I think I can send the maximums to the Rate Controller. They would only get sent if something changes. My thoughts, send one string with ID and max, then send second with ID and max, etc. Then it could be a click, wait, finish. Just a thought. I now read and write the same kml features. It will save and read the already painted rates in the section file. I’m not loading the rate file by default. You must load it if you want it. You can toggle through the rates and delete the ones you want. Getting close to pushing this out for some testing. I still find a bug and crash from time to time.
If you send the max values the rate app can store it for each of the 5 streams. If the %'s arrive with no stored max then the base rate will be used as a max value. The base rate will need to be entered anyway in case of missing vr data.
Then it is probably not worth it. I’ll skip it for now.
I did add a boundary rate. It takes the boundary[0] which is the outside one and builds a rate from the points. Then, anything in the field that is not in one of the other rate areas, is given the default field rate.
Well if we can do boundary, can’t we do headland, yes we can. And move it in and do it again and again. This is getting interesting, Now if I could just crop all the rates inside to the selected headland???
Well, crop kinda works. It deletes points along the rate line if it is outside of the selected line. But needs to make the selected line its set of points until it crosses again. I’ve got some thinking to do.
Here is one to play with. It has some bugs, but give it a try and see if it works. Needs to run through the rate controller above. Load rate controller first. Must set max values in rate controller. These values are given in the Rate Planner panel.
This is close. The products are percent of the maximum x 100. So we get 9500 that is 95 percent. 6745 = 67.45%. In the rate planner, it gives you the maximum for that product. On the main screen, the percents on the right is what it is sending out, times 100.
I was thinking about how to convert a currently mechanical fertilizer spreader with two openings to a variable rate, I came up with two ideas:
use two large servos.
use two linear actuators and two potentiometers to know the opening.
The problem is that I do not know how to set the rate controller for these two solutions, not having a flow meter or a speed sensor to monitor the real flow it does not activate the spreading.
I know that without a monitoring system, like a weight scale, the controller can’t monitor the flow, but the ratio between opening and flow would be imported from the spreading chart. @SK21 any ideas?
Actually, there are solutions for fertilizer spreaders, but unfortunately they are expensive, I saw the products in the picture in Agritechnica and they were awarded. Since the weighing system will be in constant motion, it is very difficult to get average values, in my opinion, the cheapest option is to start the pto by removing the ejection discs of the machine and placing a bucket under it, and to create a new scale by weighing the amount of fertilizer falling on each scale. (even if the fertilizer has the same characteristics, the weather conditions and the differences arising from the fertilizer seller will change the volume and density of the fertilizer) The rest is to use Linak brand internal potentiometer or a linear motor with hall sensor, the rest is a little programming knowledge…
Sorry for the bad english.
My problem is not how to calculate the flow, but how to make the SK21 rateApp open-loop, that is, without a flow meter or encoder for motor speed.
I can map the opening of the gate to a specific location in arduino/rateApp and, based on the spread graph of my fertilizer spreader, set the corresponding flow on the product page in the rateApp, but without a flow meter/ecoder/sensor, I can’t get the app to work
So to measure the flow rate you want to convert voltage from a potentiometer based on the ratio between opening and flow. This could be done with another control type option, maybe call it Gate Opening. The calibration number would have to be changed to Units/Volt. You would need to use an analog pin on the nano or a ADS1115 connected to the I2C header. A motor controller could operate the linear actuators the same as a flow valve.
I am not convinced that units/volt is correct, in my opinion the opening is not proportional to the flow (also calculating the various levers) maybe a table / mapping would be better?
Just tried the vr mapping. It works really well. I can see your point about sending the max rates. It would make the whole thing more seamless and easier for the user if the max rates were already there. The base rate could still be entered in case of missing vr data. The user wouldn’t have to match up max rates with selected stream. In the variable rate combobox the rate # and max rate could be shown.
I noticed when the boundary rates were saved, they were saved to a different map, not the boundary map.
Also need to add the Rate Planner into the Help manual.
Is it possible to draw a rate map over a google image of a field. On the map I drew a rate zone for a sand ridge I can see on the google image. It would be much easier if it could be drawn right on the image.
I just tried this as well. Just so I understand, this is integrated into AOG not like Rate control that runs seperate?
Also I am a little confused about 5 rates and also the the % on the right side. Are these 5 rates for one product like one tank of my drill? If I am trying to control multiple tanks how do I add more layers or rate layers?
This looks really nice, good job to all involved
There are 5 rates in each zone. You can add as many zones as you like. You can choose which rate stream is for which product. The % on the right is what is sent to RC. It is a percentage of the maximum rate for each stream. For example if you have 3 zones each zone would have a value for the first rate stream, say 80, 100, 75. 100 is the maximum and the other rates are a % of it.
To add a zone draw it first then enter numbers for each stream on the Rate Planner page, then save when finished for that zone. Draw another zone, edit and save the numbers. Scroll through the zones with the - and + at the top right of the page.
