Planter Monitor

Fall 2020: I continue to add features to my planter monitor as I find time. This fall I added the capability of monitoring how much seed is left in the hopper. I also added a metric option, the option to turn off the alarm by row, and an option to point the tractor to the left.

A little description: Here on the Home screen, Population is in seeds per acre (or hectare). Singulation of 100% is perfect. No gaps or doubles. Planter speed is in MPH or KPH The graphics behind the tractor show what has happened for the previous 15 seconds. Each box is about 1/2 second that corresponds to about 6 seeds being dropped. A green box indicates no skips or doubles. A yellow box indicates a skip occured. A purple box indicates a double where the seed meter dropped 2 seeds rather than 1. A red box indicates an out of seed condition or blocked seed tube (sounds alarm).

I use a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 7" tablet 8GB, Wi-Fi in my tractor but I could just as easily use my Samsung cell phone. The app communicates to a control box via bluetooth attached to the planter harness.


Here are the basics of the PlanterW21 app.


Video 2: High / Low Warnings for Population and Singulation



Video 3: Population and singulation graphs, & seed spacing display


Video 4: General settings



Video 5: How to test your planter harness pre-season



Video 6: Hopper function to monitor seed left


The control box hooks to the planter harness and communicates to the tablet via bluetooth.


The control box hooks into the existing planter harness. Normally it is inside the tractor cab.