Husqvarna Automower having trouble finding its way home to the charging station
In this article we will try and find out what could be the reason why the Automower has trouble finding its way home when it needs to charge.  There can be several reasons for this happening. The result of the robotic lawnmower not getting home in time or not finding its way home is usually finding it stranded on the lawn displaying the error message "Empty battery". 

What could be the reason for the robot not making its way home?
First of all, let's find out how your robotic lawnmower usually finds its way home. The robot uses three search methods to find its way home.
1. Guide cables
2. The boundary wire
3. Charging station signal

The first search method used is via the guide wire ifit exists, which it always should. The guide cable should be the fastest way for the robotic lawnmower to find its way home. The guide wire should be installed centrally in the garden so that the robot, wherever it is, can quickly find the guide wire and follow it straight to the charging station.

The second search method is via the boundary wire. If the robotic lawnmower cannot find the guide cable, it should find its way home to the charging station via the boundary wire. This is not recommended as it usually takes much longer. The robotic lawnmower always follows the current coming from the charging station.
The power goes from the left loop to the right (seen from the back of the charging station). Therefore, if the robotic lawnmower is in the area to the left of the charging station, it will have to maneuverer all the way along the boundary wire until it reaches its destination at the charging station.

The third search method is the charging station signal. The signal extends from the charging station for about 10 metres. This signal is also the final signal used by the robot as it approaches the charging station. 

The most common reason for the robot not finding its way home is that the guide cable is not working properly. Either there has been a cable break, or it has been damaged in some other way. So check first if the guide wire is intact. This can be done by moving the guide cable to a restrictor pin on the charging station. If you have an Automower G3 (i.e. 310,315, 320, 420, 430X etc.) the charging station will flash blue if the guide cable is broken when you attach it to the limiter pin. 
If you have an Automower G2 (i.e. 220AC, 230ACX etc.) the charging station will flash green if the guide cable is broken when you attach it to the limiter pin.
If the guide cable is broken, it should be repaired to make it work as intended.

Another phenomenon is that the robot finds its way to the charging station, but misses, or is unable to dock with the charging station.
In most cases, this means that the antenna for the F signal is defective. On the Automower G3 (310, 315, 320, 420, 430X and others) the antenna is at the bottom of the charging station and is a white cable. Sometimes you can see on the cable that it is damaged or has broken. If so, it can be repaired, or the charging station wiring can be replaced. You can find the wiring harness under the spare parts lists for each model.
On the Automower G2 (i.e. 220AC, 230ACX etc.) the antenna is integrated into the charging plate and is not visible from below. The charging plate needs to be replaced.

The list of potential causes for the failure can be long. It all depends on how the robot is reacting. It finds its way home but can't dock? The cause of the fault could be a poor connection between the charging plates? Sand the contact points on the robot and on the charging station with sandpaper.

If the boundary wire is under the charging station, the robot may have difficulty entering the charging station, as the boundary wire indicates that "you are not allowed to drive here" while the charging station signal says the opposite.

Insufficient charging current from the transformer may cause the robot to leave the charging station after docking, as it does not detect the charging current.

How can I make it easier for the robot to find its way home?
Through settings on the robot, you can set different delay ranges for when it should use which search method.
The settings can be found via menu->installation->find charging station (applies to Automower G3).

As standard on, for example, an Automower 310, the setting is as follows:
Guide: 4 min, limitation:10 min, charging station signal: Max.
This means that the robot will be "free searching" (i.e. searching for the charging station signal) for four minutes before it actually starts searching for the guide wire.
If during these four minutes the robot encounters the guide or boundary wire, it will not follow either home. Only after four minutes have passed will the robot register the guide wire and use it to get home.
If, on the off chance, it does not find the guide cable, it will wait six minutes before it selects the boundary wire to find its way home. Thus, the boundary wire is used if the guide wire is out of order.

When we perform an installation and commission your robotic lawnmower, we always make sure to change these settings. The ideal setting is that the robot immediately searches for the guide cable when it needs to find its way back to the charging station. So we set the guide delay to 0 min. The delay for the boundary wire is usually set to 4-6 min, depending on the size of the installation. It acts as a backup in case the guide cable fails. 
Leave the charging station's signal at Max. There are few occasions that will require you to reduce the charging station's signal. However, you may have to do so if, for example, you have the charging station standing against a fence with grass on both sides. In this case, the robot may try to find its way home to the charging station on the "wrong" side of the fence because it detects the signal from the charging station from the other side as well. In this case, you can try setting the charging station's signal down to Low, to avoid the problem occurring.

Need more help?
Do not hesitate to contact our customer service for questions about your robotic lawnmower.