[Turnbuckle]

Hi. Looking for some help on our air cart. It's a variable rate 3450. Has been working really well last few years but has started acting up as of late. Was seeding peas the other day out of the rear tank and near the end of the day the meter roller started acting up. Monitor would say tank 3 is shorted or open and rate would go to zero. Id turn out and wait a bit then it'd work fine for a bit then the same problem would happen. It's pretty frusturating to say the least. Managed to finish the field and pulled roller out all bearings seemed fine as I thought maybe that could be the problem. It seems maybe it's an electrical problem but not to sure. We changed the shaft speed sensor this morning but haven't tried it out yet. I thought maybe it was the tank 3 switch on the tank but I switched tank 3 to run off tank 1 switch and it still acted up the other day. No great service support on these tanks it seems the service guys don't know much about them. Any one ever run into this issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[abfarmer]

check fuses for corrosion at the switches also at battery box the fuse terminals sometimes get rusted

 

[Lakefield]

Hi. Looking for some help on our air cart. It's a variable rate 3450. Has been working really well last few years but has started acting up as of late. Was seeding peas the other day out of the rear tank and near the end of the day the meter roller started acting up. Monitor would say tank 3 is shorted or open and rate would go to zero. Id turn out and wait a bit then it'd work fine for a bit then the same problem would happen. It's pretty frusturating to say the least. Managed to finish the field and pulled roller out all bearings seemed fine as I thought maybe that could be the problem. It seems maybe it's an electrical problem but not to sure. We changed the shaft speed sensor this morning but haven't tried it out yet. I thought maybe it was the tank 3 switch on the tank but I switched tank 3 to run off tank 1 switch and it still acted up the other day. No great service support on these tanks it seems the service guys don't know much about them. Any one ever run into this issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Had the same problem last year. Turns out the problem was bin level sensor for some reason it shorts out and the monitor will not display the rate. At least that's what my service guy is telling me. I change the sensor at the top of the tank but we have not started seeding yet so don't know if it's actually going to work. Keeping my fingers crossed. Hope this helps.

 

[doorknob]

Ok, on the vr cart, the cart battery has to be in good order. Sometimes the battery box can fill up with dirt and over heat the battery. I ended up taking the lid off to help keep it cool.

The meter motor can also get hot or be worn. If it does it again, get out check the temperature of the meter motor. Also check the temp of the hydraulic oil as the torque amplifier can be going bad. Not likely, but they dont last forever. Peas can be tough on the meter drive unless you use the extra course roller and have a high primary run count.

 

[Turnbuckle]

Some great ideas so far guys thanks. Lakehead I sure hope it's as simple as changing that bin level sensor or even disconnecting it just to see if it fixes the problem. I'm gonna go out and try it in the yard before we load up. So Lakehead your cart is also a variable rate? Just checking to make sure we talking about same thing. When your rate went to zero did your monitor also read meter is shorted or open? Sure seems like a wiring issue it it's funny it starts working again for a bit then does the same thing over again. Fused and switches look good. These carts r deadly accurate and work great when they wanna work. I also factored in peas being harder to meter but it worked all day and then started acting up so I sorta ruled that out. Anyways gonna go unhook that sonar bin level sensor and see if that makes a difference. Thanks again. I'll keep u updated

 

[Lakefield]

Some great ideas so far guys thanks. Lakehead I sure hope it's as simple as changing that bin level sensor or even disconnecting it just to see if it fixes the problem. I'm gonna go out and try it in the yard before we load up. So Lakehead your cart is also a variable rate? Just checking to make sure we talking about same thing. When your rate went to zero did your monitor also read meter is shorted or open? Sure seems like a wiring issue it it's funny it starts working again for a bit then does the same thing over again. Fused and switches look good. These carts r deadly accurate and work great when they wanna work. I also factored in peas being harder to meter but it worked all day and then started acting up so I sorta ruled that out. Anyways gonna go unhook that sonar bin level sensor and see if that makes a difference. Thanks again. I'll keep u updated

No ours is not variable rate but the "meter is shorted or open" rang a bell with me. I changed the sensor and everything appears to be all good but like I said we haven't turned a wheel yet to find out for sure.

