 switch from Radio Shack to replace the original and everything’s been fine since then.

Oh - blades seem poor, get dull easy. Keep them sharp and you avoid the declining performance over time that others have noted.

By: George

George — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:55:58 +0000

I have a B&D 24 volt. It is adequate. I have no plans to replace it, because a gas mower is simply no longer a responsible option. It always mows my small lot with a single charge.

The main issues are related to slow blade speed, which produces an uneven cut due to low lift (air flow) coupled with too much weight, which crushes the grass as the machine rolls. This leaves visible tracks of slightly higher grass in the lawn.

The mower needs to lose 25 pounds (lithium ion?) and gain 1000 rpm.

By: Judi

Judi — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:33:17 +0000

I hear you, Chad. I have the same mower and this is my second summer and not only did the battery go dead but so did the charger. I have a very small lawn and only used it one summer. I am very upset since the batteries are $106. and who know how much the charger would be. It will be cheaper to buy another mower I’m sure. I think I will buy one with a cord this time.

By: Chad

Chad — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:15:18 +0000

Bought the Homelite 20″ last year, loved using it all year and then, guess what happened when I tried it for the first time this year…. same as everyone else… barely moves. This is a one season mower.

By: Reuben Gathright

Reuben Gathright — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:40:43 +0000

I am an eco-researcher and have stumbled across the CMM1200 cordless mower. I really like the mower and feel that it can be used on almost any yard now.

We should all do our part to save the enviroment and encourage the growth of the solar and wind power industries. Cordless electric lawn mowers go a long ways towards these goals. I recently purchased the Black & Decker Cordless Electric Lawnmower the CMM1200. In the
review I describe how to upgrade the mower to mow over 9,000 SQFT! I hope my review will help you make a decision about our future.

http://www.epinions.com/review/Black_Decker_19_In_24_Volt_Cordless_Mulching_Mower/content_445899312772

By: Connie McCullough

Connie McCullough — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:12:56 +0000

DITTO: Don’t buy a Homelite UT13122 20″I bought one from Home Depot just over a year ago as I gave up on trying to start gas mowers due to shoulder problems. Well it was wonderful for just over 1 year. Now it won’t recharge with the light never moving over to the green but it has a pitiful low speed on the charge needed light. I have tried to find a place to have it serviced and a friend told me about this site, and lo and behold, all these folks have the same story! ANY IDEAS anyone wants to give me on a new cordless electric mower? I have only one electric outlet outside or I would use a corded one (which I had years ago and it lasted for over 5 years after buying it used)

By: Wildson

Wildson — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:32:33 +0000

Do the lead-acid batteries have the same “memory” problems as other rechargables (NiCads, I believe)…. that is, if you don’t drain them fully they will not discharge fully the next time. If so, the answer for extening battery life might be as simple as changing the way we mow. Instead of mowing the lawn then recharging, mow the lawn, but don’t recharge. When you have to mow again, run the battery out completely, then charge fully over night and finish the next day. It’s a bit different that the old finish-it-all-at-once way, but an easy adaptation.

By: llcr

llcr — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:04:57 +0000

I just bought one of these mowers under the “Earthwise” brand. It was returned to the store by a previous owner who had it one day and didn’t think it had enough power for their lawn. I bought it but it was missing the instructions. Wondering about charging the battery. Do you leave it plugged in all the time during the growing season or just when it’s running low on power?

By: alex / santa barbara

alex / santa barbara — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:53:08 +0000

DO NOT BUY THE HOMELITE 24V MOWER! I started reading this thread, everyone who bought one was pleased ~ at first. 1 year into it, we’re all talking about the machine no longer holding a charge. SAME HAS HAPPENED TO MINE. It’s a BAD PRODUCT, it’s actually a product that should be recalled. One year of use does not make for a good mower.

By: Mike / Phoenix

Mike / Phoenix — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:15:11 +0000

Follow up to my previous post. Home Depot agreed to send my UT13122 t out to repair on my behalf (battery had quit charging after 90 days). Got it back after a week, the module on the mower that the charger attaches to had been replaced. The mower was fully charged, I cut my lawn, plugged in the charger, looked the next morning and still no green lights.
End of story, it’s as broke as before.
Next step, try to deal with Homelite and begin the PITA repair cycle again.
ARRRRRGHHH!

By: Mary/Arkansas

Mary/Arkansas — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:13:01 +0000

I purchased the Homelite UT13122 from Home Depot in June. I’m going to return it this week before my 90 days are up. I was delighted at first at how it simply started every time, as I have fought year after year with brand new gas mowers that only survive 5 uses before the carb needs a rebuild. The fact that it started every time and no smelly gas to worry about almost made up for the fact that it bogs down when I get into the slightest bit of thick grass. I can’t imagine anyone having a lush zoysia lawn, which i do not, being able to use this without getting frustrated. It simply bogs down too easily, even when you set the blades up higher. Anyway, I went out to use it today and either the battery or charger or both are out, so I’m done with it. Appears to be a waste of money. This is a 24v battery model. Can anyone comment on models that have a higher volt battery? Will that make a difference on the bogging down? I’m thinking of checking out one of those, but don’t want to get burned again.

By: Dale/Phoenix

Dale/Phoenix — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:50:46 +0000

I bought the Homelite UT13122 20″ last July, worked like a champ on my two small yards until about a month ago, then failed to hold a full charge. Homelite only warranties the battery for one year, and as one other reader observed, their website is of no use whatsoever.

I kept the mower in a shady spot, but I think the Arizona heat proves too much for this sensitive piece of equipment, and the heat in the garage would also be too hard on this gear. If you are in a hot climate, don’t waste your money on the Homelite. I’m out $300 and have a front yard that looks too much like an ongoing art project. Time to borrow the neighbor’s reliable gas mower!

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:33:16 +0000

I am looking for a replacement transformer for my Black and Decker Cordless Electric Mower/Mulcher CMM625 model. The part number is 241672-02 and not produced anymore.

If you have a lawn that is not huge 1 acre or more, an electric lawn mower is the way to go. I have had mine 5 yrs and love it, but just broke the connection piece for the battery charger and the piece is obsolete.

Please contact me if you have it at mesp019@yahoo.com