[herby04]

Looking for some help here. My controller is off nearly 1 gallon an acre. GPS Speed sensor seems to be accurate. This is my second year with this controller. Never had one prior to that. It doesn't seem to matter if I am applying 15 or 20 gallon an acre, it still is about a gallon heavy. Found this out at the end of the second round with about three hundred yards to go. No big deal after that I adjusted accordingly. I would like it to be right if I have the old man spraying and he sets it for 20 instead of 19. It may have been wrong last year I just never noticed because it was more accurate than I ever was

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you

 

[ksbeanfarmer]

Ran a 440 for years and was always impressed with the accuracy and simplicity. Double check your ground speed against something else, ( another vehicle, or smartphone app.) being off .2 mph can make a big difference. Does the flow meter cal number match between console and flowmeter ? Is your boom width entered correctly ? What are you using for giudance? lightbar, autosteer or foam marker? Dave

 

[cptusa]

Are you sure you are not putting more in the solution tank than its rated at? I'm putting 1300 gallons in my 1250 gallon sprayer. Side dress applicator can sneak in an extra 50 also.

 

[custom_farmer]

My guess is a calibration # for a flow meter. Excuse me if you already know this, but....
Every time you load, enter as accurately as you can the gallons you loaded, into the tank volume of the box. When the tank is empty, look at how many gallons the box says you have. Take your present cal # and multiply it by the gallons the box says you used, divide that # by the gallons you know you actually used from the tank, the number your calculator spits out is the new cal#.
Example.
You load 800 gals, 800 is entered into the box. Say you ran the tank empty, and the box says you have pumped 750. Let's say your entered cal# is 1050. So, box says 750 gals used multiply that by 1050=787,500. You know you used 800 gals. 787,500 divided by 800=984. The new cal# is 984. Enter 984 into the meter cal in the box, and you should be very close.

 

[herby04]

KSbeaner My guidance usually is a raven 600 lightbar running wass. But just in case it went wacky (which it usually does) when I stop to fill I flagged my rows. I can only carry 400 gallon. My cal numbers all match. I've re-calibrated the speed before i started spraying this year.

Cpusta yeah I am guilty of squeezing an extra ten gallon in each tank. My problem isnt having to much left it is just the opposite. Half mile ends at 90' gets me just shy of 5 acres one way.

Custom No I was unaware of this, should've read the book better.

 

[doorknob]

Is your 440 both pressure and flow based, or just flow based?

The flow meter does wear out and need to be replaced or rebuilt from time to time.

But the speed cal does have to match the guidance speed. The guidance speed should be spot on, but the 440 speed relies a calibration number. I am not familiar with the 600, but the pictures show some numbers, so does it have speed capability?

I ask about the flow based vs. flow/pressure because the flow only, which is what I run with my 450s, uses speed and flow only. This makes the two components of application, the speed cal and flow meter, extremely important to be just right. If the flow meter is worn or the speed cal off even a small bit, it will apply based on what the flow meter is telling it as it matches the ground speed.

 

[farmeromus]

herby04 remember if you lower your cal # you will apply heavier. just keep that in mind when you do custom_farmer calculation which is in the manual. All my raven monitors have been very accurate , they just need a bit of tweaking with cal #s

 

[albertabuck]

I don't want to derail or steal this thread, but I have one quick question. I ended up with a fairly new complete Raven 440 system on a sprayer I bought for parts. Am considering putting the system onto my older Wilger. Have read the manual and tired to find out online but to no avail...my question is, can I hook the SCS 440 console up to my Outback STS GPS for the speed signal, or is it incompatible? TIA.

 

[Andrew_D]

I don't want to derail or steal this thread, but I have one quick question. I ended up with a fairly new complete Raven 440 system on a sprayer I bought for parts. Am considering putting the system onto my older Wilger. Have read the manual and tired to find out online but to no avail...my question is, can I hook the SCS 440 console up to my Outback STS GPS for the speed signal, or is it incompatible? TIA.

Should be able to. I think the Raven that we have for our NH3 is a 440. The speed input is from our JD GPS AutoTrak system.

There should be 2 wires for the radar input on your 440. Now you need to go find the speed signal wires on your Outback system.

Also did the same thing to feed a "radar" signal from a JD system on our planter tractor into an older CompuTrak 250 planter monitor.

Andrew

 

[albertabuck]

Should be able to. I think the Raven that we have for our NH3 is a 440. The speed input is from our JD GPS AutoTrak system.

There should be 2 wires for the radar input on your 440. Now you need to go find the speed signal wires on your Outback system.