 

[doorknob]

Some great ideas so far guys thanks. Lakehead I sure hope it's as simple as changing that bin level sensor or even disconnecting it just to see if it fixes the problem. I'm gonna go out and try it in the yard before we load up. So Lakehead your cart is also a variable rate? Just checking to make sure we talking about same thing. When your rate went to zero did your monitor also read meter is shorted or open? Sure seems like a wiring issue it it's funny it starts working again for a bit then does the same thing over again. Fused and switches look good. These carts r deadly accurate and work great when they wanna work. I also factored in peas being harder to meter but it worked all day and then started acting up so I sorta ruled that out. Anyways gonna go unhook that sonar bin level sensor and see if that makes a difference. Thanks again. I'll keep u updated

That's sorta why I posted my reply. My vr 3450 would start to have issues when the battery got hot or the seed bin (rear bin TBH) motor would be over worked. But if the hydraulic torque generator is in good shape, the motor should not have to work much.

 

[Turnbuckle]

Still had the same issue today with the air cart. Thought it was the fuse holder maybe in the tank 3 switch back at the cart but I've eliminated that possible cause. Since it's just tank 3 saying it is shorted or open and then it stops im thinking its a power issue. It works for a while then messes up. Gonna check all connections at the back of cart to do with the tank 3. Maybe corrosion on a connector pin or something is what I'm hoping. Other than that all I can think of is the remote is on its way out but wierd it works fine for a while. Tank 1 and 2 never act up. Running out of things to check but it sure is annoying stopping all the time. Any other ideas?

 

[KWO]

Tank 3 runs it's own remote, it may be worth unplugging the harness off there looking for a bad connection. Seems like there is a bad connection or component that gets hot and trips out, then you stop and let it cool down away it goes again. All intermitting faults are the worst.

 

[Turnbuckle]

Still haven't solved the problem. Doorknob....you mentioned the hydraulic torque generator. On your cart have you had to replace them before? Tomorrow morning gonna take off the remote module and unhook the harness to check that all out. Other than that I am lost. Maybe it is that hydraulic torque generator. Anyway to test that? It seems to work for a few hours then start acting up so like was mentioned earlier it happens when everything gets warmed up. Meterr 3 inline filter was new last year and was cleaned this year to. If its not the wiring into the module then i guess we will try changing the hydraulic converter. Any more info would be great thanks. Keep u updated thanks again

 

[bussard]

Tank alternator died tonight, no warning, then rates on two and three started to jump all over and then low voltage alarm..

This is after two hundred hrs this season, it dies, second replacment in the three years.. Thank god for booster cables and ran till dark

 

[dmwiebe]

you need to call service at georges farms centre at 403 886 4222

 

[doorknob]

Still haven't solved the problem. Doorknob....you mentioned the hydraulic torque generator. On your cart have you had to replace them before? Tomorrow morning gonna take off the remote module and unhook the harness to check that all out. Other than that I am lost. Maybe it is that hydraulic torque generator. Anyway to test that? It seems to work for a few hours then start acting up so like was mentioned earlier it happens when everything gets warmed up. Meterr 3 inline filter was new last year and was cleaned this year to. If its not the wiring into the module then i guess we will try changing the hydraulic converter. Any more info would be great thanks. Keep u updated thanks again

Change it with one of the other tanks first. They are all the same unit.

 

[SWFarmService]

and like doorknob stated earlier check the temp, just giving each a feel could tell you a lot

 

[Northern Farmer]

Turnbuckle, did you check your voltage at the battery with a multi tester while the fan/alternator is running to make sure you are up to par there ?.

Also do you know for sure that your meter is stopping ( and it may very well be ) as today when doing some experimenting with our VR unit since we haven't quite started seeding yet, the rear tank decides to tell us that the meter is not turning and shows 0 rate flow. So I go beside the tow behind tank with the quad ( safe distance away from the cart tire ! ) and watch the meter and its turning ... in fact flying quite fast. So I knew it was certainly getting power and after all its an empty tank at this stage so no drag on the meter roller so was a bit stumped. I changed to a different roller to see if the disc it reads off of on the end was faulty ... no change, so then I changed out the speed sensor and wa la, that was it and now the meter turned slower and the rate showed as it should on the monitor. Why the sensor crapped out over the winter, I have no idea but that was the culprit. The point of bringing this up is that the computer can outright lie to you and say the roller is not turning when in fact it may be in some cases such as my own sensor failure today.

 

[Turnbuckle]

Turnbuckle, did you check your voltage at the battery with a multi tester while the fan/alternator is running to make sure you are up to par there ?.

