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Automower won't leave the charging station — departure failures explained
The pattern: the mower charges normally, its schedule says mow, it lifts off the contacts —
and within seconds it's back on the dock or showing “No loop signal” (E02). Rinse and repeat
every few minutes.
Here's what's happening: while seated on the contacts the mower doesn't need the loop
signal. The moment it departs, it must hear the loop to navigate out. If the signal is weak,
intermittent, or the station's electronics are browning out under charging load, departure
is exactly when the failure shows.
Checks, cheapest first
- Station LED at the moment of a failed departure: flashing blue = the signal really is
dropping.
- Loop wire terminals (AL/AR) at the station: unclip, check for corrosion, re-strip, reseat.
This is separate from the charging contacts.
- Power supply: if the mower also shows interrupted charging, or the LED cycles through a
reboot pattern, a failing supply is the front-runner — it can be fine unloaded and collapse
under load.
- Note that the mower usually escapes eventually (it retries until it catches a good signal
window) — so “it got out in the end” does not mean the fault is gone. It means it's
intermittent.
MowerWatch spots this automatically. It watches your Automower®'s own API data,
reconstructs every stop with its cause, and tells you which part to check — before the
dealer visit.
Try it free for 3 days — no card needed.