The RC Car and battery powered lawn mowers.

I haven't said much about the RC car for a while.

It hasn't been out in a few weeks. Last time it was out it was pretty wet, and that made it pretty interesting. 

Since then:

- I replaced the elcheapo AA Ni-MH batteries with a rechargeable hump pack. The AAs had been a constant problem for me. As they'd drain, performance sucked. Slower steering finally, before no steering, usually with limited range then finally no throttle. As soon as I stuck the hump pack on I noticed a massive difference in response time to steering and throttle - and that was just sitting on the bench. 

- I've literally just received a new bumper after destroying the original back in May. I had to import one from Italy to get it. I had tried to design one and print it, but the design was my own (I couldn't find a design anywhere), and it never quite fit. I did sit down earlier and draw a diagram with specific sizes, but I suspect I'll still never get it quite right. 

 

- I did try starting it at the weekend, but the bursitis and tendonitis in my shoulder is making it stupidly difficult to deal with pull starts, even with my other arm. I suspect a bit more time and effort would have done the job, but I wasn't filling the tank just to run it for 30 seconds. 

Hopefully in a few weeks after I finally get a steroid injection into this shoulder, I might be right to handle this starter again and get outside to take it for a run. There is a starter box out there that avoids pull starts, but there's a fair investment into those. 

Also at the weekend I wound up having an altercation with my old 158cc Masport mower. I wouldn't stay running. After a few hours of arguing with it and looking at Bunnings website, I decided that I can't afford another mower of the same capacity. They're just too expensive, and anything less would be lucky to cut through our jungle lawn. 

I started looking at battery powered. The reviews for the 18v and 36v options were all fairly bad, especially for anyone with a tough lawn. Light body weight with plastic decks, low powered batteries, etc., all put me off. Eventually I come across an 82v Victa. Reviews were generally good, steel cutting deck and battery that's probably just good enough to get the job done. 

It was hardly cheap, but I had some cash left over from the sale of the Territory that sat out on the street awaiting repairs that I never quite got around to (it's now being turned into a 1000hp V8 skid machine, but that's another story), so I used that and did the deed at 7am Sunday morning.

I got it home, put it together and let the battery charge (it takes around 30 minutes to fully charged). My lawn was overgrown to a point that the old Masport would have struggled. I set the height up as far as I could and got to work. 

Surprisingly it never cut out, jammed up or otherwise had a fit like the old mower in those conditions. It just plowed through. At the end the battery was about done, and I returned inside for breakfast whilst it charged again. My plan was to go out and cut it down lower, but I never got there. 

Did I mention it's quiet? Less than 60dB. Enough to know you're cutting the lawn. Not enough for the neighbours 4 blocks away to know you're cutting the lawn. Also not loud enough to vibrate and bounce off the fences.

The only negative is the battery. The box contains a 2AH battery - which is a fair lump of battery @82v, but the run time is a limiting factor. Our block is just over 500m2, and a good chunk of that is the house. Everything is pretty "average" so it's probably only just "enough" to get by. For now.  It'll be interesting to see what happens in 2 years when that battery runs in. Currently, they're $250~ for the 2AH, and about $360 for the 4AH. 

There is also a whipper snipper that comes with a 2AH on the market for around $350. Seems like a better option that just buying another 2AH, so that's on my "one day" list when the cheap Ozito I currently use finally does my head in (poor quality cutters, gutless, and the sander that uses the same battery is already done for). 

Overall, so far I'm happy with it. It's a bit lighter than the Masport, a lot quieter, easier to move and a lot easier to start (squeeze the bail and push a button). I also don't have to worry about the oil I haven't changed in 10 years or having to remember to take jerry cans to get fuel that will stink my car out for the next 2 weeks.  The performance was a lot better than what was otherwise a "great" 4 stroke. The very fact I could plow through damp overgrown grass using the mulcher without stalling alone is enough to sell me. 

In other news, I've been debating what I do with my old tank monitor's Raspberry Pi. It was on the 3D printer for a while, but that was replaced with a 4b. The tank monitor seems to have a fatal issue, so I'm not sure I care too much for it now. 

I was thinking perhaps setting it up as a dedicated SSTV box - for VHF. The Retevis RT95 is usually off, and I have a tendency to forget about ISS events, so I was debating putting an audio input on it then hooking it up and letting it go. Kinda cheating I guess, but I do like having my radio machine monitoring 40m most of the time, and I'm prone to forgetting to flick back over to 2m if I've been on 40m during an event.  If I could find a way to separate the audio, I'd probably stick the RTL-SDR on there and use that to monitor 20m SSTV. I'd have to do some rejigging with my RF switch given I'm more likely to transmit on HF than VHF (where the RF switch currently resides). 

I've also got a Malachite SDR receiver coming. I probably shouldn't have brought that, but I did in a moment of pain killer induced weakness. Looks interesting. I tend to leave the IC706 on 40m SSTV and the G90 tends to be wherever I'm seeing FT8 activity. It'd be nice to have a screen there that can give me a scope looking elsewhere for activity while I'm monitoring my usual haunts.