Thank you for clearing that up for me.
I had the momentary footswitch wired into rte 2, and a 5V output with pin 3 assigned to the work switch in the module config. I have since removed the foot switch a f disabled the work switch until I can get this system to work.
I seem to be experiencing some of the same issues you were with your RC12 rate controller. I also had issues with the relays clicking on and off when I first installed it until I ran a separate power wire for the relays and the RC12 board. I am having issues occasionally when the relays turn off on the headland, they won’t turn back on again when I get on line and leave the headland. It sounds like I may also need to add a capacitor to my 5v power supply wires going to the relay driver. Do you know what size capacitor you used when you added it?
actually i soldered in one 100nF condesator and one 47uF electrolytic condensator between ground and +5V. Do you have reverse polarity valves? In my case one of the motors was missing a condensator too, that caused additional trouble. Now it all works like a dream.
I had the relay driver redesigned with both condesators and just ordered them from jlcpcb, cleaner than soldering the condensators to the wires
Another question @SK21:
is it possible to assign specific sections to the switches of the switch box? I have 5 sections and would like to control the outer ones with physical switches (sections 1,2,4,5), but found no way to tell that to the rate control program.
And one feature request: It would be cool to have some on screen buttons that can control individual relays, eg for work light of the implement, maybe even with interchangeable names for the button
Use the section dialog to change which switch controls which sections.
How many extra buttons would be needed? Maybe a group of 8 buttons that can either be section relays or other relay controls.
v6.3.0 for testing VR and section control.
v6.3.0 for VR and section control testing.
Notes:
- Red 0-255 is rate ch1 0-100% (what 0 and 100 mean is set in the Rate App).
- Green is section control (anything over zero green is section OFF).
- Rate is one rate for the whole boom and sampled at 3 places along green look ahead line and averaged.
- Section control is per section as normal (Maybe try some spot spraying, image drawing, or zero rate zones etc)
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yea 8 would be plenty, for me it would be ideal to be able to use them instead of section relays with the relay driver, following your structure with the dropdown menu to select what the relay controls. Would be cool to be able to name the buttons somehow, dont how how easy that is to do
Thank you for getting back to me. My sprayer has solenoid valves for the section shutoffs. I noticed my issues seem to be when I would have all the sections shut off at once. I added diodes at the solenoids to suppress the voltage spikes. Everything ran perfectly.
Thank you for all the help getting my rate controller working. Saturday I wired in some diodes to suppress the voltage spikes when the boom solenoids disengaged. This took care of my final freeze up issues. The voltage spikes must have been causing issues for the nano. It makes spraying a breeze now with auto rate and section control with auto steer. One final question, I saw an option for a pressure sensor in the app. Can that be utilized with an rc12, or is that for use with different rate controllers?
Good that it is working for you. The pressure sensor works with the RC11 or RC15 that have an ADS1115 to read the signal. Do you have a diagram for the changes you made? It could help someone else that might have the same problem.
Good idea. A quick summary of what I did. When I first installed and began using the rate controller it worked well, but the nano would freeze up if all the boom sections were shut off at the same time, or if I was in automatic mode and the boom sections were rapidly turning on or off to cover small areas. My sprayer has 3 solenoid valves, one for each boom section. I began to suspect voltage spikes from the solenoids deenergizing may have been the issue. I initially ran one power wire to the rate controller and branched off another line to power the relay board that controlled the sections. I then ran a separate power wire to the rate controller board and another power wire to the relays. This seemed to help a little, but I continued to have issues. I then added suppression diodes to the solenoids to dampen the voltage spike of the solenoids deenergizing. It is recommended to select a suppression diode that is 10 times the amperage rating and 4 times the voltage rating of the solenoid. My solenoids operate at 2 amps/ 12v. I bought some 30 amp/ 50v diodes off of Amazon. I wired them into the sprayer harness right next to the solenoids as shown in the attached picture. The silver blocking end of the diode should connect to the power wire from the rate controller relay board and the other end to ground. After adding the diodes my freezing issue is resolved and everything works great.
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Hello, actually the locking of the nano here is not due to voltage failure but due to reverse EMF. When the coil energy in the solenoids is cut off, it creates a reverse electromotive force, which affects the semiconductor components before the coil, the processor and causes it to lock. The diode you will use does not have to have a high current value, it is high. It is more important that it has a voltage rating, for example 1N4007.
When the electric current applied to the coil is cut off, the magnetic effect on the electromagnet does not disappear immediately, and with a reverse effect, it uses the coil as a generator, creating a high voltage in the opposite direction at the ends of the coil.
This reverse high voltage can damage the transistor or microcontroller driving the coil immediately or in the long term.
That’s why we connect a diode in reverse to the coil and eliminate this reverse voltage on the diode.
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I thought the relay module would have protected the nano from the voltage spikes because it uses optoisolators.
I am far from an electrical engineer, but after I installed the diodes I wondered if I could have accomplished that same thing by providing the coils with a constant 12v and then using the relays to complete the ground circuit to engage a boom section. Then when a section turned off the voltage spike on the ground wire would be isolated from the rest of the system. Maybe I am way off in my thinking and feel free to correct me, but I wondered if that would also be a viable solution.
I wonder what could / should be done when controlling solenoids via motor drivers (e.g. TB67H451FNG ) ?
Here’s our current schematic:
Motor driver A / B → green/red diode to GND which show if they’re on. So essentially:
A → LED → GND
B → LED → GND
Now when this is is used as solenoid driver we only connect let say A and put the other end of solenoid to GND. Based on the above schematic we should also add a diode that goes from GND to A ?
Or because technically the motor driver goes to GND when switched off that would close the loop?
What do you suggest?
Here is a test branch that has 8 on screen buttons. The buttons can be renamed and can control individual relays. This is setup on the Options dialog.
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From a first quick test it looks like what I was hoping for, thank a lot 
Would it be possible to use more switches with the switch box to coincide with the updated test rate controller app? I have another sprayer with 5 sections. It would be nice to have a switch box with 5 section switches for that sprayer.
The app can use up to 16 switches. The switch box code can do 16 switches as well.
Thanks for the clarification