I honestly never considered the battery powered tool would go bad on the EGO products. The complexity in the tool is greater than I thought it would be!
going back to gas mower after 2 years of Ego ownership. Not worth the time to trouble shooting during weekend while kids are running around and the grass are growing crazy
Sorry to hear that. Have you contacted EGO on warranty. They really have a great warranty. I have only had one failure out of all the EGO equipment I actually bought new. I had the original battery failure and they sent one right out and let me keep the old one. That is what started my EGO repair videos and after successful repair of the first pack I started buying other non-working items to learn and share with. Best of luck to ya!
@@liuweimdI have several EGO products. I had this same controller go out, but after 6 hard years of use. Never had a single issue with any of their other products. No maintenance, no gas storage, no pollution, less noise…………
Thank you so much for this video. I had the blinking orange light. Could not take off the blade but that seemed OK. Bought a leaf blower to get another battery(battery $249...blower $279). Same thing happened. Watched this video many times and thought I would give it a try before bringing it to a service tech even though I suspected the controller. When I took off the casing (not too handy myself but wth) i looked at all the wires and noticed one was frayed. I disconnected it and realized it was for the self propelled motor. The blade worked fine so I knew I could mow with difficulty. I could not get to the other end of the frayed wire but managed to splice it in place. IT WORKED. I would not have tried it without the video so thanks again!
Thank you for sharing this. My mower was doing the same thing for quite sometime. It used to take few tries to run but the funny thing is if I tilted the mower by pushing the handle down it would restart. The mower did not start for some reason yesterday so I started tinkering with it. This video was a valuable find and seems like a controller issue on mine as well.
Awesome job I am having the same yellow light flashing issue but it is intermittent and becoming more frequent. Likely a component failure. I will confirm with and amp meter as well. Thanks for a great thorough job!
Running into the ame issue on the older ego mower, newer ego is completely dead, changed out the PCBA between mowers, no change, but the older ego seems to be repairable based on your video , will have to do more troubleshooting to verify, you gave me more checks to do to verify controller replacement.
Thanks for this video 👍, I'm having the same issue so I'll check out the cost of a controller vs a new mower, I bought mine in 2016 so it owes me nothing 👍
I have a newer EGO mower (2135SP). The mower blades would randomly stop while using the mower. It seemed that the slightest movement of the handle would cause the safety switch to stop the blades. In most cases, I could restart the mower by pulling up on the handle and starting the mower normally. Finally, I became annoyed with having to do this. With the newer models, the configuration of the safety switch is different. There is no spring. I opened the plastic components on the handle which houses the safety switch. There are several TORX screws holding the components together, so an appropriately sized TORX screwdriver is needed. The switch is configured as a Normally Closed (NC) switch. When the handle is not in the fully up position, the switch opens, and the blades stop. I first thought of removing the switch and permanently connecting the two wires together. I then opted for another solution in case I wanted to easily remove my modification. The switch has an unused Normally Open (NO) terminal. I used a small piece of wire to connect the NC and the NO terminals together. This basically causes the switch to have no function. I reassembled the mower and now everything works great without interruptions. Of course this removes one of the safety components of the mower. Be aware that the handle will not have to be fully extended to start the blades. I enjoy all the EGO mower videos on UA-cam. I only wish more videos for the newer models were available.
I've watched a couple of videos where the safety switches were bypassed. Normally I don't bypass safeties. But I after i thought about it - they don't give me safety in any real sense. I don't fold up the mower until I stow it away at the end of the season. So, I never shorten, or fold, the handle with the battery in it. The mower is perfectly safe when the battery is out. So that's two safety switches I will never need. And really, now that I've seen several videos showing that folding the handle damaged or broke the wires inside, I may not even fold it up again.
I have an EGO LM2100 that I just got back from a warranty repair. It still shuts off and flashes a few times when I cut the grass. Not really happy with this mower. I don't want to take it back to get it "fixed" again. Not worth it. So I might just watch this video really closely to see if it's a controller board. Thanks for the video. Let me know if it stopping intermittently sounds like it might be a controller board. I thought the battery was the problem, but maybe not. It's not over heating either, which EGO was trying to tell me. It was only 50 some degrees and it still stopped and flashed 4 times during grass cutting.
If the orange/yellow light is flashing when it shuts down it is most likely the controller. It's like it is sensing too high of load/current and shutting down. If the red light is flashing it seems to think it has a low battery to the point of shutdown possibly. I would check the connections on the battery terminals for the mower and maybe even the wiring to the handle and back just to check the easier things first.
@@ThriftyToolShed Thanks for the quick reply. I will check the connections and the handle wiring. The repair person said something about a bent battery tap. But it's still not working right, and I don't want to take it back. If I can't fix it, it will probably be on the curb with a free sign on it. lol
Awesome videos! I’ve been troubleshooting an LM2000 doing the exact same thing. Brand new battery fully charged. It spins up for a second or two then amber flashing. I’ve checked all the switches and leads with no luck. I’m thinking I’m looking at a bad control board as well. Do you have a good place for affordable boards? I’m fine with rebuilt as well. Thanks again!
Thanks for your comment. I posted the very next video with the Retrofitted controller and I did take time to share the cost of a couple of these and the EGO replacements from a couple sites as well. I have links in that video description. Hope it helps and best of luck to ya!
Curious. I had this issues start happening today. I ended up using a 2.5A battery and it worked just fine no issues. Not sure if the 5A is giving it too much juice. But want to make sure it's a mower problem and not battery problem before going to next step.
Enjoyed your video although it is 2023 now. I have the same EGO mower my issue is the speed run wide open at 5 regardless of the throttle switch position. Runs fine but the speed is so fast I am almost running behind it. You have a good grasp electronically of this mower. Can you please determine why the speed throttle no longer functions properly. I have looked at the electronics but nothing seems to work from others online who have this issue. Thank you in advance.
