Profi Plus

I am looking at a 5 year old Fendt 516 Profi Plus, can anyone tell me what I would need to buy to make it steer and apply fert using variable rate maps? It currently has no receiver on the roof but it is Profi Plus which has the 10” screen and I believe it to be steering ready.
 

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
Profi Plus means it is steer ready. On the arm rest controls there should be some white buttons to activate the steering. Find out which receiver/signal if any the tractor has already. If you turn it on and put the sat nav on the screen it will show the available signal in the top left corner. If its only on Egnos its an easy upgrade.

Fendt changed from Topcon to Trimble a few years ago so if it has topcon it may be a little more complicated to get variable rate going. Topcon did have a few issues towards the end I assume it was because Fendt we putting the effort into Trimble. It should only be a matter of buying the required unlocks for the variable rate. If you have to buy a receiver Novatel is cheaper than trimble and there is very little difference. I run ntrip RTK on novatel. My experience is with 700s but I am fairly sure a 516 of that age is the same. I would recommend you check the tractor has the latest software, its easy for the dealer to do.


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Wombat

Member
BASIS
Location
East yorks
Profi Plus means it is steer ready. On the arm rest controls there should be some white buttons to activate the steering. Find out which receiver/signal if any the tractor has already. If you turn it on and put the sat nav on the screen it will show the available signal in the top left corner. If its only on Egnos its an easy upgrade.

Fendt changed from Topcon to Trimble a few years ago so if it has topcon it may be a little more complicated to get variable rate going. Topcon did have a few issues towards the end I assume it was because Fendt we putting the effort into Trimble. It should only be a matter of buying the required unlocks for the variable rate. If you have to buy a receiver Novatel is cheaper than trimble and there is very little difference. I run ntrip RTK on novatel. My experience is with 700s but I am fairly sure a 516 of that age is the same. I would recommend you check the tractor has the latest software, its easy for the dealer to do.


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Agco changed to doing the steering side themselves with a choice of receiver of either the Agco specific novatel or trimble ones, everything else became in house Agco
 
The model year is 2016, any idea how to find out what receiver can go onto it? The tractor is currently sitting in a second hand machinery dealers yard, not at a Fendt dealership
 

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
I think if it doesn’t have a receiver it can have any Fendt receiver in the roof. It’s just the matter of getting the right software. I had a 2013 720 and I changed the receivers as I put a second hand system on when I moved to rtk. It worked 1st time.

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Location
North
Fendt changed from Topcon to Trimble and Novatel. Currently however only Novatel available. I guess Trimble cannot deliver their stuff to Agco (concerns new tractor deliveries, doubt they would have parts for after sales).

Fendt did implement the steering SW already during Topcon time. Also all section control and variable rate are done by Fendt hardware. The receiver type would not matter, Topcon, Trimble or Novatel. Just that the tractor needs a bit different SW for Topcon and some more advanced auto-steer features are not available with the Topcon receiver.

Cheap Topcon receivers are available currently (need to come with the Fendt software, original Topcon or the MF/Valtra variant would not work) but Novatel could be a safer choice (as well as Trimble if you can find one). Topcon does not support Galileo or Beidou constellations.

I would not consider any third party receivers where one would lose all the integration with other tractor functions.
 

jamesfalky

Member
Trade
Location
East Yorkshire
I am looking at a 5 year old Fendt 516 Profi Plus, can anyone tell me what I would need to buy to make it steer and apply fert using variable rate maps? It currently has no receiver on the roof but it is Profi Plus which has the 10” screen and I believe it to be steering ready.
For a 2016 machine, you would need either a Trimble or NovAtel receiver (as said above, not many Trimbles about at the moment) a VD03 or VD04 nav controller and the roof harness, plus any unlocks for accuracy or antennas if you wish to go to RTK. when you have it fitted you would need a dealer to flash software to make sure software versions all match as they don't work if there is a software mismatch. Very simple process to add steer to, just needs a dealer laptop to flash it.

I would steer clear of older Topcon units as there isn't the support for them like there is with the Trimble/NovAtel ones
 

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
I assume a Trimble system that is not on the tractors own screen won’t have the ability to use the auto TI function where hitting a mark on the map triggers the headland management on the tractor. I use it all the time drilling. Also would you loose the ability to turn the steering on and off using the programmable buttons on the joystick?

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Location
Kimbolton
I assume a Trimble system that is not on the tractors own screen won’t have the ability to use the auto TI function where hitting a mark on the map triggers the headland management on the tractor. I use it all the time drilling. Also would you loose the ability to turn the steering on and off using the programmable buttons on the joystick?

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I'm don't think it would work with the Auto TI but it would defiantly work with your existing buttons on the joystick as its a Can based system
 
Location
North
Yes it does, It is more expensive but it means that you can just remove when Tractor is sold or swap into another vehicle also

I'd assume there is a new fancy Trimble product at the time the tractor is sold and leaving the auto-steer gear to add sales value makes more sense.

It all depends on personal preferences, good to have all options discussed. Only the owner knows what is best for him.
 
Can anyone tell me if there is any difference between Trimble and Novatel? I have two used 516 I am torn between, one is late 2017 with Novatel and the other is 2019 with Trimble RTX.

Whichever I go with, I will need it unlocked for section control and variable rate application. The dealer selling the one with Novatel tells me those two software unlocks are £1200 and £800 respectively 🙈😯
 

jamesfalky

Member
Trade
Location
East Yorkshire
Can anyone tell me if there is any difference between Trimble and Novatel? I have two used 516 I am torn between, one is late 2017 with Novatel and the other is 2019 with Trimble RTX.

Whichever I go with, I will need it unlocked for section control and variable rate application. The dealer selling the one with Novatel tells me those two software unlocks are £1200 and £800 respectively 🙈😯
Trimble receiver has a couple more features such as X-Fill and the ability to connect to a Trimble secured RTK radio network, but the Novatel is quite a bit cheaper and tends to hold satellites better, the majority of tractors we sell are on Novatel.
Those prices are correct, it’s the tractor screen that is getting unlocked for the section and VR and those unlocks stay with that tractor not the receiver.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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