New 40 volt lithium-ion battery self-propelled lawn mower from Greenworks

My "160 FT long speed test" is shown in the 1st picture (added again below since this started a new page) from the fire hydrant to past the power pole partially into the neighbor's yard behind me.

Doug

Got my axle put in and mowed the lawn properly for the first time. What a difference! The only problem is that I had about 10 sq feet remaning and the batteries wouldn't charge due to being "too hot". Perhaps I shouldn't be mowing in 90 plus temperature anyway. Between this mower and selling the old Earthwise, I'm down less than $50.

Interesting that your batteries were too hot to charge … when I cut my yard with the Self-Propelled model this week and 2 weeks ago, the batteries were NOT too warm after 25-30 minutes of continuous mowing either time for the charger to start charging right away. I was surprised actually since they are usually too warm when I use them especially with the blower. Temps were in the high 70's maybe low 80's so maybe this helped and I was using 4AH batteries. Don't remember if I was able to immediately charge the same 4Ah battery after 40 minutes with the pusher version when I cut my whole lawn with it the one time 2 months ago.

I'm guessing you have the 2.5Ah ones which would normally come with the MO40L2512 pusher (assuming this is what you've got) and maybe since they discharge faster, they can get too warm especially if it is hot outside.

I've got a 2.5Ah battery so I'll start with this when I cut next to see if it gets too warm in the SP version.

Doug

dougmacm said:

GW @ MAX SPEED: 160FT in 32-33 Seconds = 3.00-3.09 MPH with fresh fully charged battery
GW @ MAX SPEED: 160FT in 35-36 Seconds = 2.75-2.82 MPH with a 1/2 discharged battery
Mower just seemed a little faster each time I put in a fresh battery on Friday and this comparison proves it was not just my imagination !!
Owners Manual states 4.6 FPS MAX Speed = 3.13 MPH, which is close enough.

10525 in 3rd Gear / 3260 RPM: 160FT in 28-29 Seconds = 3.41-3.53 MPH (s/b 3.8 MPH @ 3000 RPM per drive service manual)

Click to expand...

The 10525 speed was too far off of spec in this 1st test (s/b around 4 MPH @ 3200 RPM) and the Greenworks was a bit slow too (s/b 4.6 fps or 3.13 MPH) so I decided to lengthen my test by another 40 FT to 200 FT thinking I would get more accurate times with the longer test:

10525 in 3rd Gear: 200FT in 35-36 Seconds = 5.56-5.71 fps = 3.79 to 3.89 MPH

GW @ MAX SPEED: 200FT in 40-41 Seconds = 4.80-5.00 fps = 3.33 to 3.41 MPH (fully charged 4Ah battery; did not have a less than full battery to re-test)

Definitely feel these results are more accurate.

Cut my yard again with the SP-GW again this week … grass was a little longer and thicker than 2 weeks ago thanks to all the recent rain we got and 1st battery did not last quite as long as the last time (did not time it though) as would be expected if it was working harder. Also my wife was cutting with me, so I only cut about half the yard this time so battery usage for whole yard could not be compared.

Doug

Ran the MO40L02 Self-Propelled again yesterday.

Had been cutting at setting "4" (2-5/8" cut height) for the past couple months because it has been so dry but dropped it down to "3" (2-1/8" cut) this week because it has again gotten greener and thicker.

So this thicker & longer grass was a more real world test for this mower and instead of running at low speed most of the time and jumping up to high in the taller/thick spots, it kicked up to high and stayed there for most of the time … obviously using more battery:
4Ah Battery 1: died at around 19 minutes (vs. 27 with light cutting load)
4Ah Battery 2: died at around 36 minutes (17 min run time)

My wife was helping out again this week so I only cut about half the yard, but I think I had enough batteries left (1 each 4Ah, 2.5Ah, & 2Ah) that I could have got the whole yard done with it.

