When Should You Put Away Your Robot Mower For The Winter?

If you use a robot lawn mower to manage your grass during the summer, you may have appreciated the effort and time it saved you. However, as that lawn begins to go dormant in the late autumn and into winter, you may wonder when to store you robot mower to ensure it's ready for spring work. The timing depends on where you live and when you begin to experience lower temperatures. 

Ideally, you would stop cutting the grass a week before the first frost, or when daytime temperatures remain below 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Once you finish the last cutting, it's time to winterize your robot lawn mower and prepare it for indoor storage. If you forget to shut down your robot mower and it cuts grass that has frost on it, you could damage the grass blades, and they might not easily repair themselves the following spring. 

Additionally, you run the risk of the robot mower's wheels compacting the wet soil and negatively affecting the roots of the grass. Along with the potential damage to your lawn, cutting the grass in cold weather brings potential problems for the robot mower's battery pack, much like the issues that tend to drain your electric vehicle battery.

When storing your robot mower for the winter, thoroughly clean the device first. You can use a garden hose, scrub brush, and mild dish soap to remove stray grass clippings and other debris from the underside of the unit and the body. Most manufacturers recommend that you charge the mower battery before placing it in storage, an important battery life tip that applies to a variety of gadgets. 

This helps prevent the battery from fully discharging during winter, which can shorten its lifespan. If your machine has a removable battery pack, it's a good idea to store it separately in a temperature-controlled location. Rather than leaving the machine outdoors and exposed to winter precipitation and low temperatures, you should store it in a shed, garage, basement, or other protected area, ideally with temperature control. Moisture that penetrates the body could damage important components. 

You should also try to keep the machine out of direct sunlight coming through windows and away from heat sources, as this could damage plastic parts. Finally, be sure to disable the automatic mowing schedule. Depending on your model, you might need to lock the machine in an app or manually. With all of these storage tips, it's important to check the user manual for any specific instructions about your particular robot mower.