Kinze has traditionally relied on suppliers to provide electronic interface and monitors for its planters, but that all changes with the introduction of the company’s new Blue Vantage monitoring system.
Kinze launched the monitor as well as the new Blue Drive row unit electric drive last week at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky. Kinze service manager Phil Jennings explains that the two products are the first to emerge from Kinze’s recently-established electronics division, located in North Liberty, Iowa.
“The Blue Vantage is the first entrant into the market. It’s a Kinze propriety system and it will control all planter turn-ons and turn-offs,” says Jennings. “The biggest thing we wanted to do was make it ‘Kinze simple.’ Take all of that complexity, take all of those needs we have for operating the planter and turn it into easy-to-use technology — three button pushes and you’re ready to go plant.”
The Blue Vantage offers an intuitive user interface that displays all the information farmers need on one screen. It features the most comprehensive diagnostics screen on the market, says Kinze as well as high-definition mapping and graphs. The quick set-up requires only three clicks for farmers to go from turning on the display to planting. The rugged 12-inch touchscreen display has a durable, highdefinition, direct view anti-glare screen. Quick disconnect tablet dock and USB ports provide easy removal and data transfer.
Jennings notes that the Kinze Blue Drive integrates seamlessly with the Blue Vantage display to analyze planting data. It also also delivers curve compensation to reduce under or over-planting and provides consistent speed spacing for curves in the field and reduces seed waste for improved profitability. Ethernet provides fast, reliable connectivity, and individual row modules monitor and control each individual row unit. That means fewer moving parts – no chains, drive shafts, clutches or gearboxes – reduced maintenance and repairs, the company says.
Kinze Blue Vantage display and Blue Drive units will be field tested during the 2018 season on Kinze’s 3660 and 4900 planters, and will be available on these planter models for the 2019 planting season. It will be the first electric drive for the 3660 planter and next-generation electric drive on the 4900 model.
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