A More Detailed View
For measuring population, seed spacing, skips and doubles, you depend on the accuracy of your seed sensors. But optical sensors have four big problems:
-
Dust looks just like seeds
-
Doubles look like singles
-
Dust coats the sensor
-
They’re mounted in the middle
Because optical sensors use light beams, they are susceptible to all the things that can falsely break that beam. That’s why dust is such a problem. Dust that blows up the seed tube looks like seed. So the optical sensor routinely over counts seeds, which undercuts your population. Of course there are times when you can tell dust is the issue – when you’re planting with the wind and your population spikes ten or twenty thousand seeds. But more harmful impact is the day-in day-out over reporting of seeds because of dust.
And then there is the problem of dust coating the sensor eyes and failing all together.
Optical sensors must be mounted at the middle of the seed tube in order to keep them out of the dust. But most of the seed-delaying seed tube bounce happens in the lower part of the tube. So you really don’t have a good idea of seed spacing with an optical sensor.
And finally, optical sensors look at the surface of the seed – just the plane that breaks the beam. So, two seeds (a double) that move along the seed tube together will be reported as a single seed, again under reporting the actual population and accurate numbers.
WaveVision eliminates these problems and provides good clean information to your monitor. High frequency radio waves, rather than light, engulf seeds so that you get a “three-dimensional” look at seeds. It sees mass, not shape. So doubles look like doubles. The radio waves also see through dust. And that means we can mount the seed sensor where it belongs, at the bottom of the seed tube.
Better counts add up to better yield.
To get accurate counts of the seeds you’re planting, you rely on your seed tube sensors. But OEM optical sensors aren’t very reliable in dusty conditions or near tires that are kicking up debris. They can report dust and debris as seeds. Then you get bad counts. Then your yield suffers because you’re not making needed adjustments as you plant.
WaveVision sensors and seed tubes don’t depend on optics. They don’t see seeds, they detect mass, using high-frequency sensors. They can tell the difference between seeds and dust or debris, and count only the seeds. You get accurate counts, so you can plant what you plan. Your yield improves.
See what you’re really planting, even in dust.
Dust won’t get in the way of accurate data anymore.
By using high-frequency radio waves, WaveVision measures mass instead of shape. So seed can’t be confused with dust particles. You’ll get the population you want. And you’ll see more accurate information so you can have peace of mind — you’re doing the right thing.
Avoid Premature Wear
We’ve inserted tungsten carbide wear tips that prevent the double-disk opener from wearing through the tip of the seed tube.
It’s a simple solution to an annoying and expensive problem.
No Optical Sensor Means No Ricochet
Too often, seeds hit the sensor on their way down the seed tube. When this happens, seeds ricochet down the tube causing the familiar skip/double pattern in the field. The WaveVision Seed Tube reduces these errors by eliminating the optical sensor from inside of the tube.