Troubleshooting a Planter that applies above or below target rate

Transcription

1 Troubleshooting a Planter that applies above or below target rate The purpose of this document is to provide troubleshooting steps to solve complaints of a planter applying above or below the target rate. Proper calibration procedures should result in accurate application of the target rate but if you run into any issues, this document gives step- by- step solutions to your issues. Definition of Applied Rate On the Field IQ tab of the run screen, the Actual Rate is based off of the revolutions of the shaft (feedback of shaft encoder or Rawson Drive) After pressing the material, you get taken to a page with more information on the product you are applying. On this screen we have a box titled Population. This box shows the population based off the readings of the SEED TUBE sensors.

2 Troubleshooting Steps if your DRIVE is applying too high or too low (shows as too high or too low on the main Field IQ Tab) 1. Run Drive Calibration (make sure that oil is at operating pressure and temperature) 2. Change PWM Frequency to 200 Hz 3. Re- Run Drive Calibration 4. Verify Allowable Error is 1 or less 5. Check the Diagnostics Page while planting to verify all encoders are properly working Troubleshooting Steps if your POPULATION is showing a rate above target (shows as too high or too low on the materials detail page of the run screen) Can be one of three things: 1. Gear Ratio Calculation/Seeds Per Disk/Calibration Constant is not accurate 2. Planter Disks are picking up too much/too little seeds per revolution 3. Population Sensors are not picking up all seeds as they drop Gear Ratio Calculation/Seeds Per Disk/Calibration Constant is not accurate To verify that the planter settings are correct, calibrate your planter using the following method: 1. Use the Gear Ratio Calculator and the document below to verify accurate gear ratio 2. Run a Drive Calibration 3. Run a Flow Calibration, but DO NOT have the planter drop seeds (this time) a. Disable the vacuum on the planter b. Open the Seed Disk Cover and line up the disk and a spot on the cover with a chalk mark c. Perform the Flow Calibration, requesting the drive to turn five revolutions d. With someone else in the cab enabling the master switch, count the revolutions of the seed disk by watching the chalk mark make its revolutions e. Once complete, compare the ACTUAL revolutions to the TARGET revolutions (five) f. Lie to the planter and tell it that it dropped the EXACT amount of seeds (to keep your constant at 1) g. If you are within 10%, make amends to your gear ratio by calculating the difference: i. 4.5 Revolutions= - 10% shy of 5 Revolutions. Multiple Gear Ratio by 1.1 to get accurate gear ratio ii. 5.5 Revolutions= 10% above 5 revolutions. Multiply Gear Ratio by.9 to get accurate gear Ratio iii. If you are more than 10% off, re- perform the gear ratio calculation. h. Re- Run the Flow Calibration as many times as needed (without dropping seed) until the disk turns exactly 5 revolutions

3 4. Once the Gear Ratio is exact, enable the vacuum and RERUN the flow calibration. a. Perform at least 5 revolutions b. Count the seeds that dropped from the row unit. i. If within 98% of actual, enter the actual amount of seeds that dropped and you are finished calibrating ii. If you are outside of the 98 percent mark 1. Double check the seeds per revolution on your disk. 2. If you are still off by more than 2%, check the integrity of the planter to ensure that there is not an issue with the row unit

4 Calculating Gear Ratio for Planter Rate Control Gear ratio is a very important setting to ensure an accurate application rate. It should be calculated as accurately as possible. Terms: Gear Ratio: Ratio between a Drive and a Driven gear. Gear set: A set of gears consisting of a drive and a driven gear. App. Rate Sensor Blue: Gear set 1 Green: Gear set 2 Note: When figuring Gear Ratio, the Drive gear for gear set 1 must be on the same shaft as the application rate sensor. The motor may be on a separate shaft. You do not need to count the gear ratio from the motor to the app rate sensor.

5 Gear Ratio Formula. The FMX will ask for the teeth of the drive and driven sprockets for each gear set. Count the number of teeth on each sprocket that falls between the shaft encoder and the seed meter and enter the numbers into the Gear Ratio Calculator. Application Rate Sensor (Encoder) The Gear Ratio Calculator automatically does the following equation: Driven (# of Teeth)/ Drive (# of Teeth)(gearset 1) X Driven/ Drive (gearset 2) = Total driven / Total drive = Gear Ratio (If there are more than 2 gear sets, add them to the formula. See example below.) Gear set 1 24/12 x Gear set 2 36/16 x Gear set 3 29/ x 36 x 29 = x 16 x 19 = 3648 = 6.86

6 John Deere Pro- Shaft Drive Gear Ratio The John Deere Pro- Drive Planters are different from most planters because they do not use sprockets and chains to control the seed meter. Instead, they use a system similar to what you see below. Because this system does not use the typical sprockets, you must use the calculations below in order to ensure proper population when planting. Hydraulic Drive (John Deere drive 18 teeth) Pro Shaft Drive Seed Meter drive (19 teeth) Planter Drive shaft (29 Teeth) Pro shaft Drive Seed meter Driven (28 teeth) Driven (seed shaft)/ Drive (motor) X Driven (seed meter shaft)/ Drive (seed meter shaft) = Gear Ratio 29/18 X 28/19 = 812/342 = Final Gear Ratio.

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