LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Affordable surveillance video cameras have been around for decades, but when mounted to agricultural equipment, the problem has been the vibrations, dust, moisture, weather and the general beating they suffer.
“Until the AgCam came on the market, there really wasn’t a camera that stands up to the abuse on a farm implement,” said Greg Drea of D&D
Distributors in Oto, Iowa.
“The story is always the same. Typically, a farmer starts out buying the cheap units, but they break fairly quickly. Then he changes up to the next model and it lasts a little longer before it breaks.
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“Then he might repeat the same mistake yet again with yet another change-up camera. Finally he ends up with a big pile of broken video cameras. And by then, he’s really turned off on the idea of video as a useful tool, so he gives up, understandably.”
Drea told the International Conference on Crop Harvesting and Processing in Louisville that farmers have understood the potential of video cameras for decades but have not been able to buy one that holds together and gives them a useful image.
“In addition to the perpetual problem of reliability, the image was never good enough. Because of dust and vibration, they could not get the visual resolution they needed on the monitor to make it a useful tool.
“Dust sometimes builds up so quickly on the lens that just a few minutes after you clean it, the picture quality deteriorates to the point you don’t even know what the camera is showing you. The image on the monitor has no value.”
A worthless image on the monitor is something Dave Rubieys knows all too well. Over the years, he bought the best cameras money could buy for implements on his farm near Cayuga, North Dakota. None of them did what he wanted them to do.
Like many farmers, neck problems prevent Rubieys from constantly turning around to see what’s happening with the implement. The surveillance video camera seemed like a logical solution to the problem – if only they worked.
But his pile of nonfunctional video cameras is similar to the pyramid found on many prairie farms, with the cheaper black and white units on the bottom and the higher priced digital colour cameras at the peak.
After a long list of failed cameras, Rubieys decided to put his technical knowledge to work developing a video camera that works and survives in real-world farm conditions.
AgCam is the result. It’s a high quality video camera engineered specifically for extreme farm applications.
Gerald Giesbrecht of Big Sky Equipment in Portage la Prairie, Man., is one of the Canadian AgCam dealers. He said many people initially overlook that fact that the latest generation of surveillance equipment gives full colour optics.
He added that colour in a workplace camera should no longer be viewed as a luxury item but as a necessity.
“Colour gives you more visual information to work with,” he said.
“If you’re looking at the monitor in your cab and you’re studying the nozzles on your sprayer or openers on your air drill, colour helps you decide quickly if you’ve got a plug or if something isn’t functioning.”
Although his clients install AgCam in livestock facilities, Giesbrecht said most of his sales so far have been for implements and stationary situations such as grain dryers and cleaners.
He said the built-in LED light system that surrounds the lens automatically adjusts for different light conditions.
“This makes it perfect for the tanks on air seeders. It lights them up inside so the monitor gives you a very clear picture of what’s happening in there.
“That’s especially helpful with small seeds like canola where the regular level indicator doesn’t always give you accurate levels. If you’ve got a good camera in there, you know when you’re just about out.”
It’s also good at detecting bridging with granular fertilizers and forage seeds, he added.
While many on-farm inventions have the reputation of being built in a barn, AgCam is different. It’s built in a vacuum.
Assembling the camera in a near-perfect vacuum eliminates the static electricity that causes dust accumulation on other camera lenses.
Static electricity is generated in electronic equipment by microscopic moisture beads that bounce against each other within the case.
Because there is no moisture in a vacuum, logic says that static electricity and dust buildup can be eliminated by assembling electronic equipment in a vacuum chamber.
Rubieys and his team devised a method of creating a sealed camera that can hold its vacuum, using three “O” rings in conjunction with a solid machined aluminum housing.
“The camera actually functions perfectly underwater,” Drea said dryly.
“Not that farmers need underwater capability, but most farmers I know like to go fishing, so some guys might find a fit there.”
The vacuum seal is a good idea for a brand new camera, but how long can such a delicate imbalance last?
“The vacuum seal is intended to last the lifetime of the camera,” Drea said. “That’s the plan.”
However, he conceded that the old adage from physics is true. Nature does abhor a vacuum.
“AgCam has only been on the market for four years, so to date, I can say the vacuum lasts four years. The full lifespan of the seal is yet to be determined because so far there have been virtually no vacuum failures.
“Our original warranty was two years. We’ve upped that to three years simply because we can. The seals are holding up extremely well.
“Return for warranty is 0.2 percent. That’s two-tenths of one percent. And of course they were all covered on warranty. That’s why it’s no problem to extend the warranty to three years.”
Drea said AgCam requires no permanent installation, so moving the setup to a different implement or barn can be done in minutes. The mounting base uses a magnet strong enough that drilled holes or additional brackets are not needed.
The unit can be used on a truck rear bumper for a one-man trailer hitch-up job in the morning and then go inside the hog-hauling trailer to monitor pigs in transit. Later in the afternoon, the same camera can be installed on the anhydrous tank to monitor the gauges and then into the calving barn for the night.
Giesbrecht said the most common AgCam starter package is two cameras connected by cable to a nine-inch monitor, selling for $2,066.
The wireless transmitter-receiver option, which reaches about three-quarters of a kilometre, sells for $400 per camera. Relay antennas can extend the range up to 9.5 km in the line of sight. The kits are available with 12 volt and 120 volt adaptors. Digital video recorders and audio capability are also available.
“A lot of producers have high speed internet in places like their hog barns and seed cleaning plants,” Giesbrecht said. “If you have high speed access, we can set up an internet connection so you get live AgCam surveillance from anyplace in the world that has high speed.”
For more information, contact Greg Drea at 800-568-3350 or e-mail him at dddist@netins.net. or Gerald Giesbrecht at 204-239-5044 or e-mail Gerald@bigskyequipment.ca.
