SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Dickey-john has a long history of minding machinery in Western Canada.
The Illinois company’s farm equipment monitoring components have been a mainstay for many short-line machines and as aftermarket additions. Its moisture and protein testing tools are standard issue for elevators and its portables are found on many farms.
The company is betting that its latest product – Intelliag terminals and related controllers, monitors and motors for retrofitting air seeders – will find a home among farmers looking to switch to automated navigation and on-the-go variable input rate control without trading in their implements.
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“We’re finding, and counting on, farmers’ ability to make the move to variable rate and autosteer,” said Pat Fuchs of Dickey-john.
“They like their machines, they are the right size for the job, but they want to take advantage of the latest technology without investing in a whole new machine.”
At the heart of the system is a terminal that learns as it meets new equipment. It takes its cues from whatever is plugged into its ISO 11783 compliant communication bus.
Whether it’s a servo motor, shaft sensor, GPS antenna, seed run monitor or seed meter hydraulic motor, the Intelliag controller will recognize its electronic signature and manage it accordingly.
As each is added to the system, the tractor-cab terminal will create an interface for the operator and provide controls for it on the 10 inch colour, touch sensitive screen.
For tractors that are already set up to accept the ISO standard controllers, the Dickey-john unit plugs in to provide one stop machine monitoring and control.
“We really are 100 percent compatible with any system or tractor that supports the new agricultural equipment standards,” Fuchs said.
The Intelliag controller can provide machine steering via a Trimble AgGPS or AgGPS 252 radio receiver for RTK control. The system will accommodate signals including WAAS, Onstar and RTK.
An optional navigational controller will correct for roll, pitch and yaw on six axes for an accurate on-the-face-of-the-planet location. Hydraulic steering control valves are also available if required. A steering sensor can be added to measure wheel angles, which allows the controller to adjust for any drift.
Adding prescription application maps is done via the SD card slot. SD cards also record configuration files and application information as it occurs.
Handles four products
As long as the prescription data is in a field operations data model format, the Dickey-john unit will control variable rate applications on four products simultaneously.
A camera added to the controller can operate as a video monitor.
“It will monitor up to 216 (granular) delivery hoses for blockages,” Fuchs said.
“The usual needs of five cart-bin hopper levels, four air pressure and shaft r.p.m. ground speed and a single (frame) lift switch are looked after, too.”
The hydraulic motor control that provides variable rate flow is an all-in-one unit with the valve built into the assembly. It takes up to four U.S. gallons per minute of hydraulic flow to operate in a range of four to 180 r.p.m.
This replaces the ground drive system that most seed carts rely upon.
Motors can be manually controlled if the electronics fail or the controller is unavailable.
“The controller can be moved from tractor to sprayer and provide control over 24 boom shut-off valves, handle four liquid controls for injection type systems, let you apply via a prescription map and record all the data,” Fuchs said. “Shaft and pressure monitoring is there as well.”
Dickey-john said outfitting an existing three-product air cart with the cab terminal, sensors, valves and motors for full variable rate control and guidance has cost prairie producers slightly more than $15,000 US.
However, the price varies depending on the number of sensors and other controls.
For more information, call 800-637-2952 or visit dickey-john.com.
