General Product Question
This is an Automower Connect (Android v2.1.0)...
General Product Question posted March 29, 2017 by Keith Bode
1277 Views, 10 Comments
Question:
This is an Automower Connect (Android v2.1.0) question.
What, if anything, can I do if my residence is in a dead zone of the 450X's stock communication service?
What, if anything, can I do if my residence is in a dead zone of the 450X's stock communication service?
Details:
I have an account and the app is installed on my phone.
The dealer called me at work with my Automower 450X's pairing code, and I successfully paired my phone to the 450X. I picked it up after work (still pairing OK) and took it home ... but there it continues to report the mower's last status at the dealer (Disabled - Main Switch Off), and remains doing so while the 450X is blissfully out mowing the lawn. The GPS icon is fine, and I recollect I had 3 signal strength bars.
My Verizon phone works fine, but what, if anything, can I do if my residence is in a dead zone of the 450X's stock communication service?
Answer
I would clear the Pairing code and try to Pair the mower from your house. The Bars on the mower are the Com Signal
For 1 thing the Com is AT & T ...........I had the same issue...Look up 450x in search.
I would
1) Make sure AT & T service really is not working in your Area...have a friend that has AT & T come over and see how many Bars they get. ( I had my Neighbor come over. He had 1-2 bars at best.) But the mower would show 3 bars. So I would have long periods where I could not Communicate with the mower.( I had updates to where it showed my mower in my yard up to 20 minutes - 2 hours old) It was very bad when it poured rain and I had to run out in the rain to send the mower back home.( no coms with mower) Just to keep it from going for a Swim.: (
2) I had a lot of Problems with the coms before (See other Posts) but after the APP update I get up to the minute or two readings of where my mower is in the Yard. Now, I am not sure if the App helped or and the most likely reason is the wars between Phone Carriers. AT & T most likely boosted the signal in my area.
3) Last resort- Complain to your Dealer.....and get a Sim card from your local Carrier..Verizon Ect....they told me it would be $8 a month for the amount of data used.(750 Megs) which they will give you a credit to change your sim card.
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Paul
Thanks for writing. I cannot connect at home, and so long as I cannot do so, I cannot unpair or re-pair.
I'm told that my SIM card is T-Mobile, not AT&T. T-Mobile is terrible here in my rural development; despite that, "Sheldon" consistently shows 3 or 4 bars of signal strength yet never connects (as indicated by the "+" on the screen and the failure of the app to show anything live). So I packed Sheldon up and took him out to dinner in town ...sure enough, at that location he was able to connect and I could see him on the app ... but once back home he disconnects again and I can only see his status and location from when he was back in town. So pairing doesn't seem to be the difficulty; connectivity does.
Oddly, Sheldon connected just fine and I could "see" him on the app during the 2 weeks while he languished in the garage during my perimeter and guide wire installation. Once he started mowing, connectivity became an issue.
Are there any poison menu settings that my dealer was unaware of?
Can I do a master re-set of all settings? (the re-set item in the Accessories>Network menu fails every time).
My dealer said that H was moving to 3G by the end of the year and hoped that would solve my problem. I don't want to wait ... any other ideas?
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Update:
I've learned that my SIM is a 2G GSM/GPRS for T-Mobile, and that I live in a known T-Mobile 2G dead zone (despite the mower trying to tell me I have 4 bars). Apparently these SIM cards come prepaid for a projected 2 years of anticipated data usage, and there's no word on what happens after that. It's also apparent that Husqvarna encounters folks with dead areas with some frequency ... through the dealer they offered me a 2 year extended warranty and free upgrade to 3G when it becomes available (I understand that it's in BETA/trials) ... on a preprinted form.
Pairing (or re-pairing) is not possible unless one has a live connection so, for now, I took "Sheldon" to town for ice cream (which gave me a chance to pair while I had coverage) in order for the app to at least work with the geofence should some crook try to run off with him into an area of coverage.
In the interim, I'd sure like to run across an affordable (or plans for a homemade) signal repeater so I could at least talk to Sheldon while he's recharging (it appears that getting a repeater to cover the entire yard isn't feasible). Any techies that can help in this department?
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I was told the Sim card is From AT & T....HUM ?
Just have the sim card changed to Verizon....they will charge you around $8 a month for the Data/Card..Hv will give you a 200 credit and you pay verizon..I am short on time so...more on this later
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Paul
This is recommendation, a dream or actually happened? If the latter, it would be nice to be able to recite chapter and verse of a prior accommodation or policy of this nature when speaking with Husqvarna.
One reason I ask is because the programmed response I received (extended warranty and free later upgrade to 3G) still leaves me in the lurch since my immediate area is also a T-Mobile dead zone for 3G) ... not to mention that their 3G (supposedly in BETA) is already 2 generations behind current development, what's with that?
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https://www.wired.com/2015/11/t-mobile-will-put-a-tiny-lte-booster-in-your-house/
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Bob
Thanks for the suggestion! Sadly, it's my understanding that the booster is for 4G ... my 450x needs 2G (and I'm told that there's T-Mobile 4G coverage coming out my ears at my location).
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Epilog:
So, on the way home a couple of weeks ago I noticed a crane reaching up to a cell tower about 3 miles from my residence. The net day my APP beeps that it's made contact with Sheldon! Apparently, T-Mobile decided to improve the 2G signal off that tower ... with the result that I'm no longer in a dead zone!
Unfortunately, the contact was to the effect that Sheldon was disabled by a crash. Turns out the crash sensing magnet holder had gone awry (with the magnet rotated sideways) and wasn't close enough to the sensor. Thank goodness they replaced it under warranty with an improved holding bracket.
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Epilog to the Epilog:
My dealer came through on the warranty extension, etc., that the company gave me on account of my initial 2G problems ... and my "Sheldon" now sports their new 3G card! Unfortunately, in my corner of the world Husqvarna utilizes T-Mobile, which has largely leapfrogged 3G in favor of 4G, with the result that the new card has been a bit sporadic in its quest for continuity of connection despite my dealer saying it could speak both 2G and 3G. As a result, my App has been going for a day here and there without connection. Just wondering whether I could devise something (insert mental image of a nutcase tin foil helmet here) to enhance its antenna like some Area 51/Roswell enthusiast, or whether the motherboard possibly has a connector for a supplemental antenna loop?
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I have more or less the same issue here in Switzerland with my new Automower 450X.
I have no clue on which network they use for their M2M cards here, and I don't know which version I've got on my Automower Connect card.
I will keep an eye out for possible antenna extensions.
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