Settings: Controller (valve tuning)

The CONTROLLER card holds the valve settings stored in your Ditch Assist® control module. Min Valve DC and Max Valve DC set how much power the valve gets during automatic grading. Raise Sensitivity and Lower Sensitivity only change the app's press-and-hold Raise and Lower buttons. Many machines work on the app's starting values. Tune here when the blade is slow to start, slow to reach grade, or keeps overshooting it.

• Full Automation Kit: everything on this page.
• Guidance Only Kit: there is no valve, so these settings do nothing. Leave them alone.
• Ditch Assist Lite: the card is hidden; the app never moves the blade.
• DIG™ Kit: not used; Excavation is guidance only.

Before you start

• Full Automation Kit only. The tablet is connected to the control module (or the simulator, to practise): the Wi-Fi badge at the top of the Survey and Grade screens is green.
• The machine is stopped. Change these between test passes, not while auto grading.
• Changing one value and sending it takes about a minute. Tuning the valve properly takes a few test passes (see Tune the valve).
• Never changed a setting before? How to change a setting shows each kind of button up close.

Find the CONTROLLER card

1. Tap Settings

   In the column of big buttons down the right-hand edge of the screen, tap Settings: the fourth button from the top, with a gear icon. (On the Survey or Grade screen, tap the wrench at the right end of the top bar instead.)

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2. Scroll down to CONTROLLER

   Slide a finger up the cards (how to scroll), past ALERTS and Pre-Start Safety, about two-thirds of the way down. No CONTROLLER card at all? You are in Ditch Assist Lite mode, which hides it.

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The card

From the top: the connection, four sliders, and two buttons, Refresh and Apply.

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Change a valve setting

All four sliders work the same way. Moving a slider only changes the number on screen; the control module gets nothing until you tap Apply.

1. Slide the dot

   Each slider is a long line across the card under its name, with a round dot on it. Put your finger on the dot and slide it: right is more, left is less. The number at the right-hand end of the row changes as you slide. Stop on the value you want.

   Moving the dot is fiddly on the long DC sliders (0 to 1000). Slide slowly and watch the number.

2. Check Apply has turned green

   Once anything has changed and a module (or the simulator) is connected, the Apply button at the bottom right of the card turns green.

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3. Tap Apply

   The app sends all four values to the module.

4. Check the green message

   You should see a green bar along the bottom of the screen for a moment: Settings sent to controller. Apply goes grey again. The control module saves the new values in its memory straight away, so they stay after the power is turned off. The tablet keeps a copy too.

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Changed your mind before tapping Apply? Tap Refresh (bottom left of the card) to put back the values the app last read from the module.

Connection

Shows Connected to … with the device name, a green dot, and a red Disconnect that ends the connection (or stops the simulator). The row only appears while something is connected. There is no Connect button here: connect from a workflow card on Home or from Pre-Flight Checks.

Raise Sensitivity

The first slider, green. The line under it reads How aggressively the valve raises (0=slow, 9=fast). It sets how fast the blade lifts while you press and hold the app's Raise button. It does not change automatic grading. Most operators lift by hand with the tractor's own lever, so this rarely matters. It is never the fix for a blade that is slow or chasing in auto: use Min Valve DC and Max Valve DC for that.

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• Range: 0 to 9, whole steps.
• Default: the value stored in the control module, read when you connect. Before the app has read one it shows 5.

Lower Sensitivity

The second slider, red. The line under it reads How aggressively the valve lowers (0=slow, 9=fast). It sets how fast the blade drops while you press and hold the app's Lower button. Like Raise Sensitivity, it does not change automatic grading.

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• Range: 0 to 9, whole steps.
• Default: the module's value; 5 before one is read.

How Min and Max Valve DC work

Both numbers are valve power in tenths of a percent: 500 = half power, 1000 = full power. So 301 is 30.1% and 701 is 70.1%. "DC" stands for duty cycle: how much of the time the control module switches power on to the valve coil.

