PHOTO: TIMO OKSANEN
PHOTO: MICHEL VELDERMAN
ISOBUS TEST ▶▶▶
Test: almost identical after updates
BY TIMO OKSANEN, RAIMO LINKOLEHTO, JUHA BACKMAN & BOB KARSTEN
D
eutz-Fahr and John Deere emerged as the winners when it comes to Isobus. Both brands support a wide range of functions that also actually
perform well, and they have integrated these seamlessly into the display or tractor. Claas also achieved a very satisfactory score: a wide range of functionalities, works well, but it’s not (yet) capable of working with Isobus in its own tractor display. New Holland and Case IH also support many Isobus functions, but these are relatively poorly represented on the displays. Valtra and Massey Ferguson lagged some way behind in the test. Agco has since completed a major update. Slowly but surely, all seven types of tractors will be fully functional. You expect the Isobus to do three things. First, that the tractor sends a signal to the imple- ment containing information such as travel
We put the Isobus functions through their paces in a large-scale multi-tractor test. It was a somewhat lengthy software-focused process. To cut a long story short, it works perfectly well in each tractor – the greatest difference being in the displays.
speed and lifting height, for example. Second, it should have a universal display to which an implement will upload its own user interface. Finally, it should serve as a high-performance task controller that is able to handle docu- mentation and precision agriculture tasks, such as section control. We tested seven Iso- bus-ready tractors.
The basic signals The tractor uses an ECU to transmit a signal from the CAN bus to the implement, for exam- ple travel speed based on rotating wheels and a radar signal, PTO speed and activation, lifting height, etc. In accordance with the ISO 11783 standard, a tractor ECU may fulfill the
requirements of class 1, 2 or 3, differing only in the number of available signals. The minimum class is 1 (Claas), while most tractors support class 2, which communicates tractive power (sensor on the lifting mechanism) and the sta- tus of electronic hydraulic valves in addition to the basic signals. New Holland and Case IH have class 3, enabling the implement to operate some of the tractor’s functions, such as the lift- ing mechanism or hydraulic valves. With Case IH, this option costs € 763, plus another € 379 if the implement also controls the steering wheel. Unfortunately, we were unable to test the class 3 signals, as this requires special de- coupling between the tractor and implement manufacturers, which was not available. The signal emitted by the tractor ECU consists of a data packet. The test showed that all trac- tors transmit that data effectively, but some data is defined as ‘not available’. That means that a sensor is missing. This happens mainly in relation to travel speed, when this signal indi- cates that there is no radar available in order to determine wheel slip. To give an example: while the Deutz-Fahr has a correct radar signal, the data is copied one-for-one from the wheel rota- tion speed and this is not accurate. Meanwhile, in the MF the radar speed is transmitted, but it is non-zero (infinitely small). The speed radar only works as expected in the Claas and Valtra. The front linkage of the John Deere also has an incorrect digital scale, which runs from 0 to 40% instead of up to 100%. These kinds of errors make it difficult to blindly trust the Isobus.
This is how the AUX configuration looks in the Deutz-Fahr. The armrest allows up to ten but- tons to be assigned to an implement, and you can do that using the graphics interface. In this instance, three functions of the Isobus artificial fertiliser sprayer have been set up on three joystick buttons.
62 ▶ FUTURE FARMING | 22 May 2020
Perfectly integrated The best known Isobus functionality is UT or Universal Terminal (previously VT or Virtual
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