Combines What about the Calc an acre

John_W

Guest
I think a Calc-an-acre is a simple unit used to measure acres with an implement like a sprayer or grain drill. I think you need a combine yield monitor and Micro-Trak makes one of those too as do several others including John Deere.
 

tedbear

Guest
I have installed the Micro-Trak Calc-n-acre on many pieces of farm equipment. For years I had one on a JD 4400. On the 4400 I placed the speed sensor on the rear steering axle and used the supplied magnet attached to the wheel. On some machines I have just duct tapped the magnet to one of the drive shafts leading to a drive wheel. This doesn't allow for slippage but still seems to work fine. On the 4400 I put a double pole switch in the sensor line and also put another sensor on the cleaning fan. By flipping the switch one way, I had ground speed and by flipping it the other I had a number indicating relative fan speed. This allowed me to reset my fan speed when switching crops. The drawback to this arrangement is that acres accmulated while I was setting the fan. For me this was not really an issue. I installed one of these for a friend on his 9500. He does custom work and was also interested in acres. On that combine we used a spring loaded brake switch on the remote RUN_HOlD line so that it only counts acres when the head is down. The unit is obviously not a Yield Monitor but for the price can be very useful.
 

guru

Guest
go for it we use theses units all the time we have a chain hooked to a switch which stops the reading when the head is lifted....we run the magnet on the drive shaft well away from the wheel due to mud problem the only time we have trouble is when you have wheel slip in mud good luck
 

marshall

Guest
I use one in my combine and all my tractors. They work great. I also placed the sensor on the transmition drive shaft. I can keep up with bu_ac easily. I have never had the need for a yield monitor.