Hi, Thanks for your kind comment! I actually have not worked on the Self Propelled model myself. I don't know the most common issue, but I would check the wiring going down from the handle into the mower. I would check the speed selector control knob itself and the wiring first since it does run just seems to be stuck at high speed. Losing the speed signal from the speed selector could cause this for sure. Even though it could be the speed knob or wiring possibly pinched where the handle folds. I wish I could help more. I wish the very best of luck to ya with yours!
Awesome troubleshooting I wonder if a controller from a scooter or twist grip ebike would work in a Frankenstein fix. Thanks for sharing I have the same problem on my Snow Joe 80 volt snowblower.
I am testing with some cheap DC controllers at this time and they will work fine. Hard to find anything rated above 50V though. These are brushed controllers and alot of the 72V controller etc. are usually brushless controllers. Thanks for your comment!
My Ego mower is 3 or 4 years old. I'm running into the same blinking yellow light problem as I try using it this new mowing season. I am going to study the video more. GREAT VIDEO by the way! But am thinking it might (probably will) boil down to either trashing the mower, or buying the controller board. I'd be interested in your DIY controller idea, however, I would want to keep the variable speed control. Would your solution keep the variable speed control?
Yes, I added the controller and kept the variable speed. I typically leave it at around 65-75% speed so I did not add wires up to handle for the adjustment, but easy to do if needed for sure! Thanks for your comment! Best of luck to ya!
In the next video I did take time to share installing a cheaper controller. I also shared the price from some places with OEM controller if someone desires to buy one of those. Yeah, it's not for everyone to troubleshoot and replace the controller and at some point it may be worth it to buy a new one?
First thing I did was take that frigging battery cover off. I could not get access to toe controller with that dang lid flapping me in the face. No service tech near by so had to do all this myself
Oh, that cover! Yes, the cover indeed! I know exactly what you mean. In the next video, after this, I retrofitted an aftermarket DC controller, and I mentioned how I cut the back of the hinge at an angle on mine so it will stay back when I open it. What a pain!
Hello Thrifty Tool Shed Thanks for doing these videos. They are very helpful! I have a problem similiar to yours but not exactly the same. It is an intermittent problem. When I try to start a few times, the first time it will go green and start. But the next time I try to start, it will flash orange/green and not start. If i let it rest for a few minutes it will usually go green and start. Once it starts, I can cut my whole lawn. But if I try to start again it goes yellow. I used you diagnostic and removed the blade and it starts every time without the inertia from the blade, so I'm thinking that it may be the controller. But electronic parts are not usually intermittent, they either work or they don't work. Maybe the thermistor, but if it was a heat problem, I couldn't cut my whole lawn once I get it started. I would greatly apreciate any insight that you could provide. Thanks, Dave D.
Interesting and very true. I would think with the controller issue, it would show similar to mine and have the same fault very consistently. It could possibly be that yours is just on the threshold of being too much load at startup (or the controller thinks it is?) so any change in temp. etc. could in fact be a deciding factor if it starts or doesn't. Just a thought, hard to say for sure. Unfortunately it's no good way to get into the hard potted controller and try to figure it out either. I can't say for sure but the controller is the most logical issue? At this point trying the cheaper replacement controller to run it might be the next step in testing as well? Sorry I can't help more. Best of luck to ya with yours!
Hello again Thrifty Tool shed. I got by with having to try many times to get my mower to start. It would flash green/orange for about 25-30 tries and then would finally start and would keep running for 45 minutes until stopped it. I finally broke down and bought a controller EGO-2830075001 from parts warehouse. I am currently waiting for it to arrive. But then I watched your video again and saw all of the testing you were doing with the Klein current loop tester. I don't have all of your fancy test tools, just a simple multimeter which measures low currents. So i got to thinking. My battery is 6 old and has maybe 250 charge/discharge cycles. It runs fine once i get the mower started. Is it possible that the battery is too weak to provide the initial startup current, but is ok once it gets running? I don't have another battery to test with. So I could try to borrow current loop from one of my ham friends to test the startup current. What values should I see with a good battery and what will I see if the battery is having trouble providing enough startup current. Thanks Very Much Dave daniels
I may have shown the current on video. It's been a little while to say for sure. If you can get your hands on another pack to test would be the easy test.
If mine has the same issue where it starts without the blade on, is it worth opening it up to look for bad connections or anything, or does the controller probably need to be replaced? I found out I can actually get it to start by looping a piece of twine around the end of the blade and yanking it to start the blade moving right before trying to start the mower. Crazy, I know, but it works. I’m always careful not to have the battery in while messing with the blades.
It absolutely seems to be an inertia issue. The current sense is thinking the current is going too high on startup, it seems. It maybe reading that incorrectly, but unfortunately, it's not much we can check with the epoxy potting on the control board.
I picked up a mower like this last week for cheap (100 bucks), except the guy didn't tell me it had this problem of trying to start and stop immediately. He demonstrated to me that it works, don't know what exactly he did to get it to work. Anyway, it looks like its sensing an overload condition on startup and as a safety feature shutting down without trying to proceed. By removing the inertia of the blade it spins right up. If I were to guess there is a current sensing resistor on the control board that may have changed its value or overheated the solder pads/traces thereby increasing its resistance. Did you by chance get to reverse engineer the controller? I think this being a brushed motor is must be quite a bit simpler than the brushless kind. Looks like all that it would do is to PWM the battery output into the motor based on speed or current. I do not see any way it is measuring the speed though. If there was any Hall sensor or something, that would have been my first guess as to what may be wrong with it. Also would be nice if you could tell me what screws to remove to open it. One guy on here seems to have removed lots of screws from underneath to gain access.
The controller would most likely be an easy repair, but it is epoxy potted as mentioned in the video. It's been a while, but I either mentioned the controller potting in this video or the video when I replaced the controller with the cheap brushless controller.
@@ThriftyToolShed You did mention the hard epoxy. I had one time removed the controller from my snow blower (not this lawn mower) which also had epoxy on it which I was for the most part able to scrape it off. My guess is that using a combination of heat and scraping, you can remove this too. I'll hopefully get to it in a week or so, Ill report back what I find.
Hey I guess controller is the governor. Which aftermarket controller would you go with or will there be different variations to each controller for different volt batteries. Nice video
Mouse Hotel- found a LM2100sp on the curb that is DOA. Mouse chewed multiple wires, I cant find where the thin black and white wires from the main controller go , On your wiring diagram it shows to the NTC but I don't see where that is. Did the mouse eat it too?
Mine had a NTC on the small black and white wire. You can see the silver tape at around 3:15 and the ntc is wrapped up in that tape attached to the DC motor power wires. Typical, though not all, NTCs measure round 10K at room temp. Yours may still be there under the silver tape...
I have not seen that exact issue, but if you have vibration I would make sure the blade is on correctly. I know you mentioned new blades also and that's good to test for sure. It may also be a spacer that is not correctly aligned possibly? It could also be a bad lower bearing in the motor if the shaft has any movement or play in it from side to side. The other issue could unfortunately be that the blade has hit something hard enough that the motor shaft was bent causing vibration. I hope it's the more simple solution and something not centered or aligned on the blade....
Good video, as usual! Apparently, the previous owner knew the repair was going to be very expensive or perhaps not possible due to part availability. I wonder if the controller was under warranty possibly allowing a complete exchange of the mower. At any rate have you considered breadboarding your own controller to address the in rush (possibly a time delay to a MODFET gate few hundred ms should do) since after start, run is full on?
I would if I had the time. I not only try to do the best method of repair for my time, but also consider what most of the viewers time as well or the best solution for the majority. I do have a couple other controllers that have more of a soft start if needed. The one I chose is working perfectly fine. If one is needed with a softer start, the following usually works well for most applications... amzn.to/3Xg5uZD Thank you for your kind comment!
@@ThriftyToolShed This one looks like a nice 'all-in-one' solution..claims even has a soft-stop (using a pedal?). How would one go about using these pins to provide the brake?
I am going to try one with the Pedal that just plugs in to see if it's just automatic when releasing the pedal. The Pedal simply plugs in. I will need to try these controllers on a load like the mower because these controllers are super tiny and light weight and I do wonder how long they will run the mower. These are not nearly as robust as the controller I used in the end. They work good for smaller ride on toys etc. for sure but I do wonder how long it's rated for 40A. amzn.to/3KcirhW
@@ThriftyToolShed UA-cam deleted my post likely for having an AMZ link to DC-DC 48V-5V 2A buck converter, but was musing getting the dead-man bail to function as the brake, as originally designed/equipped, using those pins...+5V/GRN/'S' (for stop?)
I don't believe you need the 5V supply. It should be supplied by the controller internally. You vary the input from 0-5V and at the 0V or ground reference it should brake. I have purchased one of these and only tested very briefly. I will have to get more time to fully test and see if 40A rating is real. It's super light and small for 40A,but claims it's current limited so it should not pop like a balloon, but I will find out when I get some time. I like the idea of the low voltage cut-off, the soft start and the current limit.
Is this a brushed motor? I'm guessing brushed as I see two wires on your schematic. With that in mind, you won't have to worry with hall effect sensors and can find alternative ways of motor speed control and start up. I'm sure that these oem control boards are not cheap. I noticed on Ryobi that their first generation mowers were brushed which made it easier to utilize parts. I found it on facebook and made a stationary leaf mulcher with motor speed control and two 6ahr batteries along with other components. .
Question I just bought one brand new of the guy down the road be moved and never gave me the battery or charger so I got a battery but I was wondering can I use a 210 amp charger for this rather the 320 amp?
As far as I know the standard wattage and higher wattage charger will both charge all the EGO packs just fine. Of course the standard charger will take longer so if you have a really large pack such as a 10Ah it will take a while, but usually it doesn't bother me and is typically a little better for the pack to charge slower.
I do not have a video for that. I just showed a few clips of it on this video for clarity. I could not detail much about it as it would have made the video much longer. What exactly is your question about the handle? Or have you taken apart the switch itself?
Well parts that are available are very high. I believe Jack's small engine is the best place for replacement parts and the controller is over $120. My question in the video was do you want me to share a non- oem or cheaper controller retrofit on this mower? Since it's not board repairable? I have a few videos that share similar Frankenstein type fixes to simply keep good useable tools and items from the landfiled. Just another alternative.
@@ThriftyToolShed I think it would be interesting to do off market fix but wonder about showing it with possible insurance risk. Wouldn't want you to get hung out to dry.
@@jdmccorful There is no product liability risk in showing a repair. At most you can throw a disclaimer out there. It's well established that watching people do stupid things on UA-cam doesn't make them liable if you do said stupid thing and get hurt.
great Video - I have the same exact mower with the same exact issue, were you able to locate and replace the controller? if so where were you able to find one? I hat to go and spend another 800 for a replacement mower
I did share in the very next video about the controller I chose and show it in use. I also share some links from other websites with the EGO replacement controller if you wish to do so. ua-cam.com/video/Kdib1irxq-Q/v-deo.html
I have the same model and it get the similar issue. Found the start switch had a loosing soldering on blue wire (blue wires jump from one to another). It still hung on the switch with the black terminal insulation.
Good find, the black heat shrink was holding the wire in place you are saying I think. Yes that would stop all power from getting to controller. How long did it blink orange since it lost power?
I bought a used one that was broken to see if I could fix it. All three of relays check ok, but I notice it has a yellow flashing light on the mower itself when I try to start. Does that provide any clues? I have just started getting into it, but don’t see anything obvious.
That what I went over in this video. I checked for binding at the blade (with the battery removed) and even took the blade off. It would run with blade off so the controller thought it was too much load at start up I guess? The mower varied in load alot it seemed to me even with no blade. Motor seemed fine and it even ran with my other mowers controller driving it! In the very next video I shared replacing the controller with a cheaper one to get it running. I also share the cost of a new EGO controller on that video as well.
It was the controller. I see now that many of these do fail in this manner. I have one I am working on now and it is intermittent. It will sometimes start up and run and then Sometimes it will not start up and flash yellow and it's getting more frequent not wanting to run. To the point now that I am putting a new controller on it. Something in the controller starts picking up too much start up current and shuts down. It's like you said and like I shared in the video it will start up with no blade so it's a load detection issue. The controller is so darn potted with epoxy it's nearly impossible to repair it with out a controller swap. I am trying out a smaller all in one controller that is working fine , but I am over driving it. I want to see how it holds up before I even share anything about it, but I hope that company will make one just a little higher current rating. I am basically using the tiny controller as a low voltage cut off built in and simply using the original handle switch instead of adding a relay since the controller is soft start.
My ego lm2100sp started smoking, so I took the cover off so i could see inside and tried again and I saw flames coming out the engine. Anyone know how I can check this or clean it?
This mower model is a DC brushed motor and most likely it's arcing bad at the carbon brushes that ride on the commutator. If it's arcing bad enough I could see how leaves, dry grass and other debris could possibly cause something like you are describing. It could be a bad motor or it could just be the brushes are getting worn down and arcing due to less spring pressure.
I have a Ryobi battery powered lawn mower. I have the batteries, which are cheaper as well as the mower compared with Ego. Their snowblowers are horrible.
You are saying EGO snowblowers are horrible? I live in the south and never used one. As far as Ryobi 40V batteries, that is one of the few brands platform that I do despise. The battery packs are very expensive for what you get because of all of the complexity of adding Mosfets and monitoring board to the packs to shut down when needed. They do this to keep the tools cheap. I had many earlier 40V packs and equipment and have shared on video some of the issues I had with the platform. It's very similar to comparing Ryobi 18V tools to Flex 24V tools from my experience. I hope the newer versions of the 40V packs are better though, they have been around some time.
I'm starting to think that the Ego mower is the equivalent of a big-box store briggs&stratton gas mower. Works great for a few years, then starts breaking. I can live without a Honda mower but I really wish I could afford the Honda snowblower.... 2400 bucks though...
I bought a used ego 21" mower at a pawn shop for $125 and got a 2.5 amp battery and a rapid charger with it. I have had no issues with it, other than replacing the blade. I currently have the mower, blower, string trimmer , chainsaw and 3 batteries . No problems with any of them . No fouled plugs, stale gas after winter, broken pull cords
I bought a used ego 21" mower at a pawn shop for $125 and got a 2.5 amp battery and a rapid charger with it. I have had no issues with it, other than replacing the blade. I currently have the mower, blower, string trimmer , chainsaw and 3 batteries . No problems with any of them . No fouled plugs, stale gas after winter, broken pull cords
I bought a used ego 21" mower at a pawn shop for $125 and got a 2.5 amp battery and a rapid charger with it. I have had no issues with it, other than replacing the blade. I currently have the mower, blower, string trimmer , chainsaw and 3 batteries . No problems with any of them . No fouled plugs, stale gas after winter, broken pull cords
I bought a used ego 21" mower at a pawn shop for $125 and got a 2.5 amp battery and a rapid charger with it. I have had no issues with it, other than replacing the blade. I currently have the mower, blower, string trimmer , chainsaw and 3 batteries . No problems with any of them . No fouled plugs, stale gas after winter, broken pull cords
200 Amps? Don’t you mean 2000 milliamps? No way that wire would handle 200 amps of current. Let’s say for comparison sake that red wire is as big as 12awg it would only handle around 25 amps. Something doesn’t add up here
It has been a while since this video, but I should have shown it in the clamp meter display. With the controller it soft starts the motor so it's fine with the 10 gauge wire normally. It's fused for 40A and runs around 12A no load and running speed and can pull up to 30A under load. I tried my best to show why we need a controller on this motor because so many people mention running across full voltage (cross the line start) so I showed what would happen if you put the motor straight across the 56V. It does in fact spike to 200A! Not that 10 gauge wire can handle that much current for any length of time , but simply start up spike or what we call inrush current. These silicone wires actually are surprising how much they can take temporarily. They are rated for 200⁰C.
I honestly never considered the battery powered tool would go bad on the EGO products. The complexity in the tool is greater than I thought it would be!
going back to gas mower after 2 years of Ego ownership. Not worth the time to trouble shooting during weekend while kids are running around and the grass are growing crazy
Sorry to hear that. Have you contacted EGO on warranty. They really have a great warranty. I have only had one failure out of all the EGO equipment I actually bought new. I had the original battery failure and they sent one right out and let me keep the old one. That is what started my EGO repair videos and after successful repair of the first pack I started buying other non-working items to learn and share with. Best of luck to ya!
@@liuweimdI have several EGO products. I had this same controller go out, but after 6 hard years of use. Never had a single issue with any of their other products. No maintenance, no gas storage, no pollution, less noise…………
Thank you so much for this video. I had the blinking orange light. Could not take off the blade but that seemed OK. Bought a leaf blower to get another battery(battery $249...blower $279). Same thing happened. Watched this video many times and thought I would give it a try before bringing it to a service tech even though I suspected the controller. When I took off the casing (not too handy myself but wth) i looked at all the wires and noticed one was frayed. I disconnected it and realized it was for the self propelled motor. The blade worked fine so I knew I could mow with difficulty. I could not get to the other end of the frayed wire but managed to splice it in place. IT WORKED. I would not have tried it without the video so thanks again!
Awesome job! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing this. My mower was doing the same thing for quite sometime. It used to take few tries to run but the funny thing is if I tilted the mower by pushing the handle down it would restart. The mower did not start for some reason yesterday so I started tinkering with it. This video was a valuable find and seems like a controller issue on mine as well.
Awesome job I am having the same yellow light flashing issue but it is intermittent and becoming more frequent. Likely a component failure. I will confirm with and amp meter as well. Thanks for a great thorough job!
Running into the ame issue on the older ego mower, newer ego is completely dead, changed out the PCBA between mowers, no change, but the older ego seems to be repairable based on your video , will have to do more troubleshooting to verify, you gave me more checks to do to verify controller replacement.
Has the one that is dead had the 40A fuse checked right above the motor?
Thanks for this video 👍, I'm having the same issue so I'll check out the cost of a controller vs a new mower, I bought mine in 2016 so it owes me nothing 👍
I have a newer EGO mower (2135SP). The mower blades would randomly stop while using the mower. It seemed that the slightest movement of the handle would cause the safety switch to stop the blades. In most cases, I could restart the mower by pulling up on the handle and starting the mower normally. Finally, I became annoyed with having to do this.
With the newer models, the configuration of the safety switch is different. There is no spring. I opened the plastic components on the handle which houses the safety switch. There are several TORX screws holding the components together, so an appropriately sized TORX screwdriver is needed. The switch is configured as a Normally Closed (NC) switch. When the handle is not in the fully up position, the switch opens, and the blades stop. I first thought of removing the switch and permanently connecting the two wires together. I then opted for another solution in case I wanted to easily remove my modification.
The switch has an unused Normally Open (NO) terminal. I used a small piece of wire to connect the NC and the NO terminals together. This basically causes the switch to have no function. I reassembled the mower and now everything works great without interruptions. Of course this removes one of the safety components of the mower. Be aware that the handle will not have to be fully extended to start the blades.
I enjoy all the EGO mower videos on UA-cam. I only wish more videos for the newer models were available.
I've watched a couple of videos where the safety switches were bypassed. Normally I don't bypass safeties. But I after i thought about it - they don't give me safety in any real sense. I don't fold up the mower until I stow it away at the end of the season. So, I never shorten, or fold, the handle with the battery in it. The mower is perfectly safe when the battery is out. So that's two safety switches I will never need. And really, now that I've seen several videos showing that folding the handle damaged or broke the wires inside, I may not even fold it up again.
Maybe throw the multimeter on the end of xt60 connector where it goes to the motor to see what the voltage was looking like. I like troubleshooting.
I have an EGO LM2100 that I just got back from a warranty repair. It still shuts off and flashes a few times when I cut the grass. Not really happy with this mower. I don't want to take it back to get it "fixed" again. Not worth it. So I might just watch this video really closely to see if it's a controller board. Thanks for the video. Let me know if it stopping intermittently sounds like it might be a controller board. I thought the battery was the problem, but maybe not. It's not over heating either, which EGO was trying to tell me. It was only 50 some degrees and it still stopped and flashed 4 times during grass cutting.
If the orange/yellow light is flashing when it shuts down it is most likely the controller. It's like it is sensing too high of load/current and shutting down. If the red light is flashing it seems to think it has a low battery to the point of shutdown possibly. I would check the connections on the battery terminals for the mower and maybe even the wiring to the handle and back just to check the easier things first.
@@ThriftyToolShed Thanks for the quick reply. I will check the connections and the handle wiring. The repair person said something about a bent battery tap. But it's still not working right, and I don't want to take it back. If I can't fix it, it will probably be on the curb with a free sign on it. lol
Awesome videos! I’ve been troubleshooting an LM2000 doing the exact same thing. Brand new battery fully charged. It spins up for a second or two then amber flashing. I’ve checked all the switches and leads with no luck. I’m thinking I’m looking at a bad control board as well. Do you have a good place for affordable boards? I’m fine with rebuilt as well. Thanks again!
Thanks for your comment. I posted the very next video with the Retrofitted controller and I did take time to share the cost of a couple of these and the EGO replacements from a couple sites as well. I have links in that video description. Hope it helps and best of luck to ya!
Curious. I had this issues start happening today. I ended up using a 2.5A battery and it worked just fine no issues. Not sure if the 5A is giving it too much juice. But want to make sure it's a mower problem and not battery problem before going to next step.
Enjoyed your video although it is 2023 now. I have the same EGO mower my issue is the speed run wide open at 5 regardless of the throttle switch position. Runs fine but the speed is so fast I am almost running behind it. You have a good grasp electronically of this mower. Can you please determine why the speed throttle no longer functions properly. I have looked at the electronics but nothing seems to work from others online who have this issue. Thank you in advance.
Hi,
Thanks for your kind comment!
I actually have not worked on the Self Propelled model myself. I don't know the most common issue, but I would check the wiring going down from the handle into the mower. I would check the speed selector control knob itself and the wiring first since it does run just seems to be stuck at high speed. Losing the speed signal from the speed selector could cause this for sure. Even though it could be the speed knob or wiring possibly pinched where the handle folds. I wish I could help more. I wish the very best of luck to ya with yours!
I enjoyed the video thanks for your work
Awesome troubleshooting I wonder if a controller from a scooter or twist grip ebike would work in a Frankenstein fix. Thanks for sharing I have the same problem on my Snow Joe 80 volt snowblower.
I am testing with some cheap DC controllers at this time and they will work fine. Hard to find anything rated above 50V though. These are brushed controllers and alot of the 72V controller etc. are usually brushless controllers. Thanks for your comment!
My Ego mower is 3 or 4 years old. I'm running into the same blinking yellow light problem as I try using it this new mowing season. I am going to study the video more. GREAT VIDEO by the way! But am thinking it might (probably will) boil down to either trashing the mower, or buying the controller board. I'd be interested in your DIY controller idea, however, I would want to keep the variable speed control. Would your solution keep the variable speed control?
Yes, I added the controller and kept the variable speed. I typically leave it at around 65-75% speed so I did not add wires up to handle for the adjustment, but easy to do if needed for sure! Thanks for your comment! Best of luck to ya!
Very helpful to see the motor run without the blade. Now I think my controller is bad. Not sure if it is worth messing with.
In the next video I did take time to share installing a cheaper controller. I also shared the price from some places with OEM controller if someone desires to buy one of those. Yeah, it's not for everyone to troubleshoot and replace the controller and at some point it may be worth it to buy a new one?
@@ThriftyToolShed i went ahead and bought a new one, but I may check out your other video to have a spare mower.
First thing I did was take that frigging battery cover off. I could not get access to toe controller with that dang lid flapping me in the face. No service tech near by so had to do all this myself
Oh, that cover! Yes, the cover indeed! I know exactly what you mean. In the next video, after this, I retrofitted an aftermarket DC controller, and I mentioned how I cut the back of the hinge at an angle on mine so it will stay back when I open it. What a pain!
Hello Thrifty Tool Shed
Thanks for doing these videos. They are very helpful!
I have a problem similiar to yours but not exactly the same. It is an intermittent problem. When I try to start a few times, the first time it will go green and start. But the next time I try to start, it will flash orange/green and not start. If i let it rest for a few minutes it will usually go green and start. Once it starts, I can cut my whole lawn. But if I try to start again it goes yellow. I used you diagnostic and removed the blade and it starts every time without the inertia from the blade, so I'm thinking that it may be the controller.
But electronic parts are not usually intermittent, they either work or they don't work. Maybe the thermistor, but if it was a heat problem, I couldn't cut my whole lawn once I get it started. I would greatly apreciate any insight that you could provide.
Thanks,
Dave D.
Interesting and very true. I would think with the controller issue, it would show similar to mine and have the same fault very consistently. It could possibly be that yours is just on the threshold of being too much load at startup (or the controller thinks it is?) so any change in temp. etc. could in fact be a deciding factor if it starts or doesn't. Just a thought, hard to say for sure. Unfortunately it's no good way to get into the hard potted controller and try to figure it out either. I can't say for sure but the controller is the most logical issue? At this point trying the cheaper replacement controller to run it might be the next step in testing as well? Sorry I can't help more. Best of luck to ya with yours!
Hello again Thrifty Tool shed. I got by with having to try many times to get my mower to start. It would flash green/orange for about 25-30 tries and then would finally start and would keep running for 45 minutes until stopped it. I finally broke down and bought a controller EGO-2830075001 from parts warehouse. I am currently waiting for it to arrive. But then I watched your video again and saw all of the testing you were doing with the Klein current loop tester. I don't have all of your fancy test tools, just a simple multimeter which measures low currents.
So i got to thinking. My battery is 6 old and has maybe 250 charge/discharge cycles. It runs fine once i get the mower started. Is it possible that the battery is too weak to provide the initial startup current, but is ok once it gets running? I don't have another battery to test with. So I could try to borrow current loop from one of my ham friends to test the startup current. What values should I see with a good battery and what will I see if the battery is having trouble providing enough startup current.
Thanks Very Much
Dave daniels
I may have shown the current on video. It's been a little while to say for sure. If you can get your hands on another pack to test would be the easy test.
If mine has the same issue where it starts without the blade on, is it worth opening it up to look for bad connections or anything, or does the controller probably need to be replaced?
I found out I can actually get it to start by looping a piece of twine around the end of the blade and yanking it to start the blade moving right before trying to start the mower. Crazy, I know, but it works. I’m always careful not to have the battery in while messing with the blades.
It absolutely seems to be an inertia issue. The current sense is thinking the current is going too high on startup, it seems. It maybe reading that incorrectly, but unfortunately, it's not much we can check with the epoxy potting on the control board.
I picked up a mower like this last week for cheap (100 bucks), except the guy didn't tell me it had this problem of trying to start and stop immediately. He demonstrated to me that it works, don't know what exactly he did to get it to work. Anyway, it looks like its sensing an overload condition on startup and as a safety feature shutting down without trying to proceed. By removing the inertia of the blade it spins right up. If I were to guess there is a current sensing resistor on the control board that may have changed its value or overheated the solder pads/traces thereby increasing its resistance. Did you by chance get to reverse engineer the controller? I think this being a brushed motor is must be quite a bit simpler than the brushless kind. Looks like all that it would do is to PWM the battery output into the motor based on speed or current. I do not see any way it is measuring the speed though. If there was any Hall sensor or something, that would have been my first guess as to what may be wrong with it. Also would be nice if you could tell me what screws to remove to open it. One guy on here seems to have removed lots of screws from underneath to gain access.
The controller would most likely be an easy repair, but it is epoxy potted as mentioned in the video. It's been a while, but I either mentioned the controller potting in this video or the video when I replaced the controller with the cheap brushless controller.
@@ThriftyToolShed You did mention the hard epoxy. I had one time removed the controller from my snow blower (not this lawn mower) which also had epoxy on it which I was for the most part able to scrape it off. My guess is that using a combination of heat and scraping, you can remove this too. I'll hopefully get to it in a week or so, Ill report back what I find.
Hey I guess controller is the governor. Which aftermarket controller would you go with or will there be different variations to each controller for different volt batteries. Nice video
I used a cheaper DC controller in the very next video and shared some testing. The other option we mentioned is the OEM replacement for over $100.
Mouse Hotel- found a LM2100sp on the curb that is DOA. Mouse chewed multiple wires, I cant find where the thin black and white wires from the main controller go , On your wiring diagram it shows to the NTC but I don't see where that is. Did the mouse eat it too?