Also did the same thing to feed a "radar" signal from a JD system on our planter tractor into an older CompuTrak 250 planter monitor.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew. I figured it most likely be possible. I'll track down the closest Outback dealer and go from there. In my Outback manual they mention extra cables being necessary to hook up to third party equipment. Been thinking about this all spring, question been dogging me lol, just couldn't find any connection between Raven and other make GPS in the manuals or online was all. Thanks again.

 

[herby04]

The answer is yes Doorknob, My RGL 600ic lightbar does have speed capabilities. I use a gps astro speed sensor for my 440 controller. My system is based on flow and speed. I don't feel that my flow meter should be worn by any means as i haven't used it for an entire season yet, I think i have covered close to a thousand acres or so since last august. The numbers on the left of the light bar reflect which pass you are currently on. The numbers on the right side of the light bar tell you how far from center of your line or the distance to your next line. The light bar is okay for broadcast applications, but as I have said on here on the past I would like to make an upgrade in that department. Just hard to pencil out when i only farm 180 acres of my own. Cant get the old man to spring for some new tech.

Farmeromus Thanks for the tip

Albertabuck$ One question always leads to a hundred more. Thats what I love about this forum. So much to learn from everyone out there.

 

[herby04]

Went back to spraying after the rain went through yesterday. filled my saddle tanks chuck full 420 gallons, sprayed a twenty acre field, rate controller set for 18.8 aiming to spray 20 gallons. finished the field with 5 gallon left in one tank. Should have had 20 gallon left. So I try the formula to get it closer, while keeping in mind that lowering my cal number will put on more product. Current cal number is 720, rate controller says total volume applied is 390. 720 x 390 = 280800 / 420 =668.57. WTF!!! Don't I want this number to be larger so it will apply less product? Did I do something wrong? Maybe my meter is damaged or plugged?


Any Ideas??

 

[buenymayor]

There is an easier way to find your speed cal number. Get out a measuring wheel and measure out a distance. I used 2640', but it can be shorter (I think the manual says 400'). The longer you use, the more accurate the number. Get your sprayer moving at normal speed, and as you pass by your starting spot, reset the Distance value to zero. Stop at the end of your track and see how far the 440 says you travelled. There is a formula in the manual http://www.summersmfg.com/media/1848/raven_scs_440_console_manual.pdf to calculate your new speed cal number from the distance the 440 says you travelled compared to how far you actually travelled. Double check it after making the cal number change. There is a similar way to calibrate the flow meter number, but you'll need a graduated container of known volume to calculate the flow meter cal number. There should be a cal number on your flow meter, but a lot of the time it is worn away or illegible.

 

[custom_farmer]

herby04
Your formula looks right, the lower the number is, the slower your tank will empty. If you haven't already done it, plug that new number into the box, and I'll bet you're really close.

 

[herby04]

Its been Raining all day here so no spraying for me for a couple of days again. Capusta I was under the impression from an earlier post that if I lowered my cal number the more it would apply. Or is it the complete opposite of that? So if I did the formula correctly and I enter my new cal number and set the 440 at 20 gallon per acre where I want it to be set, it "should" be rather close. And if not run the formula again and again until it is correct? Buenymayor that is a good idea as well, using a measuring wheel would take the guess work out of it.

 

[ccstx]

Went back to spraying after the rain went through yesterday. filled my saddle tanks chuck full 420 gallons, sprayed a twenty acre field, rate controller set for 18.8 aiming to spray 20 gallons. finished the field with 5 gallon left in one tank. Should have had 20 gallon left. So I try the formula to get it closer, while keeping in mind that lowering my cal number will put on more product. Current cal number is 720, rate controller says total volume applied is 390. 720 x 390 = 280800 / 420 =668.57. WTF!!! Don't I want this number to be larger so it will apply less product? Did I do something wrong? Maybe my meter is damaged or plugged?


Any Ideas??

So the 440 said you applied 390 Gallons where you actually applied 415 as you had 5 Gallons left after putting 420 in originally.
So Calculation is 720x390/415=676.
The Cal number being lower is correct.The Cal number is the amount of pulses the flow meter sees for 10 Gaallons. You are over applying as it thinks you need to see 720 pulses but from the calculation it only need 676 pulses for 10 Gallons.

 

[herby04]

Thanks for the clarification ccstx. We got nearly two inches of rain today, maybe tomorrow afternoon I might get crack at it again. I am going to apply the new cal number and see what comes of it.

Thank you for the help fellas,