Also do you know for sure that your meter is stopping ( and it may very well be ) as today when doing some experimenting with our VR unit since we haven't quite started seeding yet, the rear tank decides to tell us that the meter is not turning and shows 0 rate flow. So I go beside the tow behind tank with the quad ( safe distance away from the cart tire ! ) and watch the meter and its turning ... in fact flying quite fast. So I knew it was certainly getting power and after all its an empty tank at this stage so no drag on the meter roller so was a bit stumped. I changed to a different roller to see if the disc it reads off of on the end was faulty ... no change, so then I changed out the speed sensor and wa la, that was it and now the meter turned slower and the rate showed as it should on the monitor. Why the sensor crapped out over the winter, I have no idea but that was the culprit. The point of bringing this up is that the computer can outright lie to you and say the roller is not turning when in fact it may be in some cases such as my own sensor failure today.

I know for sure the meter is stopping. We got an agtron blockage unit and it just confirms that it is in fact stopping. We replaced the shaft speed sensor the other day and its still doing the same thing. But I wasn't aware that the disc it reads off could go bad like mentioned. I battled thru a quarter section today but it acted up quite a few times thru out the day. I've been talking to George's flexi cool in alberta as they really seem to know their stuff on these carts. We swapped the 2nd tank drive unit including torque generator with the 3rd tank. It still acted up. That elaminates the motor or the torque generator. Oil filters r all new. I didn't check the voltage at the cart battery while it was running but if it was bad then no rollers would work. Cart battery is good. Took apart the wiring harnesses at back of tractor and back of tool bar they all look good to. It does seem like a wiring issue but who knows. It states tank 3 meter roller is open or shorted each time. Turn around and most times it'll work again for quite a while. Sometimes it kicks out shortly again. Anything else u can think of?

 

[Northern Farmer]

I don't know what the symptoms would be if the disc was damaged but was warned about not being too rough with it while servicing the meter such as changing bearings. Chances are it has nothing to do with your problem, it keeps going back to possible electrical issues feeding that meter roller or some mechanical malfunction causing the roller to turn more stiff then it should. Is there a chance you have material packing up between the bearings and the metering segments or for that matter the meter flutes catching on the silly plastic strip. Have you had the roller out to inspect it and the housing for some issue, even a foreign object catching on the meter.

As to the voltage, by all means check it as you may have reduced voltage but not critically low voltage. Last year our alternator crapped out on us, first year using the unit and the first field but in that case the meters were all turning but the low voltage warning came on. I installed a charged battery and a new alternator and thought we were away ... nope, now the "tune rate" or what ever that is called was set too high and one of the meters was all over the place with its feed rate and confirmed that by visually watching it but of course we had no clue what was wrong until another farmer suggested this due to his own experience in a wildly varying feed rate.

If you haven't done it, remove and clean up your battery connections and check the voltage as you may have an alternator that has a failed diode and putting out a lower voltage but still above the failure line, such as 13 to 13.5 volts vs 14.5 to pushing 15. It can really fool a guy sometimes with looking at battery connections and think its fine until its disconnected and find out there is arcing or a black surface on the post. Also don't rule out trying a different battery.

 

[abfarmer]

since it says open or shorted it probably is a loss of power its says the same thing when switch is off or fuse blown or corroded .try to run a new power wire to #3 fuse from the battery this will eliminate a bad power wire

 

[drylandfarmer]

Had a small piece of brass plug the small orifice on the check valve that is on the inlet of the torque generator. This reduced the oil flow. Monitor was showing all kind of high voltage alarms as the electric motor was drawing higher voltage to turn it. The meter would start and stop as well.

As a test I pulled off the return oil line to each motor to see the flow. Very little came out of the one in question. If you run your valve to meter calibrate you can check when the cart is stopped, as oil flows to the motors.

 

[Turnbuckle]

Bit of an update. Still don't think we've solved the problem. The last 2 tanks we seeded the other day it worked just as it should with no stopping. Before that tho it was acting up quite a bit. We tried numerous different things and it was still doing the same thing. Then all of a sudden It didn't skip a beat for 2 tanks. Raining here so we've had more time to look it over. We also think it must be power related as roller and meter housing seems fine and roller hasn't been catching on anything that we could tell. The harnesses at tractor and back of drill going to the tank all checked out to. The remote computer box at tank 3 is what we are wondering about now. Gonna try and get local dealer to test it first before we go replacing that.
Seems odd it worked great for 100 acres a couple days ago. I guess in a couple days we will see how things go.