Patriot owners offered flexibility of technology upgrade

Spraying has become one of the most important parts of the crop production equation and producers now have an opportunity to take advantage of new technology with the latest in spray control systems from Case IH.

AIM Command FLEX retro-fit kits are now available in Australia and New Zealand and can be installed on any Patriot sprayer manufactured from 2009 to 2016, giving producers a cost effective alternative to a new sprayer purchase.

When Case IH introduced AIM Command on Patriot sprayers in 1999, spray technology was elevated to a new level, offering increased flexibility to product application. AIM Command FLEX continues that tradition of application excellence, and delivers even more for the producer seeking to maximise the potential of each hectare of cropland.

AIM Command FLEX offers consistent, flexible and accurate application, independent of speed, with specific features including:

• 36-section overlap control to minimise costly over spray and double applications which can stunt the growth of the crop.
• Application rate turn compensation to minimise potential damage when spraying around trees, utility poles, or any curve in a field where the spray boom can be travelling faster on the outside of the turn and slower on the inside.The flow rate through each tip is adjusted based on its position on the boom and the speed of the turn to maintain the proper application rate at each tip.
• Constant boom pressure which can be adjusted independent of the target rate and sprayer speed. With the push of a button, operators can toggle between two fully customisable spray pressures. Lower pressure can be used to achieve larger droplet sizes that are less prone to drift in sensitive areas, and a higher pressure can be used to increase the force droplets have for increased canopy penetration where drift is less of a concern.
• Increased product application flexibility, for example: operators can choose to increase spray rates up to 30% from the target rate in key sections of the boom. Those sections include up to eight nozzles behind the sprayer wheel tracks, on the outside of the boom, or wherever the operator chooses; all to address in-field conditions that operators may encounter.

“It’s great news for owners of older Patriots who’d like to take advantage of the improved technology, but aren’t in a position at this stage to invest in a whole new machine,” said Case IH Patriot Product Specialist Andrew Kissel.

Adam Blachut, co-owner of Case IH dealership Intersales at Temora, said the AIM Command FLEX retro-fit kits were easy to install, meaning little machine downtime for farmers, and made good financial sense.

“You can put this system on your old sprayer, and have it do just as good a job as a new sprayer with the latest and greatest spray technology,” Adam said.

Earlier this year, he said the dealership had installed a kit for a customer who had initially decided against the AIM Command technology on his Patriot.

“The customer was having some issues with weeds and with trying to get the right (chemical) droplet size on the target. So upgrading to AIM Command FLEX meant he could maintain droplet size at different speeds, achieving a far better result,” said Adam.

“The sprayer is the most used machine on the farm and you put more dollars through it than anything else when you look at the high cost of chemical. So, at the end of the day you want to do the best job you can, otherwise you’ve wasted your money.”