Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | seifarmer88 - 1/10/2018 09:05
I recently bought a Top Air pull type sprayer that has 4 sections and has a Raven 450 Monitor. I currently have an Agleader InCommand 800 autosteer on my tractor. What are some different cost effective methods to get automatic section control with my current equipment (raven 450 and my agleader GPS?
TIA
There are a couple of ways to use your Ag Leader system with the sprayer: 1) continue to use the Raven 450 to run the sprayer but connect it to Ag Leaders Application Rate module with a serial cable. This requires purchasing the Application Rate module which can be used for other things if this applies to your situation. This requires that the Raven is new enough that it has the 9 pin serial connector on the back. Most Raven 450s would have this unless they are very old. This arrangement allows two way communication between the Ag Leader and the Raven. Information from the Raven is sent to the Ag Leader so it can produce maps, compute totals etc. Information from the Ag Leader can be sent to the Raven to change rates so a Prescription map could transfer new rate information from a file on the USB card in the Ag Leader to the Raven. This works very well except for one limitation - It CAN NOT control your sections. Since this seems to be important to you, this approach doesn't seem to be a good fit.
2) Remove the Raven, put it on the shelf or sell it and use Ag Leader components to handle the spray situation. This requires more hardware but does offer the ability for auto swath control. as well as much more. Since you have an InCommand 800, it would need the auto swath unlock for auto section control. The InCommand 1200 comes with auto swath unlocked, the InCommand 800 does not which is one of the reasons it is cheaper. You could still spray with the InCommand 800 without the auto swath unlock but you would need to shut off the sections manually. You can check your InCommand 800 to see if possibly auto swath is unlocked my looking at the advanced features menu. If it is locked, it can be unlocked through an Ag Leader dealer. Usually the unlocks are $750.
The hardware that you need would be your InComand 800 and GPS which are already in the tractor. In addition you will need a way to get your section inputs into the system. This can be done two different ways. One way is with an Ag Leader CAN switch box which contains a Master, 10 boom switches and the circuitry to connect to the CAN connector. in the Ag Leader system. This is often a good choice for a tractor. Another way of handling this is to get a separate dumb switch box that plugs into an Ag Leader module called the Auxiliary Input Module. These two approaches are functionally equivalent. The choice of one or the other usually depends on other factors. I actually have one of each style. I had the module style first and use it with a sprayer but have the CAN style in the planting tractor.
Somewhere else either in the tractor or mounted on the sprayer itself you would need Ag Leader's Liquid Product Control Module. This contains the main brains to control spraying. This module connects to the CAN connector and has input from the flow meter, it has outputs to the control valve and the section valves. A configuration is created informing the system of facts about your sprayer, you enter information such as the width, number of sections, flow meter cal etc. You would use the Master switch and section switches to inform the system which sections you want to allow to be On, If auto swath is active, it can make decisions to shut off certain sections as it sees fit. Most commonly this would be when encountering an area that has already been sprayed. I always suggest using the Master switch on the end after the system has shut the sections off, this is to prevent any surprises like having sections come back on while turning around.
I have used this arrangement for many year both with spraying and NH3 application. Although the Raven 450 is a fine unit, I would hate to go back to spraying with it only. The onscreen map is extremely helpful in many respects and well as all the other information.
Should you decide to go this latter route, Ag Leader made an adapter cable where the Auxiliary Input Module and Liquid Module are in the tractor and this adapter connects to the Raven display cable. This is a bulky package and I usually stuffed this all into a small duffel bag. I happen to have mine yet that I no longer use that might be of use to you. A cleaner approach might be to mount the Liquid modue on the sprayer which would require some other cables.
Edited by tedbear 1/11/2018 11:03
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Raven 450 with automatic Section Control?
