OK - a bit of a long story here but bear with me.  I think this may be of some interest to several here:

I have a 2001 model 1770 planter that we do a lot of split planter hybrid comparisons with.  Since the Gen I SeedStar will not record dual varieties I have been using a cumbersome workaround.  So I decided to upgrade the planter to Gen II this winter.  That went smoothly - just changed out the wedgebox and harness.  Then I started thinking about using Swath Pro for the half width disconnects.  I inquired about that and was told "Sure, should be no problem."  After some reading here on AgTalk I realized that I would need the rate controller to make that work.  So I ordered a rate controller kit and whatever I was supposed to need to hook everything up.  When I went to install it I discovered that I needed two more harnesses and one of the harnesses that we ordered would not be available until after mid April.  So had to order a harness from Tru Count, was given some wiring diagrams and some vague ideas and was told I could build an adapter harness to hook the Tru Count harness up to "something" on the planter. Turns out we did not have the "something" they were expecting on the planter.  After some head scratching, I was able to talk directly to a couple of guys from JD seeding and AMS groups who thought they had an idea for adding some relays and more adapter wiring.  They called back next morning to let me know that their idea would not work but had some info from engineering that would allow us to add a couple of wires to the wedgebox that would fix everything.  Added the wires the next day, tested everything out and - nothing.  At this point the JD people all politely threw up their hands and said "Sorry, this isn't going to work for you."

After spending as much time and money as we had, that didn't seem like the right answer so we set about to design our own solution.  After a couple of days of work, a bushel of relays, a few hundred feet of wire and a small nuclear reactor , we now have a solution that appears to be working.

Now, finally, for the dilemma.  The district service manager for Deere called me to congratulate me on figuring this out - and to fish for info.  I didn't give him any.  The next day my salesman called and asked me directly if I would tell Deere how I fixed the problem.  The idea being that I would get a pat on the back and be able to help some other farmers who were just as frustrated as I had been.   I told them to go fly a kite.  I would be more than happy to help any individual who could benefit from this but do not appreciate Deere trying to steal our idea.  If they had worked hand-in-hand with us and we had simply reached the solution first that would be a different matter.  Also, we did not build on anything Deere suggested - this was all our own idea.

How would you all react?

Thanks for listening!