Rarely will a house have only one, simple, section of lawn. Most homes have a front yard, a side yard, a back yard, and that weird sliver of lawn on the other side of the driveway.
So what are you supposed to do about this?
Luckily, gone are the days when robotic mowers could only tackle one part of the lawn. Gone are the days when lawns were like mullets: business in the front and a party in the back.
How does that work with a robotic lawn mower? Most of them only mow within the parameters of the perimeter wire. Does that mean two charging stations? More boundary wire?
We’ll be clearing up all of your possible confusion on this today. This guide will explain how to create multiple work zones with a robotic lawn mower.
Understand Your Work Zones with a robotic mower
If you have a home with multiple lawn zones, you should put each part of the lawn into one of these three categories based on their qualifications. The lawn zones are as follows:
- Main lawn: This is the primary lawn on your property. It’s normally the largest part of the lawn. It also normally gets the most activity and attention. For example, you may have a flower section or let the kids play out here. This is the spot where you should set up the charging station.
- Secondary lawn: This is another section of lawn that’s connected to the main lawn by using a passageway. Said passageway could be something like a gravel walk path. Your robot mower will still be able to access this area after the main lawn is completed.
- Separate lawn: This is a secondary lawn that isn’t connected to the main lawn with any passageway. Its accessibility is blocked off by the house, a fence, or an island layout. Setting up this area takes more planning and effort than the other two lawn areas.
Keep in mind the possibility that each of these lawn zones will most likely have different levels of grass height. So you may need to adjust the cutting height of your robot mower when it transitions to the next lawn zone.
Setting Up Your Work Zones
Before setting up your lawn’s work zones, you have to be strategic about where you set up your charging station. There are some criteria for selecting a good spot on the lawn for placing the charging station. But you still have to be strategic about it, especially if you have a unique lawn layout.
Let’s say you have a main and secondary lawn. A good spot to place the station would be close to the passageway connecting the main and secondary lawns, if possible. This allows the mower to return to the charging station with less traveling when its battery runs low.
Depending how complicated your entire work area is, you’ll more than likely need additional perimeter wire. The amount of wire that comes with the mower (if it uses perimeter wire) likely won’t be enough to cover multiple zones.
Need help setting up multiple work zones for your robotic mower? Call in the experts.
Tips to Connect Your Work Zones
Having plenty of perimeter wire (if needed) will ensure your mower will navigate all of your work zones.
As you lay your perimeter wire, make sure that you have a bottleneck; there needs to be a path for the robot mower to travel to different zones in the lawn.
If you have a separate lawn zone, you can run the perimeter wire under paving stones. However, you may need to carry the mower from the main zone to the separate zone. Having the mower travel over gravel may damage the blades depending on how low it’s cutting.
Regardless of what lawn zones you have, keep the charging station at a good central point of all the zones as mentioned earlier. Not only does it benefit the robot mower’s traveling, but it also allows you to select which zones you want to mow.
How do Robotic Lawn Mowers Cover Multiple Zones?
The “brains” inside robot mowers quickly learn your lawn space even with multiple zones. Those perimeter wires help the mower build a habit per se until it gets used to the zones.
Even mowers that don’t require much or any perimeter wire learn your lawn zones well; brands like Husqvarna, Worx, and Mammotion have mowers that use GPS functions to map out the lawn.
In around a week or two, perimeter wire-free mowers will create their own digital map of the lawn and its zones.
Read: How Long Does it Take for a Robotic Lawn Mower to Map an Area?
Recommendations for Robotic Lawn Mowers That Handle Multiple Work Zones
If you’re uncertain of which robotic mowers are a good fit for lawns with multiple zones, check out this list of suggestions:
- Husqvarna Automower 405X and higher (might help to get an area switch as well)
- Mammotion Luba
- Air for three zones and flat lawns, AWD for complex lawns and 10 zones
- Ambrogio L400i Deluxe
- Robomow RK4000
Considerations and Suggestions
No matter which mower tickles your fancy, keep these suggestions in mind:
- Shop for mowers with a good max cutting height and large surface area coverage to ensure the mower will get all of the lawn zones with little difficulty
- Check for higher battery life. The more zones mean the more battery the mower will use
- For mowers that don’t rely on GPS, consider getting additional perimeter wire so you don’t run out when mapping your lawn zones
Our Robotic Mowing Experts are Ready to Help
Planning out your multi-zone lawn can seem like a daunting task. Instead of doing all of that mapping out mentally, let a certified Autmow installer set up your lawn with your lawn zones. Reach out today to learn more!
