CX-6 SMART Seeder™ calibration made easy
I drove down to Foremost, AB on Thursday to help prepare the CX6 Smart Seeder for the field. Rocky Mountain Equipment has two CleanSeed CX6 demo drills this year, one in Southern Alberta and the other in Manitoba. (There’s also one at Colin Rosengren’s farm near Midale, SK.) One of the things I had the chance to see was calibration. Seed and fertilizer calibration is one of those tasks that force you to climb awkwardly under the drill to place bags or hoppers below the meters and climb ladders to dump metered product. Then it’s a walk to the tractor, up the stairs, into the cab where you enter the calibration numbers of each tank into the controller. The CX6 has made this process so dead simple and easy I thought I’d share it with you. You can find the quick YouTube of me calibrating from the back of a half-ton truck. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UphlA1mE_9s&feature=youtu.be
The calibration process on the CX6 was designed to be quick, simple and remote. All 360 electric meters are the same so you can use one meter to calibrate with. The calibration kit comes with stand like you see in the photo where you can use a small scale to weigh metered product. Here’s the process:
Attach calibration meter to the tripod and set weigh scale underneath.
Place metering cup under the tripod to catch product.
Select which tank you wish to calibrate.
Pour seed or fertilizer into the funnel above the meter and prime meter by pressing start for a few seconds. Empty metering cup.
Select start calibration and product is metered for approx. 60-70 seconds.
When finished select stop calibration, enter weight in lbs.
Select Apply New Calibration.
Done! Select next tank to calibrate.
It took about ten minutes to calibrate the six tanks. I handled no more than eight pounds of product and didn’t have to move more than a few feet from start to finish. That is efficient. The calibration process is well thought out on this drill. I know the Smart Seeder seems complex with all the electronics that drive its technology. But I’d say the mark of success is when good engineering meets good design. SL
