Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | A while back I mentioned that I was working with an Arduino setup so that I could cycle the boom sections on my sprayer. There are several commercial units out that can do this but I thought I would try to make one with an Arduino. My approach involved using my iPhone, an Arduino Uno, a piggyback shield to communicate with my phone and a relay board. The communication between the phone and the shield is done via Bluetooth. This means the range is somewhat limited which is fine for this application.
Someone asked for a build log. I put it together today and tried it with my Ag Leader display in the office. I'm going to tear it down as I have some other experiments for the parts but will put it back together and enclose it in a case for actual use. I will try to mount it inside the cab with double faced tape. I use an InCommand 1200 but other Ag Leader displays would work as well.
I could have decided to intercept the ball valves and run them directly from the relay board and the Arduino. Instead I decided to setup another configuration in the Ag Leader and have my remote system act as the switch inputs to the Ag Leader Auxiliary Input Module. I used the brown connector that is available on both the Auxiliary Input Module and the SC110 CAN switch box. Either would work the same. I utilized the E1-E4 switch inputs which are generally unused so they are available. Since only E1-E4 are available and usable through the brown connector only three boom combinations would be available. If more sections are desired there are other approaches that should work.
To use this, I will unfold the booms, choose the Remote configuration on the Ag Leader and start my pump. I will then exit the tractor with my phone and choose the app and appropriate menu. I can then use the keypad app on the phone to check my booms.
The first picture below shows the app on the phone, the relay board and the Ardiuno with the 1Sheeld shield piggybacked on top. At that point in time, I did not have the relays connected to the brown connector for the switch inputs. I finished the wiring today and tried it out.
The next pictures are screen shots of my InCommand 1200 after pushing various buttons on the phone app.
The second picture shows the screen display after I pushed the "1" button on the phone app. Note that the first boom section cycled On, but does not show spraying since I had no spray source in the office. Pushing the "2" or "3" would cause the selected section to cycle ON and the others OFF. This will allow me to observe each section individually.
The third picture shows the screen display after I pushed the "0" button (zero meaning No booms ON) which shuts all three boom sections OFF.
The fourth picture show the screen display after I pushed the "A" key which stands for All. Note that all three sections indicate open but not yet spraying.
I have made systems with dedicated remotes in the past and they worked fine but sometimes the remote got lost or the battery run down. This has the advantage of being able to use the phone as a remote which I would have with me and at least partially charged. The app could be used from my iPad as well but the phone would be easier to carry. Another operator could have the free app on their phone and use their phone instead. The board will only communicate with one smartphone at a time.
Edited by tedbear 3/11/2018 07:52
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 (Push_1_.JPG)
 (Push_0_.JPG)
 (Push_A_.JPG)
Attachments
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 Arduino_Sprayer_Remote.JPG (82KB - 305 downloads)
Push_1_.JPG (101KB - 304 downloads)
Push_0_.JPG (109KB - 291 downloads)
Push_A_.JPG (95KB - 297 downloads)
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Arduino on Sprayer Remote with iPhone