Mulching like usual and on fastest SP speed and it did a good job … maybe the Lawn-Boy with a sharp Gator/Mulcher would give a slightly better cut when long and thick like this, but can't say for sure.

Could likely have gotten a cleaner/better cut if I had slowed down the SP speed, but I don't care enough to even consider trying going slower … then again, a LB slower than max SP speed would likely give a better cut too !!

Still impressed especially with this being the 40V system and not the 60V or 80V that are more common with the Self Propel feature.

Doug

I am noticing when this blade hits something, the damage is much bigger than on my previous mower. I've used two blades in 7 years and they were like new, this is me only mowing twice. I guess I have to get used to this mower settings.

Is there a way to bend these abrasions back or just file them off?

Most lawn mower blades are THICKER than these GW blades … also a typical gas powered engine crank shaft is quite a bit larger in diameter than the shaft on the electric motor used on these cordless mowers.

The cutting edge on these thinner and lighter duty blades is 45Deg, where most mower blades have a 30Deg angle cutting edge … not that this has anything to do with the durability of the GW blades, just thought I'd point it out.

I bent a crankshaft on a Lawn-Boy "F" Series engine by hitting a tree root and this had a 1" crank (IIRC) … did not think I hit it that hard either.

This Greenworks motor has a 17MM (0.668") shaft, so I've been REAL CAREFULL avoiding rocks, curbs, big sticks, etc. when cutting my lawn. If you were to BEND this shaft, I'm guessing you would need to buy a whole new motor from GW, and I'm sure they are not cheap.

All of this may come into play as to why these GW blades seem softer and ding up easier than other lawnmower blades do.

Doug

Replacement motors are available from Greenworks, but on the new models you can only buy them as a complete assembly, including the outer housing, battery compartment, electronics etc. I checked the cost to replace the motor assembly on my 60 volt 21” push mower and it is listed as $75 plus shipping. By contrast, the replacement cost for the motor on my 40 volt 19” push mower is only $45, but it consists of the rotor only. Nonetheless, this is still a lot less than the cost of a complete mower tool only.

The motor assembly for 40V MO40L02 (SP) … 311011576 is $180.55 on the GW parts site and is out of stock.
The motor assembly for 40V MO40L01 (Push) 311161571 is not listed.

Only difference between the two is the SP version has a second KO in the shroud base for the SP motor cord and obviously connections & electronics under the shroud for the SP motor. But if I bent a shaft or damaged the blade motor in anyway, I'm thinking the basic motor within the assembly would be the same and likely cheaper to buy the non-SP motor assembly (hopefully similar to the cost of the 60V which sounds reasonable).

Doug

Ran the MO40L02 Self-Propelled again today and decided to try it out as a BAGGER at the same "3" / 2-1/8" cutting height as last week.

Got more rain this week so grass was again long and thick like last week plus leaves are starting to fall so I thought instead of mulching I'd see how well it does bagging.

The grass being a similar thickness and length as last week I was surprised that the blade motor mostly stayed on LOW / 2800 RPM speed only kicking up to HI / 3200 RPM in the really thick patches (vs. last week mulching it stayed on HI most of the time). It really does a great job of filling the bag completely too … similar to or possibly more than a 10525 rear bagger can hold.

4Ah Battery #1: died at around 29 minutes (4 bags worth of grass and I left the stop watch go when emptying)
4Ah Battery #2: died at around 54 minutes (mid-way through bag 7)
4Ah battery #3: had 2 bars (1/2 charge) left when done at 1 hour 13 minutes (full bag number 8)

Really thought battery usage would have been similar to mulching since the SP is having to pull the weight of the bagged grass but that was certainly NOT the case. Did a good job sucking up leaves out of the grass too, except in a few spots where they were trampled down … don't think a LB would have sucked them up either.

The cutting quality was very good as a bagger too, also picked up most of the left over clumps from last week mulching where it was really thick.

Pic of a full bag: