hpr-knowledge-base/hpr_transcripts/hpr3452.txt

Episode: 3452
Title: HPR3452: Neuton battery test
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr3452/hpr3452.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-24 23:42:19

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This is Hacker Public Radio Episode 3452-420, the 26th of October 2021.
Today's show is entitled, Newton Battery Test.
It is hosted by Rowan and is about five minutes long and carries a clean flag.
The summary is Rowan, described testing the battery in his Newton M-4.1 electric lawn mower.
This episode of HPR is brought to you by archive.org.
Support universal access to all knowledge by heading over to archive.org forward slash donate.
Hi, this is Rowan and welcome to another episode of Hacker Public Radio.
Today, well, technically yesterday, I was testing whether or not I successfully replaced
the battery in my Newton mower. I ran into some recording difficulties, initially I was trying
to record through the blue tooth headset connected to my phone. Of course, I did a test,
just, you know, standing still, it sounded good. But as soon as I started moving around and the
headset moved around, things got very quiet and there was a lot of noise and then it stopped
recording about halfway through the first part. So right now I am recording the introduction
and in a little bit you will hear the re-recording I did yesterday as I tested the mower.
I did this about probably week and a half after the time frame of my last episode about the Newton mower.
That would be episode 3, 4, 4, 3. The mower has a key, which is basically just something that
lets you complete the circuit. So without it, of course, if you have the battery in it won't run
or start or anything, which is great. It looks pretty easy. There are two fairly large terminals
that the key sort of plugs into. So I probably could have just taken a wire with some
alligator clips and clipped it across and it would have started up. But given that it's a mower
and spinning parts and vibrations and shaking as you are moving around, I didn't want to risk it
like just popping off and all the various other potential safety hazards that might ensue.
So I was able to find a replacement key on eBay for about $15 US and just decided it was worth
the cost and the wait before testing out the mower. So in the next part you will hear how that went
and that's coming up right now.
Okay, let me try this again. So I got partway through and my recording sound went to zero.
I was trying to record on my Bluetooth headset, which worked fine when it was close to me,
but then when I leaned over it would dangle and that's why some of the sound on this is a little
weird at the beginning, hopefully getting that fixed and editing. So to recap, I did find when I first
tried to start the mower and just like I would hold these handles and impress the start button
and it won't start. And then I realized that if you press the button first and then pull the
it starts and then you pull the safety handles back to hold while you're mowing, it works.
After getting done the mower and I was standing here, it happened to look straight down at the
the mower itself and on the back in a nice little sticker it says starting insert safety key
into slot. Light on handlebars should be green. So that's what it was. Indicating key charging
battery in place. Press start button number one and hold down and squeeze operator presence control
levels. Number two and hold it in place. Once the motor starts it may take several seconds,
you may release the start button. So that was an operator error trying to pull the levers first.
You got to push the start button and then pull the levers. It does run, it's pretty easy to do that.
This starts right up. They would like it because it is very quiet, they don't like to
take a motor. They have a set kind of high, but it is cutting, it's just going to grab
something wrong and they're probably not doing it twice after I raise it.
I do like these mowers, it's not the widest mower, it's only a little maybe a foot and a half,
so you do. On small yards it's fine, you have to do this on a big guy that would be painful
just because the cutting areas are small. The other very nice thing about the mower is it comes
with a clipper, like edger trimmer attachment that you can put on the front so you can like
edge to your yard and do some rewetting stuff with it. So that's very nice to have. I do also have
some other cord and electric rewetting that I use, but just by step on this mower. Everything
seems to be running great, I'm very happy. A little money into it, but I think overall the money
looks a bit like me actually knowing that you're asked, you know, kind of all these people out
in a better account for my time. But otherwise I think I'm happy to tell this is a successful
adventure and thank you for listening to Hacker Public Radio. So you could a chance, pick a
topic and record it and see it out, anything. Thank you.
You've been listening to Hacker Public Radio at Hacker Public Radio dot org. We are a community
podcast network that releases shows every weekday Monday through Friday. Today's show, like all
our shows, was contributed by an HPR listener like yourself. If you ever thought of recording a
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