What GPS accuracy for combining?

[Thomas Simpson]

Running a case axial flow 9230 with 35ft header with a pro 700 box and looking at the options in omnistar for this harvest.
Would egnos be okay are should we upgrade to an omnistar package. Last yr the dealer paid for HP but thats is £630 for 3 months,It did work well though. Just interesting to see what people are running on, but only for harvesting not ctf.

 

[Clive]

2 systems on ours - yield runs off free signal and steering off rtk

Not sure yield stuff is accurate enough to need any better than a free signal

 

[AS_Comms]

For our customers combining running Trimble receivers we would recommend either an OmniSTAR XP/HP, Trimble CenterPoint RTX or RTK correction; some of our customers do use EGNOS correction for combining however do have to reduce their cutting width to avoid misses.

We can provide OmniSTAR XP/HP subsciptions for 1 month, 3 month and 12 month periods and Trimble CenterPoint RTX subscriptions for 12 month periods. To get an RTK correction on a Trimble receiver you would need to access a suitable RTK correction from a Trimble RTK base station.

Please contact us on (01480) 861824 if we can be of any further assistance regarding Trimble correction services.

 

[Steevo]

Do you know what signals it will accept? If going Omnistar then XP would probably suffice perfectly.

More than anything it comes down to what your screen is unlocked to. RTK would probably work out £500-750 for a whole year of a superduper signal.....but if you'd need a £1500 unlock code then perhaps just stick with Omnistar XP for £600 a year or so, with no unlock code needed. It should be perfectly accurate for normal combining, and then you just nudge the line when you start off again the next day if still in the same field.

I would say EGNOS is probably not reliable enough for autosteer, but am happy to be proved wrong.

 

[Thomas Simpson]

Do you know what signals it will accept? If going Omnistar then XP would probably suffice perfectly.

More than anything it comes down to what your screen is unlocked to. RTK would probably work out £500-750 for a whole year of a superduper signal.....but if you'd need a £1500 unlock code then perhaps just stick with Omnistar XP for £600 a year or so, with no unlock code needed. It should be perfectly accurate for normal combining, and then you just nudge the line when you start off again the next day if still in the same field.

I would say EGNOS is probably not reliable enough for autosteer, but am happy to be proved wrong.

We do use a base station for an rtk signal (which we pay a rent for every year) for the tractors but the combine doesnt have the unlock or a radio receiver on it for rtk and it was a few thousand to do that. By the sound of it ominstar xp will be the way to go.

 

[Robt]

Quick plug, we, LH Agro have rtk bases around the country that talk to Trimble, jd and Topcon, claas etc.... Call nick abbey in Yorkshire if you want to see if our Yorkshire masts cover your area. Pm me if you would like his number

 

[Steevo]

Just looked up 2013 prices for Omni XP:

1 month - £260
3 months - £500
12 months - £780

 

[Steevo]

IF (and I mean IF) the AFS 7000 screen (being a CNH product) will accept Trimble Rangepoint RTX then it would be no-brainer to me to use that. Worth asking your dealer though as it could save you £500 a year or so on a 12 month signal.

That reminds me - I'm sure our Rangepoint signal will be up for renewal in the next few weeks!

 

[Shutesy]

Do not use just Egnos. Nor reliable or accurate enough imo. Often needed nudging or ended up leaving strips when I used it on a lexion 2 years ago. Would think you would save near £600 over harvest on fuel using a more accurate signal.

 

[CPP]

Running a lot on sf1

 

[TWF]

Running a case axial flow 9230 with 35ft header with a pro 700 box and looking at the options in omnistar for this harvest.
Would egnos be okay are should we upgrade to an omnistar package. Last yr the dealer paid for HP but thats is £630 for 3 months,It did work well though. Just interesting to see what people are running on, but only for harvesting not ctf.

Same combine as you, ran it last year on Egnos. Cutting at 10m on a 30m tramline width. We just center (shift) on each tramline if needed.

 

[Thomas Simpson]

Same combine as you, ran it last year on Egnos. Cutting at 10m on a 30m tramline width. We just center (shift) on each tramline if needed.

I will have to make it abit easier for our combine driver as hes 68 and not too literate with the gps he likes to press 1 button and go!

 

[Brisel]

My combine runs on SF2 which is arguably RTX/Omnistar HP2 quality. EGNOS is fine but you'd need to leave a bigger overlap - probably at least another foot - to allow for drift.

 

[Chae1]

Do not use just Egnos. Nor reliable or accurate enough imo. Often needed nudging or ended up leaving strips when I used it on a lexion 2 years ago. Would think you would save near £600 over harvest on fuel using a more accurate signal.

1000 litres of fuel! Must be missing a lot.

 

[Brisel]

You'd be suprised how it adds up. 4 extra passes per field, 70 litres per hour. Extra 20 acres per day from having travelled less. 4 days harvesting saved. What does running a harvest team cost per hour including combine, trailers, loader & drier? £450?

The greater the cost of the operation, the greater the potential savings from accurate GPS steering.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

If you can cut off one side then I would recommend rangepoint as that is cheap and simple. If the fields are bigger and you need to unload on every run then the extra expense of RTK would IMO be wort spending. That way when you open up lands they can always be short runs at the ends and full widths on every run. Worth remembering that combining is the most expensive job on the farm. I use RTK on EssentialsNet with an EZ pilot. I am doing it for CTF but reckon that the combining savings make it worth while. The Screen / RTK signal is shared with my sprayer.

 

[Clive]

Last season (our first with RTK) was the first time after 10 years of steering combines that we have been able to set the header width as it's real full width and not miss any

As above I think combining is the easiest operation to justify RTK on given the costs of the operation and it's time critical nature

Steering also improves sample and machine output as driver can concentrate fully in set-up and pushing forward speed to the max of engine load

Claas just removed the temp wheel we had last year which was pretty good but not perfect and replaced it with a valve this season so should be even better I hope

Maybe we will find out this week !