As I've mentioned before, I'm a farmer in a very flood affected area. After almost 2 years of waterlogged fields, It got just dry enough for me to operated machinery and start cleaning up.... and we got hit with another 100mm of rain.
In frustration I contacted a couple of drone spray contractors, and got a surprise that one of the operators was an associates nephew. He offered I come out with him for the day and I accepted.
He had both the T20 and T30, and they looked like they'd been to hell and back. The T20 had 2500 flights on the clock, and the T30 had 1700.
I was amazed at how well they worked, and he really knew how to use them. It was in heavy country too, hilly and trees with pastures absolutely full of obstacles. He told me not to trust the RTH or automatic mission to and from the field in this sort of country, and to fly it out and back to and from the mapped field manually. He said the obstacle avoidance just wasn't a safe bet.
He gave me a fly, and it went well. I was filling them for him and flipping batteries, and he told me to take over on the T20. I flew it all day, must have put 100's of liters through it.
He's offered me a job as a pilot with him, but I drove 200kms each way that day and don't need that regularly. He's got some work coming up my way soon though, and I'll do a few days with him then.
I was impressed enough that I'm getting (through him) a price on the last new T20 in Australia. I know I can use it, and my land is perfect for that being wetlands. We have very specific weeds that absolutely must be sprayed at very specific times of the year, and every time it's due it's too wet to get the tractor on without tearing the paddock apart. This will totally remove all that, it will be all done regardless of the conditions.
I've still got to secure the thing, as they don't have a second charger or seed spreader in Australia, and he assures me both are totally required, and I need to buy a 9kVa generator to drive it all. Which brings me to the point of the power that the chargers pull. He had a 19kVa diesel generator mounted on his trailer (somehow), and even that was throwing alarms time to time. He's got 2 T40's coming, and there was a brand new 40kVa generator sitting there for those! These things pull some power, which is why I think the T20 will do for me. Then there's the cost...
I haven't done this on a whim after a day of excitement. I looked into this pretty heavily back around 2017/18, when they were just starting to come out, and I just wasn't convinced they worked. What I saw this time was a whole new ball game, better than any land based approach, and he showed me pictures of all manner of vegetation and pasture that he'd sprayed out very successfully.
It may or may not happen, but I've got them on it. I've got some pics and vids on my phone. I'll get them up soon.
In frustration I contacted a couple of drone spray contractors, and got a surprise that one of the operators was an associates nephew. He offered I come out with him for the day and I accepted.
He had both the T20 and T30, and they looked like they'd been to hell and back. The T20 had 2500 flights on the clock, and the T30 had 1700.
I was amazed at how well they worked, and he really knew how to use them. It was in heavy country too, hilly and trees with pastures absolutely full of obstacles. He told me not to trust the RTH or automatic mission to and from the field in this sort of country, and to fly it out and back to and from the mapped field manually. He said the obstacle avoidance just wasn't a safe bet.
He gave me a fly, and it went well. I was filling them for him and flipping batteries, and he told me to take over on the T20. I flew it all day, must have put 100's of liters through it.
He's offered me a job as a pilot with him, but I drove 200kms each way that day and don't need that regularly. He's got some work coming up my way soon though, and I'll do a few days with him then.
I was impressed enough that I'm getting (through him) a price on the last new T20 in Australia. I know I can use it, and my land is perfect for that being wetlands. We have very specific weeds that absolutely must be sprayed at very specific times of the year, and every time it's due it's too wet to get the tractor on without tearing the paddock apart. This will totally remove all that, it will be all done regardless of the conditions.
I've still got to secure the thing, as they don't have a second charger or seed spreader in Australia, and he assures me both are totally required, and I need to buy a 9kVa generator to drive it all. Which brings me to the point of the power that the chargers pull. He had a 19kVa diesel generator mounted on his trailer (somehow), and even that was throwing alarms time to time. He's got 2 T40's coming, and there was a brand new 40kVa generator sitting there for those! These things pull some power, which is why I think the T20 will do for me. Then there's the cost...
I haven't done this on a whim after a day of excitement. I looked into this pretty heavily back around 2017/18, when they were just starting to come out, and I just wasn't convinced they worked. What I saw this time was a whole new ball game, better than any land based approach, and he showed me pictures of all manner of vegetation and pasture that he'd sprayed out very successfully.
It may or may not happen, but I've got them on it. I've got some pics and vids on my phone. I'll get them up soon.
