2510

Sidedress Simpler with AutoTrac Vision for your John Deere Tractor

AutoTrac Vision Guidance for Tractors

by Jared Wheeler, Assumption, IL

AutoTrac Vision for tractors is a great new product for customers that sidedress and/or row crop cultivate.  John Deere previously released this for sprayers,  but it is now available for 7 and 8 family tractors, 30 series and newer.  The system works in row spacings from 20 up to 40-inch row crops in the early stages between 6 inches tall and 90% canopy.  The camera detects the color difference between the crop and soil and guides the tractor between the rows.

AutoTrac Vision Camera Mounted in front of the SF6000 Receiver

This new technology is ideal for customers that are in fields where they don’t have the original planting guidance lines.  It also works great for customers experiencing GPS drift or customers whose implement width doesn’t match the planter width.  We demoed this unit to a customer who planted with a 24 row planter using RTK signal and then came back and sidedressed with a 15 knife bar.  Even though the customer planted with RTK, the planter would sometimes pull to one side.  Also, the “guess” rows were occasionally off a couple inches and he would have to side shift his guidance line in the sidedress tractor to make up for it.  These additional steps are eliminated with the AutoTrac Vision system because the tractor is now automatically side-shifting for you by using the crop row as the reference point for guidance.

Gen 4 Monitor AutoTrac Vision Run Screen

I think this product would be especially beneficial for ag retailers that are custom applying because they usually don’t have the customers planting guidance lines to go off of when they are applying fertilizer.    The camera will guide them through the field with ease.  Contact us today for more info or to schedule a demo.

 

Sloan Support is written by the product support team at Sloan Implement, a 20 location John Deere dealer in Illinois and Wisconsin.  Learn more at www.sloans.com

 

 

 

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Deactivate Implement Detection and ExactEmerge Planter Video

by Lucas Veale, Assumption, IL 

Software update 15-1 (spring 2015) has finally given users the ability to shut off implement detection.  Implement detection auto-populates the offset dimensions of the planter and tractor for the purpose of swath control and does so at each key cycle.  The system is supposed to save any changes made by the operator.  However, sometimes these dimensions are incorrect or different than those entered by the operator when auto-populated causing unexpected skips or overlaps in the field.  Many times this is not recognized until the crop emerges and many acres have been done incorrectly.  To disable this feature, go the Menu, Display, Diagnostics, Multiple Displays,   Change Settings, and then uncheck the Auto Implement Detection checkbox and hit the save button.  At this point, verify that the dimensions that are loaded in the display are correct for both the tractor and the planter.  This should prevent the system for changing them and will eliminate the implement detection warning screen at start up.

The ExactEmerge  high speed planters have been rolling for the past two weeks with great success.  Here’s a video of one screaming across the field in excess of 10+ mph being pulled by a JD 8370R.

 

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Rate Controller Configuration & Using a Raven Console with a Deere GS 2630 Display

by Lucas Veale, Assumption, IL 

Rate controllers have been the hot topic the last few weeks.  Customers have been using them to apply liquid fertilizer or NH3 in a side dress application.  If you have a FAST valve with no master on/off valve then you need to have the control valve setup as a Fast-Close configuration.  If you have a FAST valve with a master then it needs to be configured simply as a FAST.  The default control valve number is 743 for a FAST valve.  If you have some surging or hunting symptoms, change the control valve number to 303 and that should reduce the hunting.  If you have a standard valve then the control valve number is 2123.  For the raven flow meter cal number there should be a tag on it that will read “700” or “730” or something similar.  This is the number that you will want to use.  If so, make sure that you set the flow meter units to 10 gal and NOT gallons.  Also make sure that you check the actual N box when entering your rates with NH3.  There may also be another number on the tag that says NH3 -“187.”  Do NOT use the 187 or similar number for NH3 or liquid.  This number is for a Raven SCS console because you cannot change the units to lbs per acre nor can you change it to actual N in the  Raven console.  They use a factor to convert the flow meter number to get actual N.  Remember, a flow meter can only read in a liquid format so that is why they have to use a different number for NH3 in the Raven console.  This is not true for the rate controller.

 

If you are using a Raven console and using the field doc connect wiring kit (PF90363) to connect to GS2/3 to record your application or push prescriptions to the Raven, there are a couple steps you need to do to make sure that the two displays will communicate:

1. You will need to make sure that the Raven console “Data Menu” is set up.  The 4 items you need to check are the Baud Rate (9600), trigger value (1), trigger units (sec), and data log (on).

