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Sorta OT: Tractor GPS

L

LonM

Member
I'm thinking about putting a simple GPS unit on a tractor so I have guidance for spreading fertilizer and spraying. Nothing fancy like RTK or Auto Steer, just an accurate and reliable system to make life easier and to eliminate costly skips and overlaps (I spray alot of hay fields and pastures so its more difficult than just following drill tracks or counting off rows). I am looking at a Raven Cruizer with the helix antenna, since I have a Raven spray controller and the two can work together when spraying. Does anyone have experience with this particular system? Likes, dislikes, etc are welcome, or an entirely different recommendation too! Thanks for any input.
Lon
 
Why not use a tramline kit on your seed drill? Our crop is nearly all tramlined for ease of sowing and spraying, yet I have never saw this done in America....Why not?
Sam
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I second that. One of the best things we ever did on our farm was to adopt a tramlining system. It literally takes out the guesswork . Simple and reliable.
 
Good points, guys. Tramlines look like a great way to go for crops. Do you use them for pastures and hay fields too? We have a lot of rough, rocky pasture that is hard to drive straight across because of the way the land rolls. I was hoping to make spraying that ground a little easier and GPS was the first thing I thought of...
 
I have exactly what you are talking about in our sprayer tractor. Although it is a trimble. It is just a light-bar. It will tell your speed and the acres covered. also alerts you to the end rows, where you have sprayed around the field first. Also it counts passes. after you spray around the field you can start in the middle. Don't have a spray controller don't seem to need one if you know your exact speed and acres covered, and I use the throttle to slow down. I have speeded the pump up 3 times so I can just run the tractor about 1500 rpm. Bought it used for 300 dollars. Also got another one that is just a guidance no recorder card. to just spread fertilizer with. Will pay for its self in 40 acres. Use it when I mow, we want to just mow 12 to 15 acres a day. Think it was just over 200 dollars on E-bay.
 
Sorry I can't remember these details. I got an E-Z Guide 250? (I think) last year. It does a lot more than I will ever figure out. But I was pretty impressed the first time I went around the outside of a field with it calibrated for the width of the sprayer. As I was getting back to my starting point, there was my exact path/coverage.
It sounds like you probably already have an appreciation for what GPS can do for you.
 
outback s-lite is around 700 bucks entry level no frills light bar. i use one for spraying and finding a rowmarker at night works good. I also have a Raven Envizio that will do mapping and other stuff it is higher end and more than twice the money. I like the s-lite because it is simple, my 70+ year old dad can figure it out easily, i can move it from one tractor to another in under five minutes, and we have eliminated sprayer skips and fertilzer skips when spreading. Especially nice since i spread most of my fert at night, and get my other work i need light for done during the day.
 
Sam, its different here. No real standard sprayer boom widths, every sprayer is different. Having said that a few guys are trying tramlining, or controlled traffic system, by using same width seeder and combine header and running both in the same tracks.
 
I have a Midtech Centerline lightbar. Works great, simple to use and with mag mount only a few mins to swap it out into a different tractor.
 
When I got my lightbar the dealer told me to use it to get lined up and then look across the field for something to aim for, glancing at the light bar once-in-awhile to be sure you aren't drifting. If you stare at that lightbar all day you'll go nuts and you'll have crooked rows. His advice was right on. I usually go by the rows when I spray but the lightbar is a real good backup to reasure I've counted right when I have to count 24 or 32 rows every time I turn on the ends. Jim
 

Go for the largest screen you can afford/fit in your equipment. I run an outback s3, easy to see, pretty simple to use and my favorite the dimmer switch for starting and stopping recording.

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This is my current setup; Outback S3 (8.4" screen) Samsung S3 (4.8" screen) and Motorola Xoom (10.1" screen)

Tommy
 
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