a yield monitor designed for balers to replace the bale counter and data log the location and time of each bale created to generate a yield map for use in open source agricultural record keeping tools such as FarmOS.
Bill of materials
Several Options
Autopilot option
digital counter
Pixhawk autopilot
GPS
915mhz telemetry to mobile phone or laptop using Tower, or mission planner software - data would then need to be exported and then imported to FarmOS
Advatage would be that additional sensors and automation could be added such as load cells etc.
Bluetooth enabled board to mobile phone option
Digitalcounter connected to Bluetooth enabled board
Board could be wired close to the tractor even if the counter is at the back of the baler.
Open Pipe Kit option
Digital counter connected to rasbery pi and broadcasting via wifi or radio
Other tools needed to build this tool
Step-by-step build instructions
Supporting materials
Comments
How to do this...
I don't think you really want to replace the existing counter; you really just want to count bales and log their production.
The first thing I would consider is all the interface points to existing systems - both mechanical and telecom. And one would need to know what software will be at the other end. The reasoning for this is:
However, knowing how most balers work (for small square bales), I would look at attaching a reed switch to the trip arm that runs the counter. Put a door sensor at some point in its travel path, and then count the number of pulses using a Beaglebone/Ardinuo/RaspPi/... (By "count", I mean generate a data item for each pulse - that data item could include GPS location, date/time, and a count.)
About the bales
Do you want to correlate bales with their production location in the field? Or just know which field a particular bale came from? Either way, you'll need a way of identifying each bale in order to correlate back to where in the field that bale was produced.
With windrowing and tedding, it may be more difficult to determine which section of a field the hay in a bale came from. You can probably get within 20' feet (depending on width of your tedder/rake), but when the grass gets thin, then the numbers would get a bit sketchy.