If a mouse ate the component, what can I use to replace it?
Mine had a NTC on the small black and white wire. You can see the silver tape at around 3:15 and the ntc is wrapped up in that tape attached to the DC motor power wires. Typical, though not all, NTCs measure round 10K at room temp.
Yours may still be there under the silver tape...
@@ThriftyToolShed Thanks for replying, nope nothing under the tape, mouse ate it!!
Dang...
@@ThriftyToolShed I found a 10k thermistor on an old bms board, I'll try it. Thanks
Great video! After 3 years my Ego mower became loud, vibrates a lot and does not cut as well. Tested new blades. Same issue. Do you have any ideas?
I have not seen that exact issue, but if you have vibration I would make sure the blade is on correctly. I know you mentioned new blades also and that's good to test for sure. It may also be a spacer that is not correctly aligned possibly? It could also be a bad lower bearing in the motor if the shaft has any movement or play in it from side to side. The other issue could unfortunately be that the blade has hit something hard enough that the motor shaft was bent causing vibration. I hope it's the more simple solution and something not centered or aligned on the blade....
@@ThriftyToolShed Thank you! Will look at everything you mentioned. Is motor shaft hard to fix/replace?
@@EUG888
Typically the motor will need replacing if it's bent bad enough to vibrate.
@@ThriftyToolShed Thank you! Will contact Ego support.
Great video!
Good video, as usual! Apparently, the previous owner knew the repair was going to be very expensive or perhaps not possible due to part availability. I wonder if the controller was under warranty possibly allowing a complete exchange of the mower. At any rate have you considered breadboarding your own controller to address the in rush (possibly a time delay to a MODFET gate few hundred ms should do) since after start, run is full on?
I would if I had the time. I not only try to do the best method of repair for my time, but also consider what most of the viewers time as well or the best solution for the majority. I do have a couple other controllers that have more of a soft start if needed. The one I chose is working perfectly fine. If one is needed with a softer start, the following usually works well for most applications...
amzn.to/3Xg5uZD
Thank you for your kind comment!
@@ThriftyToolShed
This one looks like a nice 'all-in-one' solution..claims even has a soft-stop (using a pedal?). How would one go about using these pins to provide the brake?
I am going to try one with the Pedal that just plugs in to see if it's just automatic when releasing the pedal. The Pedal simply plugs in. I will need to try these controllers on a load like the mower because these controllers are super tiny and light weight and I do wonder how long they will run the mower. These are not nearly as robust as the controller I used in the end. They work good for smaller ride on toys etc. for sure but I do wonder how long it's rated for 40A.
amzn.to/3KcirhW
@@ThriftyToolShed
UA-cam deleted my post likely for having an AMZ link to DC-DC 48V-5V 2A buck converter, but was musing getting the dead-man bail to function as the brake, as originally designed/equipped, using those pins...+5V/GRN/'S' (for stop?)
I don't believe you need the 5V supply. It should be supplied by the controller internally. You vary the input from 0-5V and at the 0V or ground reference it should brake. I have purchased one of these and only tested very briefly. I will have to get more time to fully test and see if 40A rating is real. It's super light and small for 40A,but claims it's current limited so it should not pop like a balloon, but I will find out when I get some time. I like the idea of the low voltage cut-off, the soft start and the current limit.
Is this a brushed motor? I'm guessing brushed as I see two wires on your schematic. With that in mind, you won't have to worry with hall effect sensors and can find alternative ways of motor speed control and start up. I'm sure that these oem control boards are not cheap. I noticed on Ryobi that their first generation mowers were brushed which made it easier to utilize parts. I found it on facebook and made a stationary leaf mulcher with motor speed control and two 6ahr batteries along with other components. .
Yes it is brushed and the speed control is around $125 as OEM replacement. We can definitely find other replacement motor control cheap.
Question I just bought one brand new of the guy down the road be moved and never gave me the battery or charger so I got a battery but I was wondering can I use a 210 amp charger for this rather the 320 amp?
As far as I know the standard wattage and higher wattage charger will both charge all the EGO packs just fine. Of course the standard charger will take longer so if you have a really large pack such as a 10Ah it will take a while, but usually it doesn't bother me and is typically a little better for the pack to charge slower.
Do you have an suggestions on best way to reassemble the handle switch assembly or a video?
I do not have a video for that. I just showed a few clips of it on this video for clarity. I could not detail much about it as it would have made the video much longer. What exactly is your question about the handle? Or have you taken apart the switch itself?
@@ThriftyToolShed
Thanks and thanks to your video I figured it out got it working fine
Great work ... thx
My question is, are repair parts available for public purchase from EGO ?
Well parts that are available are very high. I believe Jack's small engine is the best place for replacement parts and the controller is over $120. My question in the video was do you want me to share a non- oem or cheaper controller retrofit on this mower? Since it's not board repairable? I have a few videos that share similar Frankenstein type fixes to simply keep good useable tools and items from the landfiled. Just another alternative.
@@ThriftyToolShed I think it would be interesting to do off market fix but wonder about showing it with possible insurance risk. Wouldn't want you to get hung out to dry.
@@jdmccorful There is no product liability risk in showing a repair. At most you can throw a disclaimer out there. It's well established that watching people do stupid things on UA-cam doesn't make them liable if you do said stupid thing and get hurt.
@@ipissed It's called a thought. Have a nice day!
great Video - I have the same exact mower with the same exact issue, were you able to locate and replace the controller? if so where were you able to find one? I hat to go and spend another 800 for a replacement mower
I did share in the very next video about the controller I chose and show it in use. I also share some links from other websites with the EGO replacement controller if you wish to do so.
ua-cam.com/video/Kdib1irxq-Q/v-deo.html
@@ThriftyToolShed thanks I will definitely check it out .
