Controlling Amazone spreaders

Hardware Section Control
#1

I was wondering if anyone had ever managed to cut sections with this type of Amatron+ box on a spreader.

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These boxes speak in amaBus which is simply CAN I think.
if we managed to have the communication protocol we could achieve something like here
https://discourse.agopengps.com/t/controlling-bogballe-krm-spreaders/

or a simpler way might be to use an amaclick and bridge the swtichs with good old relays like here Aufbau SC mit Amaclick - Aufbau - cerea-forum.de. however I don’t know if the amaclick is comptible with a spreader, I think it is normally used for a sprayer.

I think I’ll start trying to decode the CAN, rather than buying an amaclick. anyway if anyone has any info or wants to help me?

edit :March 20, 2022
Here is what I realized to order an Amazone ZAM Hydro spreader. You will find more detail and the code on my GitHub.

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Since the spreader cannot change position quickly, the code is made so that the changes are not abrupt. Therefore I recommend some adjustment in AOG, an opening advance at least 2,5s and closing 0.2s and an overlap between 50% and 80%. At least that’s what worked best for me.

This is recent code, there are still things to improve or optimize, but it is functional! I’ll see in the next round, if I can improve something…

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#2

I presume you have a zam-hydro. As far as I know only the hydro can be section controlled by the Amazone GPS switch screen or amatron3 with gps switch activation.
You are correct Amabus is just CAN at 250k speed.
I’m interested to see what you find.

#3

It is indeed a ZAM-Hydro.

Yesterday I had an hour to start looking into decoding the CAN bus code. I think I found the different controls to open/close, all or one side, and reduce or increase the spread width. everything is coded to a single ID. I spotted another ID that is sent from the spreader to the box to indicate what position it is in. However, I haven’t decoded the latter yet. I will already code to send the commands with simple switch to see if it works as I think.

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So I think I could make the cut on this spreader, but still some work, and much less time now…

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#4

Hi Daniel, I just want to say that this is really great what you have done here! I have also an Amazone ZAM Hydro and will try to rebuild this next winter. Thank you very much for sharing it.
John

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#5

I updated the code. some optimizations for opening and closing. the code did not work with the different border spreading modes. the spreader can now be used in manual mode.
i.e. the spreader can be used by the user without the automatic mode. coverage will still be sent to AOG. you can take control at any time from the spreader box.

next step try to do dose modulation with the AOG RC version https://discourse.agopengps.com/t/variable-rate-contro if possible… (work for this winter if I have time…) and a UDP version.

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#6

Is this solution also usable for a Amazone sprayer (eg section control)?
This is the same terminal isn’t it?

#7

it’s the same terminal, it would surely be feasible for a sprayer. To make it work it would be necessary to find the CAN codes to send, but I am not equipped with this material to find them.

#8

I was a bit confused because at first it was about sections.
After that, it was about a spreader. So, does an Amazone spreader have sections?

Another question, the connector of the box has to be connected to the Amatron?

#9

some spreaders have sections yes, the hydraulic models. the connector plugs into the connection and power supply box.