Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by lars_francke on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @02:25AM
(#44948800)
Please don't run them at night to protect animals like hedgehogs and others that are active at night.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Also to protect all those, animals and humans alike, who would like to enjoy a silent night.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by alias_neo on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @04:59AM
(#44949647)
I'm assuming (perhaps unreasonably?) that given the suggestion you could run it at night, that it's silent, or near silent?
If that's not the case, GP must be a madman.
Anything having lots of rpm ain't silent. Especially not at night.
So they surely ain't as loud as a combustion lawn mower and are pretty silent in comparison, so maybe you won't notice them in the city with its background noise. But in rural areas I perceive them as noisy even on daylight with normal noise level. And I never saw anyone using them at night - for a reason.
And as for gp .. he is already shadowbanned and you likely cannot see his answer (I have showdead=true). He reacted poorly I think.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by reitanuki on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @06:12AM
(#44950011)
Can only disagree there (I built an OpenMower based on a SA650B), in a rural area, also cannot hear it from about 10m away, even at night.
Though I don't run it at night except when it is just finishing up from the afternoon
Either there is a new generation of ultra silent mowers, or we have vastly different hearing levels.
Edit: but I only know of mowers noise level from what I experience walking around, I don't own one, nor did I research that model number. Maybe I will.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by alias_neo on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @05:23AM
(#44949761)
Yeah, in that case, this sounds like a horrific idea.
I could hear a neighbours smoke alarm beeping periodically due to low battery the other night and went around to replace the battery for them the next day.
Also, I wasn't aware of the showdead setting (and had no idea about the answer that had been hidden), thanks for the tip.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by SV_BubbleTime on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @10:42AM
(#44952106)
chrip
There’s a growing discovery on YouTube and TikTok videos, that some people just live like this.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by extraduder_ire on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @02:50PM
(#44954893)
Your brain will completely tune the beeping sound out after a certain point, if it's a thing you notice at all. Similar reason to reversing truck beepers being replaced with ones that produce white (or other coloured) noise, so you don't lose your ability to hear where they are.
It's hard to believe until it happens to you.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by mwigdahl on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @04:57PM
(#44956202)
Still hasn't happened to me; beeping smoke alarms drive me crazy.
Must depend on the model. I can't hear mine from more than 10 meters away.
At night?
I doubt that. At daylight with normal background noise level, possible.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by Kirby64 on Wednesday August 20, 2025 @01:08PM
(#44963761)
The modern razor blade based robot mowers are barely audible. Segway claims 58 dBA, for context. Anywhere near a city (which, these smaller robot lawnmowers are really meant for smaller city lawns) is going to have close to that for background noise levels. Maybe it's partially audible if you're standing next to it, but with fencing and some distance between you and your neighbor, you aren't bothering anyone.
Hm. With 58 dBA extra noise in a silent area you can bet, that I will be bothered.
In a loud city where it doesn't matter anyway, yeah well, who cares.
Electric motors can run at quite high rpms with lower decibels. Sure not silent but the origin is low enough that at a distance say 25 feet it’s almost silent.
True, but remember what’s quiet to a human may be quite different to what’s quiet to a hedgehog. When reading about these things it’s surprising how often things that we might not consider - like how vibrations travel though the ground - can confuse wildlife in ways that we might not expect when viewed through an anthropomorphic lens.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by wing-_-nuts on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @12:06PM
(#44953153)
Man I'm sorry, while I don't want my mower running over a hedgehog, it's my lawn. If they don't like the noise they can leave lol
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by unshavedyak on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @09:39AM
(#44951415)
Yea, my neighbors battery powered mower is super quiet. I don't even know when they run it.
Mine is also electric and my wife says (i'm always too close to it) it's easily 4x as loud. Not sure what the difference is.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by PunchyHamster on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @09:58AM
(#44951632)
> And I never saw anyone using them at night - for a reason.
...how late you were checking?
I can see reason to set them on say 5AM so it finishes before you wake up
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by nemomarx on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @10:21AM
(#44951876)
you've never been woken up at 5am by a neighbor using some tools?
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by foobarian on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @10:19AM
(#44951851)
It probably depends on model, but mine is dead silent (Mammotion Luba 2). However the reason I avoid running it at night is it has a fairly bright headlight, and I worry it might create shadows/light effects in my neighbors house and I know they have little kids.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by bigstrat2003 on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @10:36AM
(#44952017)
I have an electric (though not robotic) lawn mower, and it turns out that it's not much quieter than a gas powered one. No engine noise obviously, but the blades spinning and hitting grass still makes a lot of noise (and indeed in my case it turned out to be the vast majority of the noise). So it wouldn't be a very good idea to run your robot lawn mower at night.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by arcticfox on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @12:56PM
(#44953658)
This is uninformed - my Navimow is close to silent. It makes a slight clicking/snipping sound as it cuts through grass.
The mechanical components are entirely different, instead of a helicopter-like blade it is a ~silent solid disc with some razor blades on the edges.
Maybe your specific model? I have a Makita electric mower and the difference is night and day. It's very relaxing and I mow with no hearing protection. I've tested to see how far the noise carries and none of my neighbors can even hear it. Meanwhile, I hear gas mowers from my neighbors on all sides and several lots away from me.
Even better is to turn most of your lawn into natural landscape, leaving just the part you want to use for recreation as mowed.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by SV_BubbleTime on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @10:40AM
(#44952083)
This is highly dependent on where you live and what kind of creatures and insects you will be hosting.
I’m a big fan of natural landscaping, but just letting your grass over grow is not that.
I didn't say "just let it grow over" though. Turn it into natural landscape except the part you need for recreation. In many places people almost never play or sit in their front yard, for example. If you make that a natural landscape you might have to mow it once or less per year depending on what you actually plant.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by wing-_-nuts on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @12:04PM
(#44953131)
I mean how fast do these mowers mow? I seriously doubt it's fast enough to run over an animal
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by eightys3v3n on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @04:46PM
(#44956105)
I think the concern is animals that hide or sit still when threatened more so than it chasing down a rabbit :p
Also, eventually animals would get used to the noise until they get hurt.
Re:OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower
by HeyLaughingBoy on Tuesday August 19, 2025 @05:03PM
(#44956242)
It's a nice thought but the reality is that you'll be killing animals no matter what. I have a 48" riding mower and live in a rural area. At first I was really worried about all the field mice, voles, frogs, etc., that I saw running away from the mower. After a while, I realized that no matter how hard I tried, a certain number of them were just going to die. I tend to let my lawn grow fairly tall before cutting, and it's a mix of grasses, clovers, wildflowers and other plants that just grow naturally around here. The downside is that a lot of small animals live in it. I only remember running over one bunny so far, but who knows how many I might not have seen.
At least it's not fawns. Baby deer seem to be a magnet for combines harvesting corn.