Amazone sprayer distance control misbehaving

Location
North
Our 01-series Amazone sprayer distance control started acting up. The driver says it raises one side very high up at times.

I think our service guy told there was a bug causing similar behaviour but it should have been older SW than we have. Also the sprayer has been fine for some 6 years so far.

I was thinking of swapping the distance sensors to see if it starts raising the other side. Should tell if it is a sensor issue or a wiring issue.

Would anyone be aware of some typical distance control issues to look at?
 
Location
North
Thanks for that suggestion. Haven't worked with the sprayer yet but distance control calibration is on the task list even if I cannot see why it would have lost calibration and even if it had, why would it work fine for quite some time and then suddenly start lifting one side? Does not sound like a calibration issue to me. Never know and better to run the calibration anyway, does not take much time.

I though I should also check the valves. Need to see what the screen reports for boom levels when the issue occurs. If the screen shows one side being up, sensors and their wiring are likely fine.

A pity there is no diagnosis data/fault codes that can be read from the screen, as far as I'm aware.
 

legin

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
West Midlands
We've had our sprayer about 15 month, and about 3 weeks ago the boom lock for folding/unfolding was coming off when unfolding but the screen was saying it was still in locked position. Auto section and distance control wouldn't work. Phoned dealer, they told me to calibrate booms which I did and works well again now.
 
Location
North
Well, good for you if boom calibration helped. I would not have been happy with the result though. The point being that boom calibration as such cannot have anything to do with the sensor that detects the boom being out of the lock position. Or if it has, I'd like to see a detailed technical explanation.

Distance control is by default off if the system sees booms locked. My interpretation is that the dealer did not know the sprayer very well and told you some guesswork to get rid of a complaining customer at the other end of the line.

I've now swapped distance sensors and obviously need to calibrate the booms in any case. Need help from the sprayer/tractor operator for further testing but I'm actually not expecting any issue with the sensors. The operator was not sure but thought the display would have been showing boom position correctly when one side was way up.
 
Location
Wiltshire
Well, good for you if boom calibration helped. I would not have been happy with the result though. The point being that boom calibration as such cannot have anything to do with the sensor that detects the boom being out of the lock position. Or if it has, I'd like to see a detailed technical explanation.

Distance control is by default off if the system sees booms locked. My interpretation is that the dealer did not know the sprayer very well and told you some guesswork to get rid of a complaining customer at the other end of the line.

I've now swapped distance sensors and obviously need to calibrate the booms in any case. Need help from the sprayer/tractor operator for further testing but I'm actually not expecting any issue with the sensors. The operator was not sure but thought the display would have been showing boom position correctly when one side was way up.
If its a later sprayer the boom lock is monitored by a potentiometer so calibrating could correct this fault. Not sure what software you are running, non isobus? Also check the tilt sensors and tilt potentiometer.
FM
 
Location
North
Thanks. I believe legin has a later model, ours is an earlier non-isobus model. If I remember right, this one only has a proximity sensor for the boom lock.

I actually forgot it has a tilt sensor and a tilt potentiometer. Have no idea how the two are used by the control box.

I guess the boom angle on the Amatron+ display must be based on the tilt potentiometer. Have no idea how to check the tilt sensor other than measuring directly from the sensor wires (need to check if it gives an analogue signal). Wonder how distance control uses tilt sensor and potentiometer, thought readings from the distance sensors would have been enough?

Tested distance control when the tractor was stationary. Fooled distance sensors and everything seemed to be working fine. Then calibrated distance control and tested again. Obviously still working fine. Earlier on checked and cleaned the valves but no dirt there.
 
Location
North
The distance control issue comes back randomly, mostly working fine but then one side suddenly starts to raise (always the same side, also after sensors were swapped).

Going to have the SW updated, Amazone service did not have any other idea to fix it. Odd if a SW bug starts playing after so many years. A pity we cannot download SW updates from the Amazone info portal (as their support videos suggest).
 
Location
North
Seems the issue was from one of the distance sensors after all. Amazone service did not update screen SW, don't understand why not when the customer asked for it and even if the current issue was from a distance sensor.

The sprayer screen does not show boom distance figures constantly and I never caught the sensor showing low figures at the field. When testing at home, it never misbehaved. Guess why my sensor swap test failed. :banghead: :whistle:

A new sensor from the local parts supplier was 1000+ Euros, the same sensor with a different cable connector was 158 Euros (including postage) from a German shop. The official importer of Microsonic products was not interested when I mentioned the German price. Most likely would have wanted 150+ Euros profit. Would be interesting to know where the 1000 Euro profit goes within the Amazone spare parts supply chain.
 

Scrambler

Member
Location
Leicestershire
Seems the issue was from one of the distance sensors after all. Amazone service did not update screen SW, don't understand why not when the customer asked for it and even if the current issue was from a distance sensor.

The sprayer screen does not show boom distance figures constantly and I never caught the sensor showing low figures at the field. When testing at home, it never misbehaved. Guess why my sensor swap test failed. :banghead: :whistle:

A new sensor from the local parts supplier was 1000+ Euros, the same sensor with a different cable connector was 158 Euros (including postage) from a German shop. The official importer of Microsonic products was not interested when I mentioned the German price. Most likely would have wanted 150+ Euros profit. Would be interesting to know where the 1000 Euro profit goes within the Amazone spare parts supply chain.

I have a similar intermittent problem on my Amazone UF1201. Would you mind letting me know the details of where you got the sensor from? Did you have to change the plug to make it fit?
Thanks.
 

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As reported in Independent


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