Fieldbee

[Dave645]

Has anyone been able to get a speed reading off the fieldbee for another controller. Been trying to get my bogballe zurf to communicate with it and nope!

Fieldbee are using what was originally https://www.agleader.com/guidance-and-steering/steadysteer/
Gear for the steering wheel and the gyroscope compensation box, as part of this system, the receivers and base stations software and tablets are fieldbee made.
when you get the instructions it shows the other wiring loom options.

There are variations on the wiring loom that may give you a serial connection required for that other controllers signal data.
ag leader did still sell the steering wheel units with their badge on, they now it seems they have a new version.

https://portal.agleader.com/community/s/article/01tf4000004U43kAAC?language=en_US
If you search ontrac3 it will give you all the info they have.
Fieldbee may also have options available to help.

 

[Chestnut]

Why aren't you buying it earlier to take advantage of a 30% discount.
Surely It would be quite a saving?

4400 is with a 35% off ‘normal price’ discount spring delivery

30% discount off ‘normal prices’ for delivery this winter

I’m happy to wait a few months and save 5%,

 

[scotston]

I have extended the antenna on my base station with a 5m fiber glass one up a pole and added a small amplifier. This has given me excellent LoRa coverage over 2.5kms distance and behind some steep hills.

 

[Dave645]

I have extended the antenna on my base station with a 5m fiber glass one up a pole and added a small amplifier. This has given me excellent LoRa coverage over 2.5kms distance and behind some steep hills.

Hi, sounds simple and effective, a list of the parts you used would be great, links to the actual parts you purchased would also be a great help.

 

[scotston]

WMO86916-SM-5M - 5.8 dBi 868/915 MHz Wall-Mount Omni Antenna

The WMO86916 high gain outdoor omni antenna is designed for continuous outdoor wall-mount applications using 868 MHz or 915 MHz frequency bands.

www.connextech.co.uk

Aluminum Alloy RF Power AMP 15V Broadband Amplifier RF Power Amplifier 1‑1000MHz for All Kinds of Radio Transmission : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Aluminum Alloy RF Power AMP 15V Broadband Amplifier RF Power Amplifier 1‑1000MHz for All Kinds of Radio Transmission : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

www.amazon.co.uk

It should be noted that I have not and cannot install such a device as it would breach the ofcom rules regarding loRa power levels in the EU. So for the purposes of this conversation, I have only installed the antenna. The amplifier (which was a silver cased milageto version also from china) is for testing purposes only and is not in continual/commercial usage.

 

[cheeseypeas]

Hello All

I have been very interested in reading all the information you have put on here on FieldBee and am considering a system. We currently have a Trimble 500 with an autosteer foam roller on the side of the steering wheel on our Fendt 312 It's fine for fertilising but not a lot else. We got a quote for upgrading it to Rangepoint but this was not much different in price to a whole new FieldBee system (Also giving us two tractors with autosteer). I was considering the L2 RTK but had some questions as I don't really know much about RTK.

If I don't have the base station will it still get corrections from the wifi modem sim card?( I think I read somewhere it had a sim in it) And I'm guessing it won't be as good?

Do you need the wifi router in the cab if you have a tablet with a sim card slot? Can the corrections be run off of that? Do need to get a special sim? Who do you get it from? Cost?

I was going to put it on our Fendt 415 with mechanical steering. I guess this is not as good as a guidance ready tractor or a hydraulic steer upgrade but is it good enough for drilling?

Is everybody happy with their Fieldbee systems? Is there anything I should know before committing to buy?

Sorry for all the questions but I like to get things straight in my head before buying.

Thanks Rich

 

[Dave645]

Hello All

I have been very interested in reading all the information you have put on here on FieldBee and am considering a system. We currently have a Trimble 500 with an autosteer foam roller on the side of the steering wheel on our Fendt 312 It's fine for fertilising but not a lot else. We got a quote for upgrading it to Rangepoint but this was not much different in price to a whole new FieldBee system (Also giving us two tractors with autosteer). I was considering the L2 RTK but had some questions as I don't really know much about RTK.

If I don't have the base station will it still get corrections from the wifi modem sim card?( I think I read somewhere it had a sim in it) And I'm guessing it won't be as good?

Do you need the wifi router in the cab if you have a tablet with a sim card slot? Can the corrections be run off of that? Do need to get a special sim? Who do you get it from? Cost?

