Get the Reach ready for Ditch Assist Lite

Ditch Assist® Lite needs one thing on the machine: an Emlid Reach RS3 or RS4 receiver. It has to be charged, fixed where it moves up and down with the cutting edge, and getting RTK corrections. The tablet reads it over the receiver's own Wi-Fi (its hotspot). No module, no wires, no valve.

You do this once per receiver. After that, each day is: switch it on, join its Wi-Fi, pick a workflow.

Before you start

• An Emlid Reach RS3 or RS4. Ditch Assist Lite reads no other receiver.
• A mast or pole mount for the implement (on an excavator, the DIG™ pendulum mount fits)
• A correction source: a second Reach as a base, an NTRIP login and a SIM card, or Emlid Corrections on an RS4
• The tablet with the Ditch Assist app, in Lite mode

Time: charge overnight. Mounting depends on your machine and mount. Checking the receiver in the app takes a few minutes.

1. Charge the receiver

   Charge it full the night before. On the machine, the built-in battery lasts about a working day. For longer days, put a USB power bank on the mount.

   Details: Power the receiver.

2. Mount it where it rises and falls with the cutting edge

   Fix the Reach on a mast on whatever carries the cutting edge: the dozer blade, the scraper bowl, the frame or blade of a towed implement. Pick a spot where it won't get hit, with clear sky all round. Marker 1 in the drawing above shows it on a pole off a dozer blade.

   Not on the cab. The app treats the distance from the antenna down to the cutting edge as fixed. On the cab, the reading stays put while the blade moves, and guidance is wrong as soon as you raise or lower.

   • Dozer: a pole coming off the blade, clear of the push arms and the cab.
   • Self-propelled or pull-type scraper: on the bowl.
   • Tractor with a ditcher, blade or leveler: on the frame or blade, so it rides with the edge.
   • Excavator: on the stick. The DIG pendulum mount fits. Grade is a check between cuts: Ditch Assist Lite on an excavator.

   Skid steers and motor graders can be challenging; contact us to discuss before you buy.

3. Pick your RTK corrections

   The app uses the position exactly as the Reach reports it. Only RTK Fixed, the most accurate kind of GPS position, is good enough to survey and grade. For that the receiver needs RTK corrections: a stream of data from a fixed base. The tablet is on the Reach's Wi-Fi, so the corrections have to reach the receiver itself, not the tablet.

   Two words in the table: LoRa is the radio built into every Reach, which a base uses to send corrections. NTRIP is a correction service over the internet, run by a state, a province or a company; you get a login from them.

   Source	Works on	What you need
   Your own Reach base over LoRa radio	RS3, RS4	A second Reach on a tripod, set up as a Base on the same LoRa frequency. No subscription. Set up a base.
   An NTRIP network over the receiver's SIM	RS3, RS4	A nano-SIM with data in the Reach, and the network's address, port, mount point and login, entered in Emlid Flow as NTRIP via Reach.
   Emlid Corrections over the receiver's SIM	RS4 / RS4 Pro only	An Emlid account and subscription (a new receiver includes a year), RS4 firmware 34.8 or later. Not available in Canada; check Emlid's coverage map.

   An RS3 only takes Emlid Corrections through Emlid Flow running on a phone, which doesn't suit Ditch Assist Lite. On an RS3, use a base or an NTRIP network.

   Step by step, including the SIM card's network settings (the APN, which your mobile provider gives you): receiver setup guide and Corrections.

4. Switch the receiver on

   Give it a minute to start up before you connect. Then join its Wi-Fi and connect from the app: Connect to the Reach.

5. Came off a control-module kit? Reprogram it

   The Reach's Wi-Fi position output is on by default for Ditch Assist Lite. Join its Wi-Fi and everything else is in the app.

   A receiver that was set up for a Full Automation or Guidance Only Kit is the exception. Set up as the cabled Rover, it sends its position down a cable only, and the app says Reach found, but no NMEA TCP output is configured. Open Settings → Ditch Assist Lite → Setup guide.

   The app can change that for you in about two minutes, with the tablet on the Reach's Wi-Fi. Every tap, with pictures: If it says “no NMEA TCP output”.

   Every screen of Emlid Diagnostics: Check and program a Reach. What the Lite Rover setup writes: Configure an Emlid Reach.

What the in-app Set up your Reach window says

The app opens a window called Set up your Reach every time you switch to Lite mode. To open it again, tap Setup guide in the Ditch Assist Lite box near the top of Settings.

1 2 3

How its part 1 lines up with the app's own Lite Rover setup:

You don't have to do part 1 by hand. Emlid Diagnostics in the app programs the receiver as a Lite Rover for you: step by step. If the receiver uses another port for its position output, the app reads the port from the Reach and follows it.

If it doesn't work

• Reach found, but no NMEA TCP output is configured. Program it as Lite Rover in Emlid Diagnostics: step by step. More.
• Port refused: the output is switched off or still starting. Wait a few seconds after switching the receiver on and try again. More.
• Stuck in Float: check the correction link in Emlid Flow: base on the same LoRa frequency, or the SIM card's signal and NTRIP login. Corrections over the SIM, RTK Float.
• Guidance drifts when you raise or lower the blade: the Reach is on the cab, or on a part that doesn't move with the edge. Move it and calibrate again. More.