Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | The half planter question has various possibilities depending on the setup and equipment.
I may not explain all the various combinations correctly but here goes.
If the planter is equipped with the Ag Leader Seed Command module then it is possible to shut the planter off in sections. These sections can be shutoff with section clutches or more ideally individual row shutoffs. The row sections are usually limited to about two rows each since trying to go to a one row section has some limitations.
If you had the Seed Command module you would certainly want (but I guess it would not actually be required) the autoswath unlock which will allow you to have the system shut these sections off automatically for you when the planter covers an area that has been planted.
The Seed Command setup also includes a switchbox so that if you desire you can purposely prevent section(s) from planting whether that area has been previously planted or not.
The map/logging will correctly (in all but a few very odd cases) reflect the planting.
For example, this year, we have a customer who planted Roundy UP Ready II seed beans for parent stock. Monsanto is deathly afraid of some cross contamination such as happened with the Starlink business. Therefore Monstanto wants the grower to have gaps (no plants) of several rows between this seed and other normal seed. I don't remember how many rows it was but it was not a full planter width. Monstanto will pay the customer for the loss of crop in those rows.
Let's suppose Monsanto wanted an 8 row gap. The operator could prevent the planter from planting 8 rows by shutting off two-four row sections. The variety planting map would correctly show this.
Another combination with planting is the multi-product situation. This is where it is desirable to have 2 or 3 different varieties being planted at the same time. This situation requires the mult-product unlock. It is then possible to tell the system that the Left half has Variety A and the Right half has Variety B.
This is usally referred to as Split-Planting.
So you could use the first situation to have the system shut off sections at will or where you had already planted or you could have the second situation where you have different varieties in the planter.
What about doing both? Yes, this is possible and would require both unlocks.
It would be possible to have a 24-30" planter setup in 8 three row sections for seed shutoff and have one variety in the Left half (4 sections of 3 rows each) and a different variety in the Right half (4 sections of 3 rows each).
There are many combinations possible with larger planters with many rows. Some may wonder do the Left and Right need to be exactly one-half of the width? The answer is no with some limitations. Another question is does each section have to be the same number of rows? Again the answer is no with some limitations.
The variety splits do have to agree with a section split so this makes some combinations difficult but there is usally a way around the limitation.
For example, with the 24 row planter in 8 three row sections it would be possible to have the split varieties setup as 18 rows (6-three row sections) of Variety A and 6 rows (2-three row section) of Variety B. If variety B is refuge corn you would then have 12 rows of refuge corn followed by 36 rows of trait corn. This combination might not be desirable from a combine head standpoint.
We have a customer who plants with a 12 row planter and has it setup as 9 rows of Variety A and 3 rows of variety B. When planted, the field will have 18 rows of trait corn and then 6 rows of refuge corn. Since he has a 6 row corn head this will work out fine for keeping the varieties separate. This will require him to harvest "on the guess row" 2 out of 3 passes. Since he planted with autopilot he doesn't feel this will be a problem.
Importable aerial maps are possible with the Raven Viper Pro system. Aerial maps can be imported and used as background maps in Ag Leader's SMS PC software. This would allow you to print out an application map that was overlaid on top of the background map.
In general, the Insight does not have the ability to display backgroundmaps from PC software such as aerial maps.
Some exceptions are guidance lines, boundary maps and a VR maps. These situations are possible and the manipulation is done with a software program on a PC and saved to a memory card. The memory card is then inserted in the Insight and the file is imported into the Insight.
I hope I haven't confused you with the many planting possibilites. Thought needs to be given to what you really want to do and the consequences of some of these setups.
Concerning the aerial or perspective view. The Insight will only give the aerial view but can be operated in the "Zoomed In Coverage mode". In this view a magnified view is given that clearly shows the width of the application. This easily shows areas of overlap and skips. When using autopilot the new guidance line will "snap into view" when a turn is made and you have driven half way towards a new line. Only the closest guidance line is shown.
In one of my situations, I have an EZ-Guide 500 running an autopilot. At times (NH3 application) an Insight is also installed in the tractor. The 500 is showing a perspective map and the Insight an overhead map of the application. The two maps are overkill but complementary.
Edited by tedbear 9/2/2008 05:34
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You Insight guys
