Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | Yes, the Raven Booms can be "backfed" so to speak. Let me explain:
In Raven consoles with Boom Switches the electricity flows from the Power switch to the Master switch. The output from the Master switch flows to the individual Boom Switches (3 for a 440, 6 for a 450). The output from the individual Boom Switches then flows in two directions. It travels internally to the circuit board so that the math can be done correctly for computing the proper amount of flow, count acres etc. and also flows out the console cable to the actual boom valves.
The electricty that is present on the Boom lines that is connected to the circuit board is referred to as Boom Sense. When 12 Volts is present on a boom line, the console considers that Boom to be ON and behaves accordingly. The console doesn't know nor care where that 12 volts came from. Thus the 12 volts could be from an ouside source.
In the case of the Raven 460/660 there are no Boom switches present in the console. The Boom switches are in a separate boom box or built into the sprayer (self-propelled OEM situations). In those cases the Boom Box sends the electricity down the proper wire in the console cable to get to the Boom Valve but again it also travels internally to the circuit board.
So if you want to use external Boom switches with a Raven 440/450, you certainly can. Just keep the regular boom switches in the OFF position at all times. If the regular boom switches get turned ON it won't hurt anything except that the switches in the box will not be able to shut the Boom OFF and that boom would always be considered ON. A piece of electrical tape across the console switches works well to remind the operator not to use those switches.
In the case of the spray coupe and other sprayers that use a polarity reversing scheme for the ball valves, all that is necessary is to backfeed the Raven console from the wire that is "Hot" only when the Boom Valve is open. This is done all the time and there is no danger of damaging the console as long as the connections are made to the proper wires.
Edited by tedbear 5/22/2006 08:21
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How smart is this guidance stuff?
