Author Topic: Weed Eaters/Grass Trimmers  (Read 5234 times)

Offline pkveazey

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Weed Eaters/Grass Trimmers
« on: August 19, 2023, 05:00:43 PM »
Over the years, I have amassed 5 or 6 2 cycle gas powered weed eaters. Every one of them have ended up with the same problem. They get hard to start and then they get to where they die when I squeeze the throttle trigger. Today, I said "The Hell with it. I'm going to town and buy a Battery-operated weed eater." They had all sorts of different power ratings and cutting radiuses. I bought one for $150 that was sort of in the middle range. After putting it all together and waiting many hours for it to fully charge, I took it outside and the damned thing actually worked. The grass and other vegetation was pretty high and dense. I almost made it all the way around the House before the battery showed less that 50% so I just stopped and put the battery back on the charger. When I walk into my tool shed that's a complete mess, there are weed eaters everywhere. Ahhh... But I have a plan. I sold my old lawn tractor to a mechanic and told him that he could also have an older lawn tractor that I have for free. When he shows up to pick up the older, non-running lawn tractor, I plan to give him all 5 or 6 of my 2 cycle weed eaters.

Online Nemo

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Re: Weed Eaters/Grass Trimmers
« Reply #1 on: August 19, 2023, 06:06:08 PM »
I have an 18 volt Worx thats a fairly old.  They are making them 20 volt now.  It needs batteries.  The current ones do not hold much of a charge and its not real powerful for thicker grass.

I'm looking to trade up and was thinking gas.

What did you get electric?  Brand, voltage?

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Offline JohnyMac

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Re: Weed Eaters/Grass Trimmers
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2023, 07:03:10 PM »
Great story PKv.  :cheers:
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Offline grizz

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Re: Weed Eaters/Grass Trimmers
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2023, 07:11:37 PM »
Those tiny motors on the weed eaters HATE the corn fed gas you guys have down there. Try using some Sea Foam in a tank to clean it out and they'll purr like little kittens
« Last Edit: August 20, 2023, 11:40:59 AM by grizz »
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Offline Jackalope

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Re: Weed Eaters/Grass Trimmers
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2023, 07:58:08 PM »
I've been using Dewalt 20V weed whackers, because most of my cordless tools are Dewalt, including a 20V chainsaw.  If I use a 5 ah battery, it usually goes dead right around the time I want to take a break.  So, I'll take a break and slap the battery in the charger, and pop another one into the weed whacker.  By the time the next battery is dead, the original battery may or may not be fully charged.  In any case, we have enough batteries to get the job done that day.

Offline pkveazey

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Re: Weed Eaters/Grass Trimmers
« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2023, 09:01:29 PM »
Nemo.... The one I bought is a KOBALT from Lowes and it's a 24 volt 4 Amp Hour battery. It also came with the charger.

Offline pkveazey

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Re: Weed Eaters/Grass Trimmers
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2023, 06:10:16 PM »
My 2 extra weed eater batteries showed up today. Hmmm..... I thought that I had ordered two 24 volt 4 Amp hour batteries. Well, I took them out to the tool shed to put them on the charger to make sure they were completely topped off. After charging them up, I started comparing them to the one that came with the Weed Eater. They looked exactly like the KOBALT battery in every detail except they didn't have the KOBALT name on them. Hmmmm..... The ones that I just received say 6 Amp Hours on them. Well, I hot footed it back in the house and looked up my order and sure enough, I actually had ordered 24 volt 6 Amp Hour batteries. I guess that means that I'll get 1/3rd more cutting time before they go dead. Sometimes we just screw up in a good way. As best I recall, the 4 Amp Hour batteries were only about 3 or 4 dollars cheaper than the 6 Amp Hour. By the way, the charging time from dead to full is less than 2 hours.

Offline JohnyMac

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Re: Weed Eaters/Grass Trimmers
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2023, 04:28:20 PM »
It is the good Lord looking out for you.  :thumbsUp:
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Offline FeedingFreedom

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Re: Weed Eaters/Grass Trimmers
« Reply #8 on: August 28, 2023, 08:22:53 AM »
Two years ago I bought an E-Go push mower, and I really like it. Battery (56v, 5 Ah) has held up well and still does way more than my yard requires. I was going to buy one of their trimmers too, but I have an old Husky commercial trimmer that was given to me many years ago because it wouldn't run and would die when you gave it throttle. Cleaned the carb, replaced the primer bulb, and it's never failed to start since, runs like a champ. I only run stabilized ethanol-free gas in my equipment, got tired of cleaning fuel tanks and carbs every year and sometimes multiple times a year. I rarely run more than half a tank of fuel doing my normal trimming, but a couple times a year I help someone out and will run multiple tanks through the trimmer in one day. If I had an electric, I'd be waiting for batteries to charge for sure. My neighbor has an electric, and it's realistically not much quieter than my gas trimmer. The mower is stupid quiet, I could mow at night (it has headlights) and no one would notice. I still get looks from cars passing by, they see me pushing the mower, but there's no noise, I think they think I'm just out there pushing it around with it not running.  :))

What I really want and can't justify is a backpack blower. E-Go makes one, but apparently it eats batteries pretty quickly. Even the handhelds don't last very long, definitely not long enough to get all my leaves done in one go.
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Online Nemo

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Re: Weed Eaters/Grass Trimmers
« Reply #9 on: August 28, 2023, 12:43:10 PM »
I think I am just going to get a goat.    The only question remaining is how bad I would miss my wife.

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Offline Felix

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Re: Weed Eaters/Grass Trimmers
« Reply #10 on: August 28, 2023, 01:31:29 PM »
"I think I am just going to get a goat.    The only question remaining is how bad I would miss my wife."

Having had both, I'll simply predict a "close call" either way.