In automatic grading, the control module uses them like this:

1. When the blade has to move, the valve goes from off straight to Min. It is never below Min while the blade is being moved.
2. If the blade is still short of the target, the power climbs towards Max. It never goes above Max.
3. Within about 10 mm (under ½ inch) of the target, the valve switches off.
4. Every start from rest, and every change of direction, begins again at Min.

The climb is slow: with the module's factory control settings, only a few percentage points per second. So if Min is below the power at which your valve starts moving the blade, the blade sits still for a few seconds before it moves. That is the usual "slow to start".

Min and Max only affect automatic grading. The press-and-hold Raise and Lower buttons use separate settings inside the control module that the app doesn't show.

Min Valve DC

Minimum duty cycle — lowest valve power (default 301). The third slider, blue. The power the valve gets the moment auto grading starts to move the blade. Set it just below the point where the blade starts to move.

• Too low: the blade waits a few seconds before it moves. A large implement on high flow may crawl or not move at all. Raise Min Valve DC.
• Too high: the blade jumps at every start and overshoots small corrections. Lower Min Valve DC.

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• App's recommended starting value: 301 (30.1%). This is what the line under the slider calls "default 301".
• Control module's factory default: 400 (40%). A brand-new or reset control module starts there until someone taps Apply.
• What the slider shows: when you connect, the app reads the value stored in the control module and shows that. Not connected, it shows the last values saved on the tablet (301 on a new install).
• Range: 0 to 999 (0 to 99.9%).

Max Valve DC

Maximum duty cycle — highest valve power (default 701). The fourth slider, orange. The most power the valve gets, reached when the blade has a long way to go. Set it high enough for big corrections, but not so high that the blade overshoots them.

• Too low: the blade starts fine but crawls on big corrections. Raise Max Valve DC.
• Too high: the blade overshoots on big corrections. Lower Max Valve DC.

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• App's recommended starting value: 701 (70.1%), the "default 701" under the slider.
• Control module's factory default: 600 (60%), on a brand-new or reset module.
• What the slider shows: the module's stored value once connected, as for Min Valve DC.
• Range: 1 to 1000 (0.1 to 100%).
• Keep it above Min Valve DC. If Max is not higher than Min, the app doesn't send either number and the module keeps its old values. The green Settings sent to controller message still appears, so tap Refresh afterwards: if the numbers jump back, they were not sent.

Refresh and Apply

Apply sends all four values (see Change a valve setting). It is green only when something has changed and a module or the simulator is connected. The control module saves Min Valve DC and Max Valve DC in its memory straight away, so they survive a power-off. It starts using them the next time auto grading starts.

After Apply, a small line under the buttons may say Controller accepted DC values (the module saved them) or Controller rejected DC values (it did not: move a slider one step and back so Apply turns green, then tap it again).

Refresh reloads the sliders from the values the app last read from the module (Settings loaded from controller) and throws away anything you haven't applied. Each time you connect, the app reads the values stored in the module and shows those.

Disconnected, the card keeps the sliders but drops the Connection row, and Apply stays grey:

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Tune the valve

Set Min Valve DC first, then Max Valve DC. Change one slider at a time, by about 25, and test after each change. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes.

Before you start

• Flat, firm ground with room for several short passes.
• RTK Fixed: the GPS badge at the top of the screen shows a green RTK.
• The tractor's hydraulic flow set where you will run it for the job.
• The receiver sends GGA positions at 5 or 10 Hz (5 or 10 times a second). Check this in the receiver's own settings. The Status 2 light on the control module blinks for any data, so a fast blink doesn't prove the rate. See GPS requirements.
• The hydraulics work: the Raise and Lower test in Pre-Flight Checks moves the blade both ways (Check the hydraulics). No valve setting fixes low flow or a plumbing fault.

Not on this card

• Controller type: there is no Controller Type row in v1.5.4. The app detects the module when you tap Connect; Manual Options in the connect step lets you pick it by hand.
• Implement presets and PID sliders: described in older manuals; not shown in v1.5.4.
• RTK Sensitivity: in the SURVEY card.
• Send Commands (guidance without moving the valve): in the DEBUG card.
• Lookahead: in the LOOKAHEAD card.