SeederForce
Manual Down Force Adjustments Don’t Cut It
Checking seeding depth across an air seeder can be a tedious task, but it’s an important one. It’s painful to see seeds on top of the ground, prompting the operator to need to increase down force across the seeder, or add weight to the frame. The operator has little information other than getting out of the cab to determine if the down force setting is correct on the seeder. Most of the time, part of the seeder is being sacrificed by having too much or too little weight on it, but that has to be done to compensate for another section, since the down force is set the same across the entire machine.
SeederForce automatically controls down force on sections of the seeder, applying the weight that is needed to maintain planting depth and not more. Each section of the seeder is managed individually, automatically, and correctly.
Automated Down Force Management
SeederForce from Precision Planting allows an air seeder to start managing down force wisely by automatically adjusting the down force on each section of the drill. As each section needs more or less weight, that is what it gets. No more manual adjusting, no more setting the entire seeder to the same setting. Seeds will be planted at the depth that the seeder is set to, allowing for more consistent emergence. By managing the weight on the gauge wheels, SeederForce ensures that excess weight will not be carried on the gauge wheels, which will eliminate root development issues commonly seen behind an air seeder. With SeederForce, each section gets the weight it needs, not more and not less, maximizing control of down force across the entire machine.
Results
With SeederForce, the percentage of good down force is significantly increased. This means that the percentage of seeds at depth is increased while the percentage of seeds planted with gauge wheel compaction is decreased.
How it Works
With 20|20 and load cells on each section of the air seeder as well as a hydraulic valve on each rockshaft, your drill can start to make automated down force adjustments. Set a target gauge wheel weight, and when the load cells measure that a section is coming out of the ground, additional force is applied to that section. Another section carrying too much load on the gauge wheels? That section will automatically have less force applied to it so that the gauge wheels are not creating compaction in the root zone. Each section is continually and automatically adjusting the force applied to it so that the force is correct, not more than is needed and not less.