Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | frmr96 - 2/21/2014 20:27
far fetch idea, but possibly try tieing into the factory resume switch. All it is, is a momentary on switch. If I were tieing into the switch, I'd do it right under the armrest.
I have an 2013 8310R with an Ag Leader GeoSteer system that utilizes the Deere switch. The tractor was a rental return from a canning company. I had the local Ag Leader dealer install the CAN Geosteer and Integra in the tractor. With an Integra and this CAN setup, the Deere Command Arm switch must be used to engage the steering. There is a screen Icon which can be used in other setups to engage the steering. If I try to use the screen Icon to engage, a warning message appears indicating that this is not supported. Hitting the screen Icon when the steering is engaged does disengage it. I always just turn the wheel to disengage anyway.
Operationally the steering worked fine last fall for tillage but would not engage at times. The Deere tech emailed me a chart which showed some error codes and their meaning. From this chart I concluded that the switch is a bit more than just a momentary like I was expecting. I have used a simple momentary to engage other steering systems. It appears to me that the switch must cleanly return to center once the operator releases it for the steering to engage properly.
If the switch is sticky or faulty and doesn't return to center then the system won't engage from I assume a safety concern. Once my switch was replaced, the steering would engage every time. From the codes, I concluded that my switch was faulty in the sense that it was not returning to center to complete that circuit rather than being faulty from the sense of not making contact when pushed. I had a somewhat similar switch problem on another tractor where one of my operators had spilled Mountain Dew around the switch. This was on an older 8310 for the IMS switch. Possibly the switch on my new tractor got the "Dew" treatment as well. Anyway the new switch solved the problem.
Making a foot switch to engage should certainly be possible but the above would need to be considered. I rather doubt that just splicing on to the existing wires would work but then again it might. With my tractor and powershift, this same switch can be depressed the other direction to invoke the autoshift feature. I guess if I were going to try this I would try to make some type of a Y electrical connector so that the autoshift wires would still go the command arm switch but the steering wires would go to a new foot switch. I'm quite sure the foot switch would need to a double throw momentary type.
I'm not sure how I would approach this if it is desirable to have both switches operational.
For me, I prefer the finger switch the way it is and don't have a desire for a foot switch. Maybe after we use this tractor on the planter this year I will change my mind.
Edited by tedbear 2/22/2014 08:24
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JD tractor with trimble autosteer---footswitch for resume