2. Go back the GS2/3 display under the Equipment tab and find the “COM Port” button.  Fill out the drop down boxes as necessary.  Make sure the one that says “connection type” is set to “field doc connect” and not serial port.  Once you have completed these steps you should hear 4 loud beeps from the Raven indication that communication is complete.

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Central IL Planting Progress, Height Switches, & Connector Issues

by Derek Sloan, Assumption, IL

The majority of the crops have been planted in the Central IL area. A few customers are still finishing soybeans and with the current weather forecast should be finishing up with those by next week. Several customers have been side dressing with liquid and fast bars. I have seen a couple of height switches that were out of adjustment and it is always a good first place to look when having problems with product application. You can find the height switch status under the book and wrench tab in the rate controller in the readings drop down box. It will read “Switches/Status”.

I have spoken with several customers that are still having issues with section control setup and offsets. It is very important to double check your equipment offsets throughout the season and make sure that the measurements you have input are staying there every time you cycle the key when using the R series tractors. I suggest taking a picture of them with your phone or writing them down on a piece of paper you can leave in the armrest for quick reference upon start up. Hopefully this issue will be resolved soon but for now it is better to be safe than sorry.

I have also seen two instances where the connector pictured below causes problems with correct operation of equipment. Once on a 1770NT 24 row, the connector was just not pushed together enough and was causing intermittent problems on the GS3 display and not allowing proper operation of the planter. The second situation was on a new 2510L that the customer had just taken home and was preparing to use. The customer put water in the tank and attempted operation of the tool and the valves would not turn on allowing proper product application. Examination of the connector and a tug on the wires pulled the ground wire out. After proper replacement of the wire and insuring the connector was pushed together well, the tool worked just like it was supposed to. This connector is found on many John Deere machines and on the rate controller harness. The last situation was on a rate controller harness.

connector

 

 

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Atwood Update, 2510H setup, & GS 2630 Fixes

by Matt Sweitzer, Atwood, IL

All field activity around Atwood has came to a halt due to rain. We have several customers completely done, but a lot still have a few acres of beans to plant yet.

Last week I went to Lanark, IL and Montfort, WI to help get guys started in corn.  I believe most guys up there just got started last week so they were a little behind Central Illinois. This was mostly due to cold weather. It was good to get to see those stores and some of their customers to get an idea of how things operate up there.

Here in Atwood I have been setting up a 2510H for the field. This mainly involves running all the hoses and mounting all of the Raven components. We have had some issues getting the dual cooler mounted due to getting the wrong brackets with the kit. We are working to get this resolved now. The kit comes with a set of universal instructions so they are not much help when it comes to installing them on a 2510H.

I have had a few issues with GS3 2630 displays. One customer had his swath control icon disappear. A cold reboot fixed this issue. Another customer had a SF3000 lose its TCM calibration. This caused the steer “on/off” button to disappear from the display. After calibrating the TCM and rebooting the display the icon came back. Other than that we are just waiting on the rain to stop. Hopefully we will get back to the field next week.

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Planter and JD 2510 NH3 set up

by Bill Kletecka, Cuba City, WI 

This past week was filled rain and colder than normal temperatures.  However this gave us a chance to start a few new planters in the customers yards, driveways, or grass waterways.  Doing this ahead of the “mad rush” gave us the ability to catch a few small set up problems that we had and also set clutches.  It also gave the customer the peace of mind that when the weather straightens out they will be ready to go.

We had one planter that was on a non Deere tractor where the “radar speed source” check box was unchecked and the planter clutches were changed.  We had the planter set up as a 10 section planter, however the box being unchecked changed the row clutches to a two section planter.  When we tried to redo the section it would go to the save settings screen and wouldn’t go any further.  After carefully combing through the planter set up screens to find what was missing, we noticed that the speed source box was unchecked.  We checked the box and everything worked properly.  Apparently the speed source box does more than just tell it where to find how fast it is going.

At the beginning of the week we delivered a new John Deere 2510H 23 row NH3 applicator.  The applicator was set up with Raven ISO components to run through any ISO display.  On the bar we installed a pump to help move the product on colder days and also get a higher rate at faster speed.   We also installed a Hiniker “Nitro-Lert” blockage sensor system.  The Nitro-Lert system was easy to install and will show row by row blockage in the cab of the tractor.  Using this system will cut the amount of pressure gauges that some customers have installed to try and monitor blockage.

 

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