Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | dodgetruck2 - 10/26/2024 07:23
Yes, I mean I was in the same position at one point as we have a 455 30ft with the 3 section lift control. I too had the lazy gene and wanted it all controlled by gps but in the end there were few solutions I could come up with to do this without still having to lift the drill press wheels manually to turn, we are one step ahead having the electronic lift control versus a 750 would not. So getting a computer signal to lift and drop the wheels would be slightly easier. I would enjoy the hydraulic drive and variable rate but at the end of the day, I prefer planted beans anyway so its just left for cover crops mostly.
Your comments about a drill with 3 sections reminded me of a project I was involved with several years ago when I worked as a Tech. A fellow AgTalker had a 3 section drill where each section was ground driven. The seed meter for each section ran when the drill was lowered into the ground and stopped when it was raised. Each drill had its own hydraulic cylinder which was connected to a hydraulic block. The hydraulic block was controlled by a switch box in the tractor cab.
The switch box was somewhat like a sprayer control box with a Master and 3 section switches. Much like a sprayer, the operator could control the entire rig with the Master switch or individual sections. Although this worked, much like a sprayer it could be tedious to run each section separately for point row type situations.
Since the customer already had an Ag Leader Clutch Control module for his planter, he reasoned that it might be possible to use it in place of the drill switch box. I was able to create a wiring harness to interface his Clutch Control module to the hydraulic block.
My wiring harness used the same type connector at the hitch that the original switch box used. That meant that the drill could be run with either the original drill switch box or the Ag Leader system. The ability to use one or the other was desirable for several reasons.
Since the customer did not live in the area, I really never saw the project in actual use.
A bit of trickery would need to be used to get this to work with a single section hydraulic valve. The configuration for a clutch control module requires at least two sections. One thought would be to setup the configuration with two sections. The unused section would be a minimum width and the other section that is being used would be set to the balance of the true total width. The section switch for the small width would always be set to OFF and not connected to anything anyway. That way the other section which in essence is the total width could control the hydraulics to raise/lower the drill at the appropriate place. |