Hybernate the FREELEXO robot lawn mower with the correct care: Here's how to do it

You were able to enjoy the summer to the full in your own garden – and that was sometimes because your lawn was always well‐kept? Then our FREELEXO robot mower has done exactly what it was designed to do! In spring, summer and autumn, the useful robot automatically mows your lawns whenever and exactly as you specify in the settings. But even a robot needs a holiday, and the FREELEXO has certainly earned it. Learn here how to care for your useful helper after the strenuous gardening season and how best to send it off for the winter break.

When cleaning the robotic lawn mower, there are a few things to keep in mind so that you do not damage the sensitive technology. We have summarised when to send the mower over your lawn for the last time and where best to store it. And if you want to give your robot lawn mower a treat, you can also take advantage of our Einhell winter service. This will make your robot lawn mower fit again for next spring!

A man carries his robotic lawnmower
Sending the robotic lawn mower into a well-deserved winter break - We explain what you should look out for.

Reasons for the winter break of your robot mower

  • Lawns no longer grow: There are several reasons for hibernating your robot lawn mower. The most obvious, of course, is that your lawn won’t need mowing in the winter, so your robotic lawn mower won’t be used at all. Before the outside temperatures drop, the last lawn care should still take place, at the latest at the end of October, during which the greenery should be mown as short as possible. It is best to follow the one‐third rule, according to which the grass should only ever be shortened by one‐third of its current growth height. If your lawn is already quite long, you should gradually adjust the cutting height of your robot lawn mower at intervals of about five days. In general, it is advisable to keep the lawn as short as possible in winter (max. 5 cm) so that the blades of grass do not break off in snow and frost and can grow beautifully again in spring.
  • Time for care and maintenance: Another reason is that you can use the winter break to maintain your robotic lawn mower. At the latest before the first mowing in spring, you should have cleaned and checked the unit and have carried out any software updates. You would rather leave that to the pros? That’s why we have our winter service, which takes care of these tasks for you, depending on which package you book. This saves you from having to care for it in the winter.
  • Cold can damage the device and battery: There is a lot of sophisticated technology in our FREELEXO robot mowers. Both the battery and the electronics of the robot lawn mower can be damaged if the temperature is too low or too high. At temperatures below 10°C, the electrical voltage in the battery drops, the processes become slower and the charging capacity decreases. The battery feels most comfortable at temperatures between 10°C and 35°C. In any case, the robot and battery should be protected from frost and moisture at all times.
A man loads his robotic lawnmower
Find out here why a winter break for the robot lawn mower makes sense and how you can use the time.

Finding the optimal storage location

To hibernate your robot lawn mower, you should find a dry place where your equipment and batteries can be stored frost‐free and protected from cold and damp at room temperature and normal humidity. We recommend that you also dismantle the charging station and store it safely over the winter. This also provides the best possible protection for the charging contacts on the station.

You don’t have enough space, your garage and workshop are full? In this case, you should find out about our winter service, which not only takes care of the maintenance of your robot lawn mower, but can also store your machine until the new gardening season.

Winter service for the robot lawn mower

  • Classic: Your FREELEXO will be professionally cleaned, checked and returned to you.
  • Classic Plus: In addition to professional cleaning and maintenance of your FREELEXO, it will be also stored safely and securely until next spring.
  • Premium: Full service for your robotic lawnmower – In addition to cleaning, checking and storing your FREELEXO, a technician will install the robot directly at your home in spring.
A robot lawn mover is loading
The robotic lawn mower should be stored frost-free and protected, this is also recommended for the charging station.

Tips for storage of the battery

Our FREELEXO robotic mowers are operated with our powerful Power X‐Change batteries This offers you the great advantage that if the battery is damaged, you do not have to send the whole robot lawn mower for repair or replace it, but can simply insert a new Power X‐Change battery. The batteries can also be combined with all our battery‐powered tools from the workshop and garden areas. So you can use the PXC battery from the robot lawn mower in winter as well as in summer in all our other devices!

You would rather store your Power X‐Change battery over the winter? No problem at all. Thanks to state‐of‐the‐art lithium‐ion technology, the self‐discharge of our batteries is very low. Nevertheless, you should recharge the battery before storage and check the charge level once or twice during the winter months to avoid deep discharge. Of course, you can also fully charge your PXC battery, but the lithium‐ion batteries feel most comfortable at a charge level of 30 to 60 percent, i.e. two lit LEDs on the charge level indicator. 

Ideally, you should store the battery in a dry place that is protected from dust and has a cool temperature of 15 to 20 degrees. The battery should also be protected from direct sunlight and heat and must be disconnected from the charger. The garage and the garden shed are therefore not suitable storage locations due to the cold temperatures in winter. Better find a place in the frost‐free basement, in the house or in the workshop.

A woman is changing the akku of her robot lawn mower
To maintain the battery capacity over the winter, it should be stored at room temperature.

Extra tip: Update the software regularly!

Whether you are preparing your robot lawn mower for the winter break, waking it up from hibernation in the spring or in the middle of the gardening season, it is worth taking a regular look at our robotic lawn mower service page. There you will always find the latest available software updates, which ensure that your FREELEXO is constantly optimized and performs its work without any problems. By the way: If your FREELEXO is compatible with the Einhell Connect App, you will also receive a notification via the app as soon as a software update is available for your robot lawn mower.

How to download and install the updates is explained step by step on the service page.

programming the robot lawn mower
Regular software updates optimize the robot lawn mower and ensure that it performs its work without any problems.

How to winterize the charging station and robot lawn mower

Cleaning your FREELEXO before storage

Right up front: You should never clean your robotic lawn mower under running water or even under high pressure, as the water can damage the sensitive electronics. Instead, you can use air pressure cleaning or a conventional brush. We have summarised for you exactly how to proceed:

  1. Power off the robotic mower: Before you start cleaning, you should power off the robot lawn mower using the main switch on the bottom of the unit and remove the Power X‐Change battery.
  2. Remove grass residues: With the help of a brush, you can carefully free the robotic lawn mower from the remains of the cut lawn and brush the grass away. 
  3. Clean the casing: You can clean the outer casing with a damp cloth and optionally a little soft soap. Do not use cleaning agents or solvents, as these could damage parts of the device! Make sure that your cloth is not wet, but only damp.
  4. Check the blades: To achieve good results when mowing the lawn, the blade disc with the blades attached must be movable. Once you have checked this, you should take a close look at the blades. If they are damaged or blunt, you can buy suitable replacement blades from us. Here you should make sure that you never change the blades individually, but always the entire set, so that no imbalance occurs.
  5. Check the charging contacts: The charging contacts on your robot lawn mower can corrode over time and need to be cleaned. For cleaning, it is best to use a special cleaning agent for metal or a fine sandpaper.
A robot lawn mover is loading
You can clean the robot lawn mower and the charging station step by step.

Dismantling and cleaning the charging station

We recommend that you also protect the charging station from low temperatures, because cold and frost can shorten the service life of the station. It is best to dismantle the charging station before the first night of frost and after the last lawn mowing in autumn. A few points need your attention:

  • You can wipe the housing clean with a damp cloth.
  • You should check the charging contacts for corrosion and, if necessary, clean them with a metal cleaning agent or lightly sand them with fine sandpaper.
  • Once you have dismantled the charging station, be sure to protect both ends of the fixing wire from rust. To do this, you can wrap the wire ends watertight with a plastic bag and insulating tape, for example. To protect the wire against wind and weather, you should fix it in place. For example, you can stick a wooden stick firmly into the ground and then tie the waterproof packed wire to the wooden stick.