Most Common Troubleshooting Calls We Receive

Check power supply to the switch box.

Confirm that the flow is in the right direction. Switch the hydraulic lines in the ports and try constant flow in both directions. Note that you may have pressure build-up from connecting them the wrong way, and you may need to release pressure from the lines before you’ll be able to move the plow even when hoses are connected the correct way.

Moving the plow switch to the left should bring wheels forward, moving it to the right should bring wheels back.

Activate the float switch with the wheels all the way back and set pressure to 200-300lbs.

Under controller settings for the Plow in the Display use the verify control feature to make sure the plow pitches in the correct direction. If not switch the pitch control wires on the proportional valve.

This is typically caused by connecting the hydraulic lines backwards. Try constant flow in both directions at about 25% flow. Switch the hydraulic lines in the port and try constant flow in both directions. If that doesn’t work, check power supply to switch box.
1. Will the wheels move? If you cannot move the wheels either, then this is probably a tractor
hydraulic issue. Make sure the hydraulics on and flowing in the correct direction.

2. Check the pressure hose connecting to the Proportional Valve Block. “P” should be
pressurized and “T” should not be pressurized. If “T” remains pressurized, relieve pressure on hose. If the wheels move the problems lies with the proportional valve, whether it be electrical or hydraulic.

3. Manually activate the plow by pushing in on the manual overrides on the ends of the
proportional valve. If the valve moves manually then the problem is not with hydraulics but instead electrical.

You need to take it out of float and swing the wheels back sooner!
It depends on how big the rock is and where you hit it!

If you stopped as soon as you felt the plow touch the rock (and before the pipe may have gone off-grade) try the following rock recovery:

Stop your install (press Stop Install).

Use the plow pitch cylinder control on the screen to pitch the plow up and try moving forward to perch the plow on top of the rock.

If this is successful, attempt to restart your install from this point (Intellislope will recalculate the parameters and determine if you can complete the install without ending up too shallow anywhere).
Continue install if possible, or…

If you are now too shallow you’ll need to cut the pipe, pitch the plow up and out of the ground, dig out the rock and make a new start hole so you can continue installing from the required depth.

If you hit a BIG rock and it stopped you dead:

Try using the plow pitch cylinders to dislodge the rock; sometimes you can loosen it enough that you can drive ahead and pop it out. If not…

Dig out alongside the plow to try and make the rock fall away from the plow. Usually if you create a space the rock can be pushed into it will push out sideways as you drive ahead.

Determine if your install was compromised, e.g did you come off grade, or could the pipe have been damaged? If so, cut the pipe and restart from a point that you know the pipe wasn’t compromised.

Usually this is a bad connection at the power strip, a blown fuse, or the cables from the cab to the plow aren’t connected correctly.
Turn up your hydraulic flow. Make sure feeder and plow are running on separate hydraulic circuits.
Check the hoses are connected to the correct P and T ports. If they were backwards you may have pressure build-up in the T line that you’ll need to release.

Use the brass push-in buttons on the sides of the proportional valve to check that the plow will pitch – if it doesn’t then you have an issue with your hydraulics, if it does the there is an issue with communication between the Integra and the valve – check all wiring and make sure it is connected as shown in the Intellislope Manual.

Go into the the controller settings by hitting the wrench button next to the Soil-Max plow configuration (from home screen hit the wrench at the top right of screen, then select your tiling configuration, and hit the wrench). Compare the pitch zero number to the suggested pitch zero number.

Lowering the pitch zero will cause the plow to run lower.
Raising the pitch zero will cause the plow to run higher.
You can set the suggested pitch zero as the new pitch zero. (this should only be done after a clean run. Meaning no rocks, soft ground, hard pull, or anything that can create abnormal conditions for the plow).

