I would LOVE to Hear more about the project, what are you building
Hello ,
It is a direct seeder, which can be sown in the stubble of cereals. I do this from an old vibrocultor I had and a hopper bought for a few hundred euros. I’m going to change the tines for something more robust like this:
And a fine tip like this:
For the moment, the metering drive will be mechanical thanks to a metal wheel, but I would like to modify this this winter for an electric drive.
Some pictures of the start of this project.
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I give news of this project.
The seed drill is finished and functional. But still mechanical for the moment. I had started by doing an electric drive check with arduino and lcd, but all my tractors being AOG equipped, I eventually opted to use Ag Rate from Sk21, it should in theory work fine.
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Nice job !
I made the same type of tine drill in 3.5m rigid. I have 2 main issues, seeding depth when the field is not 100% flat, and closing the furrow of the last row of tines.
Do you plan to add press wheels, covering harrown, dragging chain or something at the back ?
Is the drill rigid or it can follow the ground at some point ?
Hi,
I have no system to close the furrow, in direct sowing, this small ploughshare
with an angle of almost 90 with the ground, the dirt which falls naturally in it is sufficient. The chains would bring mostly straws to the row, but not really dirt.
My fields are quite flat. But the wings can be put floating if needed. However, by floating there isn’t any weight transfer on the wings, the ground penetration is modified.
Hello @Tooki57!
I am very interested in your project. This is another commercial option:
https://www.roj.com/prodotti/mechatronic-systems/pcs-w1/
I am planning a similar project where I will join custom seeder units and an old Nodet mechanical seed hopper on top. Electric motor on the hopper shaft should start/stop when AOG tells to, or when units are off the ground. After running a calibration phase, speed of the hopper shaft is matched with AOG tractor speed to supply correct kg/hectares. I think a motor with shaft-encoder would be most precise.
I have not looked fully into the rate controller of @SK21 yet, it looks complicated for this application.
Simple section control without rate control done by @MTZ8302 seems good and it is well documented: Section Control documentation for ferilizer spreader
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Hello ,
I have studied this option, perhaps the cheapest on the market. But still approx. 1500 €. If I hadn t already started buying a motor and tinkered with an arduino I would have taken it seriously.
The rate control of SK21 requires modification, like do a PID instead of the VCN and send a pwm to run the motor and not a left right pwm for a control valve. I am using an encoder on the motor shaft. AOG sends width and speed, section control allows manual or auto activation of the seed drill.
Money for all that: 350 € motor, some electronics and wire 100 €. I have not yet tested in the field.
It is a DIY solution.
Like I said , 1500 € is not that expensive for an electric training and peace during the work.
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Hi Tooki57.
This is a project I have been meaning to attempt for a while with my own air seeder. Would you be able to share the specification of the motor you chose? Thank you.
Matt
Hi,
I have a gearbox on my seeder so I choose a pretty fast motor ,
it’s an 350W 12V 187rpm motor :
But you can find 10 to 560 rpm … You have to math your needing .
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Hello Tooki57,
Congratulation, really nice work !
Math
Did you get your air seed drill working? Did the PID work?
yes, I had something functional, but not had time to mount it on the planter at the moment, still in the draft state in a corner of the office.
I just took a look at your new version, it will be the opportunity for me to restart this project.
But from what I see, the drive motor does not match my need. If I understood correctly it opens or closes a flow, not really what I need, in my application I need it to run a motor with a rotary metering device, and adjust the flow by making it run faster or slower.
It can run a motor the same as the autosteer electric steering motor. With a motor driver you should be able to adjust the speed of your meter.
Ok so i tried, it doesn’t work the way i would like, when it gets to the set point, pwm stop. It works like more or less opening the valve, and I need the motor to run slower or slower for more or less flow. A link to the type of metering device ( not exactly this one , but same working ), because I have trouble describing in English (even with google trad !!)
I get what you mean now. There should be an option for motor control instead of just valve control. I will work on an update.
I’m trying , trying to do something … but still not working … where rateset is calculated ??
Not working here either!!! From the settings page the rate set there is sent to the CRateCals class. The sub TargetUMP() takes the rate setting and multiplies by Hectares per minute to give the target units per minute. This is sent to the Nano to try and match.
The code in the Nano has to be changed to run the motor continuously. Sounds easy. Not so far.
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Could it be that it does not work because when the error is at 0 pwm becomes 0 …
Result = (int)(sKP * sError);
if error =0 … result =0
so motor stop
New release on GitHub.
Release RateController 2.0.1 · SK21/AOG_RC · GitHub
Install.zip is for RateController. Other_Files.zip has the Nano file and the modified AOG file.
I added a selection on the settings/rate tab for ‘motor’ as a control type. I used a small motor to try it out.
It works with this motor and encoder. I tried to use a magnet and proximity sensor but I couldn’t get that to work.
https://www.mouser.ca/ProductDetail/Littelfuse/59065-040?qs=moDRE%2FDosU23Va4DeTrktg==
I also tried this sensor but it still wouldn’t work.
I know this sensor and magnet work because I have used it on another project. That project used a LabJack U3.
On the Nano I would get multiple pulses for each pass of the magnet. It was like the pin was floating, but I had used a 10K pullup.
What kind of shaft speed sensor do you use?
The Virtual Nano hasn’t been updated yet so it won’t work with motor control.