I was going to put it on our Fendt 415 with mechanical steering. I guess this is not as good as a guidance ready tractor or a hydraulic steer upgrade but is it good enough for drilling?

Is everybody happy with their Fieldbee systems? Is there anything I should know before committing to buy?

Sorry for all the questions but I like to get things straight in my head before buying.

Thanks Rich

Ok first RTK the system as standard comes unlocked for RTK, which is about a £2k unlock from Trimble.
While it’s unlocked unless you subscribe to a RTK service or get a base station you will not get accuracy better than about 12cm, with free GPS anyone can get.
You may already have a subscription, so you can continue to use that.
The FieldBee app has an annual subscription of about £100 ish per year this lets your app work in full, and enables auto steer.
If you want to drill then, will want the full app from fieldbee, and most likely want full RTK which is around 1-2cm, which is not cheap as a service, unless you have a friend that that lets you log in to their base station for the cost of a pint in the pub.
Or you get a fieldbee base station, personally I think the base station is what makes the fieldbee system a no brainier and great value, a full RTK system with only a small sub to cover the app full unlock.

Ok RTK from other services, they all use a SIM cards to receive the corrections, if you don’t get a base station and you want better than the 12-20cm free service, then your either using a subscription service that uses a sim they likely supply to you, and the £600 plus pounds a year subscription. (Prices will vary but that is around, what one of my neighbours pays)

ok router and the sim, the router is talking to the correction brain running the steering, this is on a wired Ethernet connection, The router is the hub of the system linking the gyroscope control box to the tablet, and also acts as the hotspot for the roof top receiver. Can it be done from a tablet making a hotspot of its own maybe, you would have to ask the FieldBee team. Note with their base station in radio mode you don’t need a sim but you do need a hotspot that links all the devices together.

the FieldBee system worked for me fine I drilled all my land via the sim using my fieldbee base station.
As I have land that’s heavily wooded and radio mode from my yard has weak spots and pushing at its max range.
I have used radio mode placing the base station in battery mode and radio mode in the field and this works fine with no SIM card in the system but that only creates non repeatable AB lines so every time I move the base station manually and let it do a auto locate in setup it will give RTK level corrections to the tractor but because the base station is in what is classed as unfixed mode AB lines that you make will not be useful the following time you go to that field, if you have moved the base station.
There are ways to get around that problem, by having permanent locations you move the base station around your farm, that can have pre saved locations that the FieldBee app lets you name and save in the base stations memory.

The FieldBee system is good but it’s software is more a work in progress than a 100% perfect system, that said new stuff and updates drop as do new abilities, and you get all the upgrades for free as part of the annual subscription to the app. For me the base station is the best value part of the system, it replaces very expensive subscriptions to higher level of accuracy all the way upto full RTK 1-2 cm which the base station can deliver for basically a one off cost.

 

[tomildinio]

Fieldbee are using what was originally https://www.agleader.com/guidance-and-steering/steadysteer/
Gear for the steering wheel and the gyroscope compensation box, as part of this system, the receivers and base stations software and tablets are fieldbee made.
when you get the instructions it shows the other wiring loom options.

There are variations on the wiring loom that may give you a serial connection required for that other controllers signal data.
ag leader did still sell the steering wheel units with their badge on, they now it seems they have a new version.

https://portal.agleader.com/community/s/article/01tf4000004U43kAAC?language=en_US
If you search ontrac3 it will give you all the info they have.
Fieldbee may also have options available to help.

I was in touch with bogballe and they said without a deal done with firldbee I won't get it to work from their rs232 cable

 

[cheeseypeas]

Ok first RTK the system as standard comes unlocked for RTK, which is about a £2k unlock from Trimble.
While it’s unlocked unless you subscribe to a RTK service or get a base station you will not get accuracy better than about 12cm, with free GPS anyone can get.
You may already have a subscription, so you can continue to use that.
The FieldBee app has an annual subscription of about £100 ish per year this lets your app work in full, and enables auto steer.
If you want to drill then, will want the full app from fieldbee, and most likely want full RTK which is around 1-2cm, which is not cheap as a service, unless you have a friend that that lets you log in to their base station for the cost of a pint in the pub.
Or you get a fieldbee base station, personally I think the base station is what makes the fieldbee system a no brainier and great value, a full RTK system with only a small sub to cover the app full unlock.