If the GPS icon on the top left of the screen is greyed out then there is no GPS signal at all being received. This is likely due to one of the following causes:

– Incorrect wiring from plow module to Integra harness. Consult the Intellislope manual to confirm you have the wiring configured correctly

– Your GPS isn’t setup to output NMEA sentences

– You didn’t install the small round termintor on the plow module harness

If the GPS icon is orange this means GPS signals are being received but either the accuracy is too low for tiling, not all the required NMEA sentences are being transmitted by the GPS, or the Baud Rate is wrong (or a combination of all of these):

– If you see a message that correction age or differential information is missing this usually means that your GPS isn’t outputting the GSA sentence, or that your receiver does not have RTK fix

– If you can run a survey but cannot enter tiling mode, this usually means that GSA is turned off at the GPS

You are probably too deep or too shallow. On the screen you’ll see the minimum required start depth and your current depth. If your current plow depth is less than the required start depth you will not be able to start installing. Adjust your minimum/maximum depth parameters or dig your start hole deeper.
Either you are installing downhill (in which case use Switch Start to tell Intellislope you aren’t installing uphill), you are installing on very flat ground and ground level at the outlet is slightly higher than out in the field (in which case use Switch Start AND Reverse Outlet to tell Intellislope that you are installing ‘downhill’ AND the highest elevation is actually your outlet).

This may also be caused by using an old survey – see below.

CAUSE: You are probably trying to install based on a survey you recorded on a previous day, or you’ve moved/switched off/on your RTK base station. Unless you have a fixed RTK base that is programmed with it’s true position, your base receiver will re-calculate it’s position on every start-up. Usually this means it calculates it’s vertical position to be a few feet different each time. Leaving the tripod in the same location will NOT guarantee you are running on the exact same parameters as yesterday UNLESS you saved yesterday’s configuration and programmed the base today to tell it that it’s in the same location as yesterday.

SOLUTION: Delete the old survey and re-survey. Provided you survey and install from the same base station parameters you will have the required accuracy

This is usually caused by the incoming GPS signal and is a good indicator of the quality and accuracy of your RTK. If the plow is moving up and down significantly you may want to check with your GPS dealer if there are some settings (such as horizon cutoff) you can change to improve accuracy.
This may cause placement depth to be innacurate, or cause wear to the base of the plow. Replace the shear plate if it is bent (from hitting a rock) or if it has worn so it doesn’t extent past the plow base (hold a straight edge on the bottom of the plow and make sure the shear tip is closer to the ground than the plow base).

What are the GPS settings required for Intellislope?

For Intellislope to function correctly you need to make sure your GPS is transmitting the following NMEA sentences:

  • GGA at 5Hz or 10Hz
  • VTG at 5Hz or 10Hz (should match setting for GGA)
  • GSA at 1Hz
  • TURN OFF ALL OTHER MESSAGES

The BAUD RATE should be set at either 19,200 or 38,400

How to turn on NMEA messages for common receivers

Usually, once a receiver has been programmed to output NMEA it will ‘remember’ these settings so that it automatically outputs the correct information every time it is powered on. You may need to repeat these steps at the start of each season if you’ve used the GPS receiver on other equipment or installed firmware updates.

JOHN DEERE STARFIRE

Configured Via: Greenstar Display

Method: Navigate to the StarFire menu. Press the Serial Port tab at the top, then set the Baud Rate to either 19200 or 38400. Set the output rate to 5Hz (usually it’s not possible to select 10Hz, if it is then you may use 10Hz). Check the boxes to turn on GGA, GSA, and VTG.

OUTBACK

Configured Via: Outback Display, OR PocketMax PC Software, OR Remote Control PC software

Method: On displays, navigate to the NMEA settings and set receiver as shown above. Using Remote Control software, power on receiver and connect via serial cable. Set baud rates for ports A & B under Config settings, and set NMEA messages for ports A & B under GNSS settings.

TRIMBLE

Configured Via: Usually through FM display or Ag Remote PC Software

Method: Navigate to the GPS Configuration Settings and scroll to the port you’ll use. Set the output type to NMEA, then turn on the required NMEA messages. Suggested to ask your Trimble product specialist to help you set this up if you aren’t sure

Quick Reference Guides & User Manuals

Video Walk-Through of Tile Drainage Install Process