Well, it’s a good thing it snowed today. I’ve been having my annual bout with technology. I never applied to be the technology guy, but generally it falls on me.

The first round was expected. We knew we would have to control the new dry box on the soybean planter. We went through several options and decided an independent controller was the way to go. We could have layered it into one of the other systems. It would have been a cleaner install, but no less expensive and no more simple.

Even though we have all these bells, whistles, and alarms to tell us when something goes wrong, I still prefer to be able to check on vehicle functions with a glance. This made the independent unit the best way to go. The hardest part was getting the PWM (pulse width modulation) valve to communicate with the Raven controller. On the second PWM, I finally got things going.

The second round was unexpected. We had taken preventative measures to head it off. We have had a pair of Trimble FMX monitors in the tractors for RTK for eight or nine years. Last year the backup battery in one was going bad. We sent them in for maintenance and clean up. We also asked that both be setup the same.

In the end, the only thing that happened was one battery got changed and they were sent back (I even suggested we go ahead and change the battery in the other unit). Bottom line is there was quite a bit of frustration when we went to strip the first field and the correct lines weren’t there!

I spent part of two days doing the work I had requested be done by the dealer.

Finally, I was able to get them both set up the same (as well as the third one we purchased from an online auction from the same dealer). I hope all the correct lines are there. If not, someone please remind me the backup drives are marked in the center desk drawer.

There is one more round coming with the CaseIH planter. Google help me! It should be pretty simple, but we have just never needed to do VRT seeding with the 20-inch planter because we normally only plant soybeans. However, after last year we would like to continue the 20-inch corn experiment. Therefore, it’s only appropriate to know how to use these capabilities which I sure hope are built in.

While I was fighting my fight, dad was taking a few punches from an RTK correction tablet that ran out of subscription. Once we figured that out, then we had to find the password so we could renew the subscription.

Maybe I should start doing those phishing Facebook activities so I can look back on them and find my security question answers! LOL!

The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.