I have the same model and it get the similar issue. Found the start switch had a loosing soldering on blue wire (blue wires jump from one to another). It still hung on the switch with the black terminal insulation.
Good find, the black heat shrink was holding the wire in place you are saying I think. Yes that would stop all power from getting to controller. How long did it blink orange since it lost power?
@@ThriftyToolShed yes, it is black heat shrink. The light link about 2 seconds then went off.
I bought a used one that was broken to see if I could fix it. All three of relays check ok, but I notice it has a yellow flashing light on the mower itself when I try to start. Does that provide any clues? I have just started getting into it, but don’t see anything obvious.
That what I went over in this video. I checked for binding at the blade (with the battery removed) and even took the blade off. It would run with blade off so the controller thought it was too much load at start up I guess? The mower varied in load alot it seemed to me even with no blade. Motor seemed fine and it even ran with my other mowers controller driving it! In the very next video I shared replacing the controller with a cheaper one to get it running. I also share the cost of a new EGO controller on that video as well.
Was it the controller?? I can take the blade off and it runs
It was the controller. I see now that many of these do fail in this manner. I have one I am working on now and it is intermittent. It will sometimes start up and run and then Sometimes it will not start up and flash yellow and it's getting more frequent not wanting to run. To the point now that I am putting a new controller on it. Something in the controller starts picking up too much start up current and shuts down. It's like you said and like I shared in the video it will start up with no blade so it's a load detection issue. The controller is so darn potted with epoxy it's nearly impossible to repair it with out a controller swap. I am trying out a smaller all in one controller that is working fine , but I am over driving it. I want to see how it holds up before I even share anything about it, but I hope that company will make one just a little higher current rating. I am basically using the tiny controller as a low voltage cut off built in and simply using the original handle switch instead of adding a relay since the controller is soft start.
Mine runs fine just having the transmission issue where it won't pull when I push the button
Yeah, this one is not self propelled. I can see where the self propelled addition could give trouble over time for sure.
My ego lm2100sp started smoking, so I took the cover off so i could see inside and tried again and I saw flames coming out the engine. Anyone know how I can check this or clean it?
This mower model is a DC brushed motor and most likely it's arcing bad at the carbon brushes that ride on the commutator. If it's arcing bad enough I could see how leaves, dry grass and other debris could possibly cause something like you are describing. It could be a bad motor or it could just be the brushes are getting worn down and arcing due to less spring pressure.
How to fix the self propel on the Ego 21
Sorry, I do not have one to share anything about!
I have a Ryobi battery powered lawn mower. I have the batteries, which are cheaper as well as the mower compared with Ego. Their snowblowers are horrible.
You are saying EGO snowblowers are horrible? I live in the south and never used one. As far as Ryobi 40V batteries, that is one of the few brands platform that I do despise. The battery packs are very expensive for what you get because of all of the complexity of adding Mosfets and monitoring board to the packs to shut down when needed. They do this to keep the tools cheap. I had many earlier 40V packs and equipment and have shared on video some of the issues I had with the platform. It's very similar to comparing Ryobi 18V tools to Flex 24V tools from my experience. I hope the newer versions of the 40V packs are better though, they have been around some time.
@@ThriftyToolShed My lawn mower uses the Ryobi battery packs that you use on their tools. My lawn is small. They are the 18 volt batteries.
@@ThriftyToolShed The South, like Florida, is a great place for their snowblowers!
@@joejohnson2478
😂
@@ThriftyToolShed Glad that you agree with me.
My Honda is 7 years old and running fine these battery ones are garbage.
I'm starting to think that the Ego mower is the equivalent of a big-box store briggs&stratton gas mower. Works great for a few years, then starts breaking. I can live without a Honda mower but I really wish I could afford the Honda snowblower.... 2400 bucks though...
I bought a used ego 21" mower at a pawn shop for $125 and got a 2.5 amp battery and a rapid charger with it.
I have had no issues with it, other than replacing the blade.
I currently have the mower, blower, string trimmer , chainsaw and 3 batteries .
No problems with any of them .
No fouled plugs, stale gas after winter, broken pull cords
I bought a used ego 21" mower at a pawn shop for $125 and got a 2.5 amp battery and a rapid charger with it.
I have had no issues with it, other than replacing the blade.
I currently have the mower, blower, string trimmer , chainsaw and 3 batteries .
No problems with any of them .
No fouled plugs, stale gas after winter, broken pull cords
I bought a used ego 21" mower at a pawn shop for $125 and got a 2.5 amp battery and a rapid charger with it.
I have had no issues with it, other than replacing the blade.
I currently have the mower, blower, string trimmer , chainsaw and 3 batteries .
No problems with any of them .
No fouled plugs, stale gas after winter, broken pull cords
I bought a used ego 21" mower at a pawn shop for $125 and got a 2.5 amp battery and a rapid charger with it.
I have had no issues with it, other than replacing the blade.
I currently have the mower, blower, string trimmer , chainsaw and 3 batteries .
No problems with any of them .
No fouled plugs, stale gas after winter, broken pull cords
Take the blade off
200 Amps? Don’t you mean 2000 milliamps? No way that wire would handle 200 amps of current. Let’s say for comparison sake that red wire is as big as 12awg it would only handle around 25 amps. Something doesn’t add up here
It has been a while since this video, but I should have shown it in the clamp meter display. With the controller it soft starts the motor so it's fine with the 10 gauge wire normally. It's fused for 40A and runs around 12A no load and running speed and can pull up to 30A under load. I tried my best to show why we need a controller on this motor because so many people mention running across full voltage (cross the line start) so I showed what would happen if you put the motor straight across the 56V. It does in fact spike to 200A! Not that 10 gauge wire can handle that much current for any length of time , but simply start up spike or what we call inrush current. These silicone wires actually are surprising how much they can take temporarily. They are rated for 200⁰C.
Nice work, thanks for the show.