Ok RTK from other services, they all use a SIM cards to receive the corrections, if you don’t get a base station and you want better than the 12-20cm free service, then your either using a subscription service that uses a sim they likely supply to you, and the £600 plus pounds a year subscription. (Prices will vary but that is around, what one of my neighbours pays)

ok router and the sim, the router is talking to the correction brain running the steering, this is on a wired Ethernet connection, The router is the hub of the system linking the gyroscope control box to the tablet, and also acts as the hotspot for the roof top receiver. Can it be done from a tablet making a hotspot of its own maybe, you would have to ask the FieldBee team. Note with their base station in radio mode you don’t need a sim but you do need a hotspot that links all the devices together.

the FieldBee system worked for me fine I drilled all my land via the sim using my fieldbee base station.
As I have land that’s heavily wooded and radio mode from my yard has weak spots and pushing at its max range.
I have used radio mode placing the base station in battery mode and radio mode in the field and this works fine with no SIM card in the system but that only creates non repeatable AB lines so every time I move the base station manually and let it do a auto locate in setup it will give RTK level corrections to the tractor but because the base station is in what is classed as unfixed mode AB lines that you make will not be useful the following time you go to that field, if you have moved the base station.
There are ways to get around that problem, by having permanent locations you move the base station around your farm, that can have pre saved locations that the FieldBee app lets you name and save in the base stations memory.

Thank you for your full answer. I think I understand now. Nearly all of our land is in a ring-fence and fairly flat (although there are some trees about) and less than 2k from the main buildings. I'm hoping if I set up the base on the farm it will do the whole of it. humm....

 

[cheeseypeas]

One thing that has just occurred to me. Do you think I would have to pay any import taxes on the system when it enters the country?

 

[steveR]

One thing that has just occurred to me. Do you think I would have to pay any import taxes on the system when it enters the country?

I didn't on the FJD system from China...

God knows what the system is like for an EU import!

 

[cheeseypeas]

I didn't on the FJD system from China...

God knows what the system is like for an EU import!

Not sure it is an EU import. Think it comes from Ukraine??

 

[steveR]

Not sure it is an EU import. Think it comes from Ukraine??

Fingers x'd then

They were shipping from Netherlands at one time I think when I was looking at buying a system, but jibbed, as I was not convinced the system was 100% at the time. DSorted now I believe.

 

[Northern farmer]

Fingers x'd then

They were shipping from Netherlands at one time I think when I was looking at buying a system, but jibbed, as I was not convinced the system was 100% at the time. DSorted now I believe.

Are you expecting lower import duties or avoiding VAT if importing from Ukraine instead of EU?

 

[steveR]

Are you expecting lower import duties or avoiding VAT if importing from Ukraine instead of EU?

Well my big import of the FJD system was from China, and so far, it is duty free...

If VAT is charged, we can reclaim it anyway

 

[Northern farmer]

Well my big import of the FJD system was from China, and so far, it is duty free...

If VAT is charged, we can reclaim it anyway

I understand the VAT point but even more puzzled about the duty concerns. Surely UK cannot have higher duties on these products from EU than Ukraine, not to mention China. Unless the Chinese were cheating your customs, you should not need to pay customs duties irrespectively if the product comes from Ukraine or EU.

 

[cheeseypeas]

Fingers x'd then

They were shipping from Netherlands at one time I think when I was looking at buying a system, but jibbed, as I was not convinced the system was 100% at the time. DSorted now I believe.

You could be right. Payment still goes to Holland.

 

[cheeseypeas]

I understand the VAT point but even more puzzled about the duty concerns. Surely UK cannot have higher duties on these products from EU than Ukraine, not to mention China. Unless the Chinese were cheating your customs, you should not need to pay customs duties irrespectively if the product comes from Ukraine or EU.

I agree. But I have heard of people buying stuff from the EU and then getting an import tax bill on the item when it goes through customs. Probably the EU being a bit heavy handed as they are a bit chewy about us leaving.....?

 

[Northern farmer]

I agree. But I have heard of people buying stuff from the EU and then getting an import tax bill on the item when it goes through customs. Probably the EU being a bit heavy handed as they are a bit chewy about us leaving.....?

Now off topic but the import customs duties are defined by your own customs. The EU interest would be no customs duties at your side. If anyone is sensitive, it is the UK customs towards any EU import.

 

[cheeseypeas]

Now off topic but the import customs duties are defined by your own customs. The EU interest would be no customs duties at your side. If anyone is sensitive, it is the UK customs towards any EU import.

Perhaps I'd better look into this...... Thanks