ORLANDO, Fla. – Rich Gould drives a sprayer into the shed, backward, without turning on the lights or swiveling in his seat to look behind him.
The sprayer stops without hitting the walls or anything else.
It wasn’t a sixth sense that guided him back. It was his GPS display.
TeeJet Technologies of Springfield, Illinois, is better known for its sprayer nozzles, valves and controls than precision farming equipment.
But now it has added the Realview Matrix system to its lineup.
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The system overlays satellite guidance on video camera images of the field ahead.
“By combining the two, operators get a better idea of what their guidance is doing. At night, the camera can see in the dark,” he said.
“With farmers covering more acres after dark than ever before, working just off of the guidance screen can be a little unnerving. The cameras work in low light, so it gives farmers the opportunity to see what’s ahead, not just a glowing guidance screen,” said Gould.
“The guidance won’t help you back into the shed, but the cameras will,” he said.
Operators can shift from the front camera to any of three others to monitor booms, get a rear view, look for plugging of seeding tools or combine components, depending on where the unit is mounted.
The company offers two models, a 5.7 and an 8.4 inch screen. The larger unit handles up to eight cameras and can provide a four camera split screen view.
The Fieldpilot Matrix units come with a basic antenna and a camera for $1,675 US for the smaller one and $ 2,195 for the larger.
Sprayer boom automatic sectional control is an additional $1,000, while a retrofit autosteer system with hydraulic steering valve is an additional $5,200. Upgrade the antenna to a Clearpath RXA-25 for another $545.
Additional cameras are $300. Video selector switches are $400 to $500.
The GPS guidance unit has straight and curved AB line, circle pivot and last pass guidance modes. It will track single and double coverage modes and allows for on the go as-applied maps showing skips and misses.
It manages shape and Google Earth file formats.
For more information: www.teejet.com or 306-283-9277
