Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | With all that laid out, is it remotely possible that Module #2 could've been rigged to open the ball valve in that line when the tanks on the planter ran empty and flow ran out? That's the only remote reason I could see for this setup, but can't wrap my head around if it would actually work. Not really a big deal as the customer isn't planning on using the liquid system this spring, but probably will going forward. It'll likely just get set up with module #1 and completely eliminate #2 when the time comes. Just curious what other's thoughts were on it.
Your guess is about the only thing I can think of myself. As you mention the first system appears to do something useful. Possibly the individual who set this up thought it would be a way to be able "to use those extra switches" on the Ag Leader switchbox to transfer from tanks on the tractor to tanks on the planter. The fact that both LPCM modules get flow information from the same flow meter is a mystery.
I have seen various ways to accomplish the transfer idea. This "pumping from one tank to another" is common with aircraft. I saw a video on the Concorde and I believe it had some 11 fuel tanks and fuel management as far as pumping the fuel from one tank to another to keep the Center of Gravity and other factors in tolerable limits.
I'm thinking that the original idea was to have one product but two sets of tanks to draw from. Use LPCM #1 to draw from the planter tanks, Use LPCM #2 to draw from the tractor tanks. To fool the system into opening the valve to supply the system from the tractor, the operator would turn on LPCM #2 so the single pump could draw from the tractor. Rather than buy a second flow meter they just used the one they had to provide information to both modules since a module would need flow to Open.
Of course a much simple approach would have been to use a switch outside of the Ag Leader system to control a valve leading to the pump and having the operator turn it ON/OFF at will completely outside the AL system.
Maybe there is a reasonable answer. Please post back if you figure it out.
We just got started yesterday with our system of InCommand 1200 working with steering the tractor, CCM, STTM, a single LPCM for spray, an Application Rate Module for starter and an ISO module to monitor down force. This planter is ground drive.
Both the seed Clutches and spray would Stop occasionally but then start again. My first thought was my fairly complex implement switch wiring harness. Power from the Clutch Module splits 3 ways. It provides 12V to the left implement switch, the right implement switch and the implement switch over ride in the tractor. The return paths from these 3 switches come to a common point where they split and lead to the CCM, LPCM and ISO down force units. In normal operation the Over ride switch in the tractor is set to OFF so the real implement switches are in control.
We can use the Over ride switch for testing, unusual situations and as an indicator. Purposely flipping the Over ride switch ON should have caused the system to continue to plant and spray but that was not reliable.
I was not in the tractor but my great nephew called me since the override switch didn't seem to be working the way I just described. While sitting in the tractor and stopped, I brought up the switch diagnostic page. Since we are using the SC110 switch box, each of the 11 switch locations should show black or green. Black meaning the system found a switch at that location but it was "off" in our sense. Green means the system found a switch at the location and it was what we think of as "on".
While sitting there with the Master ON, we noticed that at times, the color was green or black as expected BUT occasionally it went gray or blank. This would indicate that the system did not believe that a switch was present at location F1 (normal Master). We were able to repeat that several times. I called my dealer and fortunately they had a new SC110 CAN switch box on hand. We installed it and did not have that type of problem from then on.
My plan is to open up the original SC110 and see what's involved as far as installing a new switch. I believe the switch itself is a SPDT rather than the more common SPST. Today the problem may surface again. I did have an occasion one other times where one of the section switches seemed unreliable but I was able to utilize another switch that time. |
Calling all Ag Leader gurus. Multiple liquid modules on one planter.
