Lucas_Dad

My mower (electric) died last week. It was 6 years old and had done pretty well. I cycled to Bunnings and got a replacement (yes, cycled, with a lawn mower ... on a makeshift trailer ... that was an interesting journey!)

Anyway, the new one has come with a warning to only use a heavy duty 25m extension lead. I have this, but with my old mower I had to use two connected together (both 10A) to reach the farthest bits of my garden. I never perceived or seemed to have a problem with this.

So why shouldn't I use two leads connected together? What's the risk of doing so?

Cheers

Amazulu

You can carry on using 2 leads - there is no risk. It's just the manufacturer being all H&S - aka the modern world

Lucas_Dad

hahaha Cheers. Two leads it is.

What's their thinking though? Longer lead = more resistance = less power to the mower = damage somehow? They just don't trust the connection between the two leads? Other?

Tom Sawyer

From my dim and distant electrical theory past......increasing the length of the cable will increase the resistance (further distance = more atoms). Increasing the resistance in the cable will increase the temperature in the cable. Increasing the temperature will increase the resistance in the cable.......and so it goes on - or the potential for fire in the cable from the mower manufacturers point of view. I wouldn't say there is no risk, but an increased risk.

Amazulu

Some electrical theory:
The only issue with the length of this cable is volt drop - the voltage is reducing for every metre of cable. On a 'heavy duty', 25m, 2.5mm2 cable, the volt drop is negligible and would only become an issue of the cable was in the 100's of metres long. VD is a design issue that I deal with a lot (especially on long overland conveyors) and we overcome it by increasing the size (cross-section of the conductors) of the cable. So, if VD is going to be a problem on a 300m, 2.5mm2 cable, we'd increase it to, say, 4mm2 or 6mm2

In your case, the mower manufacturer is just being ultra cautious. That's it

DeadVim

Amazulu

Sure, but a bit overkill if his back yard is only (guessing) 60m2!

Jim's Mowing works for me

RICH

A new 100ft cable would be better than joining 2 50ft together. No leaks if it rains. And you have a spare 50.

DeadVim

Amazulu

Clever bloke is ol' Jim - he's got his fingers in a lot of, err, pies:

Lucas_Dad

I'd love a ride on mower! But I'm lacking in that essential thing ... what's it called ... um ... oh yeah, money!

I chose electric because it was only $150 from Bunnings and that's all I've ever used, so I'm well used to the foibles of working around the lead. My lawn is 330m2 so the mower is a bit small for the task at hand, but does a surprisingly decent job of it.

Being car-less, transporting the new mower back from Bunnings was ... interesting ... I tied a small foldable luggage trolley to the back of my bike, tied down the mower, and rode the 7k home nice and gently. After I got home my neighbours said "why didn't you ask ask, we would have given you a lift" but once I'd set my mind on the challenge there was no stopping me!

Plus, in the rucksack, to add some more weight to the challenge is a 2.4m fence post cut down into 300mm lengths to make a game called Molkky

spouse of scouse

Love the innovation Hope you're doing ok.

Lucas_Dad

Still quite a lot of but in general cheers x

spouse of scouse

So happy to read that. I know there's still some yuck times but you've come a long way, bloody good on you!