Builder Road Map

Note: This WIKI was only just started on 2022-04-22, but are actively working on filling it up and making a good documentation for the new builders out there!

Warning

Please note that this project currently is in a very early stage! So don't go buying stuff right away! You will need to order and solder your own boards, since there are no assembled boards for sale yet.

Please make sure that you're actually allowed to build this device in your area. There may be laws / patents prohibiting you of doing so!

Please just be responsible and if you're not sure what you're doing, please don't do anything.

BTW the warranty of your brand new mower will obviously be void as soon as you modify it in any way, so be aware.

Intro

If you want to embark on building an OpenMower, we have collected an overview of the various parts and where find information and what to to below. Beware that this is not complete, but it gives you some navigation to how to go about making a project for yourself.

Please see the image to the right for an overview that we will refer to. The headlines below refer to this image.

You can find more information on the various parts in the page Building the Mower

Disclaimer

This material is provided as-is and free of charge. No guarantees of any kind are made that the information contained herein is exact or correct or does not violate any local regulations or cause any security risk. Any use you make of any information given here is at your own discretion and risk.

Road map

The Mower

Get a mower in a store

So far only the Yard Force 500 is supported. See FAQ for more about alternative mowers.

Disassemble the mower and Remove the old mainboard

See @c.ez's YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bImqD-pQSA

Now, it is ready for a new main board.

Main board

PCB and parts

At the time of writing, the main board is version 0.9.1beta and has a few issues (but is working!!), so you can either go from there or you can wait until a next revision fixes these problems.

[TODO]: @c.ez : How does one find a current BOM for the main board if going to build one-self?

[TODO] : @tinker0436 and @vamatis will try to see if a comprehensive description can be made on how to order an assembled main-board from JLCPCB.

Assembling

You need to have all the fixed parts soldered to the main board. Either you do it yourself or you find a way to order it assembled from e.g. JLCPCB.

Further parts needed

You also need

• A Raspberry Pi 4
• An RTK Module
• 3 xESC modules
• A Raspberry Pi Pico
• And check the BOM here: Building the Mower

Getting the xESC's

There are currently two versions of the xESC (of which you need 3 for the main board).

1. An version base on the STM32 chip. Information about that is in the git repo https://github.com/ClemensElflein/xESC. That is working and tested, but it is hard to get the STM32s and the soldering is technical and one cannot order the part pre-assembled due to parts sitting on both sides of the PCB. But you can go ahead and build those now.
2. A new version, simpler and cheaper, and based on the RP2040 chip. That is currently (2022-05-01) under final revision and should be available ca medio May. That should be possible to order assembled from JLCPCB, once ready. So you might want to wait for that.

Base station with the base RTK GPS module

[TODO] @c.ez : Need info.

Charging Station

Get a CC/CV module

This is currently needed to fix the charging station provided by Yard Force due to incompatibilities with the replaced main-board. It should be possible to fix this issue, but right now, it is necessary. See Building the Mower for where to get it.

Upgrade the Charging Station

[TODO] no information yet here