Battery-powered tools, especially battery-powered impact wrenches, have become commonplace on farms. They're not perfect. If you don't use them frequently it's difficult to keep their batteries charged and in good condition. Some of you were hesitant to spend big bucks on your first battery-powered impact wrench and got one that's under-powered. But I think we've all seen enough advantage and convenience to justify always having some sort of battery-powered impact on our farm. 

Enough advantage and convenience to either replace, upgrade or justify having TWO battery-powered impacts around. Whatever excuse you use to justify getting another battery-powered impact, here are a few tips to get the most from that investment.

Spend money. Yes, there are $150 battery-powered impacts on the market. They are for yuppies changing the tires on their golf carts on Saturday afternoons. Plan on spending $400 or more for a manly, battery-powered impact with two batteries and a battery charger. You get what you pay for, and as long as you buy name-brand products, it's worth it.

Buy torque. A good 1/2-inch drive battery-powered impact should now be capable of 500 lb./ft. of torque, both tightening and loosening. If you want to get picky, dig deep and research HOW LONG it produces that torque. Some companies test their tools in 1 or 2 second bursts. Others test them the way we use them--5 to 10 seconds at a time. Or longer.

Don't buy weight. Lithium ion batteries are expensive, but they're considerably lighter than nickel-cadmium batteries. When you're standing in a store comparing the weight and "feel" of two different battery-powered impact wrenches, hold them at arm's length above your head, straight out from your shoulder and maybe behind your back, to simulate real-world situations.

Consider buying smaller. If your first investment in a battery-powered 1/2-inch drive impact wrench was in a high-quality, premium-grade tool that is powerful enough and light enough so you really don't want or need to replace it, look at investing in a similar quality 3/8-inch drive battery-powered impact. The latest generation of 3/8-inch battery-powered impact wrenches produce more than 250 lb./ft. of torque and are much lighter and more compact than their bigger brothers. My 3/8-inch battery-powered impact is my go-to tool for changing sickle sections on grain tables and for working with sockets smaller than 9/16" or 13 mm.

Finally, if you decide to buy a 3/8-inch drive battery-powered impact to complement your existing 1/2-drive tool, try to match batteries. It saves money and reduces the number of battery chargers cluttering your workbench if all your battery-powered tools use a common size and voltage of battery.

 In  my previous post I mentioned pinch-row-compaction as a factor when considering whether to buy a center-fill planter, or a planter with an individual seed hopper on each row. I need to clarify some comments I made.

When I said that compaction between the center six rows on each pass of a planter could cause yield reductions of 20 to 30 bushels per acre within those six rows, it's important to note that the amount of yield reduction is dependent on soil type and moisture content of the soil. Not every pass with a big tractor pulling a center-fill planter will see major yield reductions in the center rows. If fields are dry, there may be minimal compaction and yields may fluctuate only slightly across the width of each planter pass.

But if soils are damp or easily compacted, it has been documented that yields in those center six rows can be reduced significantly because of damaged soil structure. The damage is due to reduced pore space that decrease oxygen availablity to roots, inability for moisture to move within the soil, and decreased root growth due to all those factors.

Don't blame center-fill planters alone for pinch-row compaction. Some tests indicate up to 80 percent of the damage is due to the tractor that pulls the planter. Center-fill planters just add to the existing problem.

If you don't believe that tractor weight/compaction is the main culprit for pinch-row compaction, just notice the yellow, stunted corn that's struggling to emerge in the wheel tracks left by tractors pulling field cultivators at an angle across wet soils this spring. It's impossible to document how much yield is lost in the diagonal wheel tracks left by tillage tractors, but if pinch-row compaction behind the planter cuts yields in wheel tracks by up to 30 bu/ac,, it only makes sense that field cultivator tracks do similar damage. 

But in a late, wet spring, what other options do you have?

 I'm not in marketing or sales, but a lot of farmers wander through the shop and ask questions of mechanics before they buy a new planter. This spring's funky weather has definitely increased the interest of farmers in upgrading the size and efficiency of their seeding equipment. From recent conversations, here are some of the hot trends for NEXT year's planting season:

-bigger planters. Farmers want the option to get everything planted in five to ten "good" days, allowing them to wait one or two extra days and avoid planting in overly wet soil. Ten days used to be adequate; now I'm hearing a lot of guys saying they want to be able to start and end their corn planting in five days if they need to.

-autosteer. It's more than just straight rows. Autosteer adds two, four, maybe six hours of planting time to a day. A lot of guys went round-the-clock this spring, thanks to autosteer. It's hard to explain how autosteer increases productivity until you try it, because it goes way beyond steering and reduces back aches, shoulder aches and makes it "comfortable" to be in the cab for endless hours.

-enhanced seed metering. Mainline planter manufacturers have had their feet held to the fire by aftermarket manufacturers. "Seed meter wars" are being waged, and farmers are the benefactors. Seeding accuracy with both factory and aftermarket seeding systems is greatly improved over just 10 years ago. If you're not using the improved designs, you're missing the opportunity to improve seeding accuracy.

-pinch-row-compaction. The idea that the tractor, and especially center-fill planters, create yield-reducing compaction between the six center rows of each pass has been well-documented. Wet springs like this year really decrease yields in those rows---up to 20 to 30 bu/ac. on each pass within those rows. Much of the damage is from the weight of the tractor but center-fill planters seem to add to the problem in some cases. Some farmers are going back to planters with individual hoppers on each row. Some planter manufacturers offer weight transfer systems that distribute the weight of the center seed hopper evenly across the entire planter. Bigger, heavier center-fill planters actually reduce total yield reductions--do the math, and the six rows behind a 12-row planter result in half a field being influenced by pinch-row-compaction, while only one-fourth of the rows and acres behind a 24-row planter are exposed to pinch-row-compaction.

-gadgets. There are lots of interesting gadgets and systems that can be added to planters. Some offer significant improvements to planting accuracy and the "adjustability" of row cleaners, down pressure systems, and other planter functions. Few of the add-ons are cheap. Whether they increase yields enough to offset their cost is yet to be determined. Four-dollar corn this fall would go a long way toward determining how many planters get upgraded to those cutting-edge systems this winter.

 I've run into this problem four times in the past two weeks, so I thought I'd mention it:

If the vision of your planter's seed monitor system suddenly is no longer 20/20 (hint, hint) and you have one section or the entire planter's seed tube sensors go off-line, be suspicious of a cut, crimped, pinched or damaged sensor wire to one of the row unit seed sensors.

Twice I found a seed tube sensor wire had been pinched by the parallel arms that support the planter unit. Once I found the sensor wires had been zip-tied to the cross-tube just ahead of the row unit's seed box, and as the unit was raised and lowered the sensor wire sawed back and forth between the zip-tie and the tube and eventually wore through the wire's insulation and shorted out. The fourth "blind" planter was due to one row's seed tube sensor wiring harness connector getting crushed in a down-pressure bracket.

In two of those situations, when the wires shorted the control box that gave the system 20/20 vision was damaged by the electrical mishap and had to be replaced. The other two times the control box survived, and simply splicing the damaged wires fixed the problem.

As always, these are one man's experiences, based upon four separate cases over a two-week period. Take it for what it's worth. If it helps diagnose a problem and gets you back to planting--cool!

 Cool news for some of you, related to my previous post about using cell phones/smart phones to take pictures of farm equipment to help identify parts needed for repairs.

Rodney S., one of our regular readers, let me know that there is a smart phone app called "Case IH My Shed" that allows red equipment owners to enter their equipment into the app so that when each piece of equipment is accessed, submenus with filters, decals, frames and factory-installed parts pops up. A pop-out menu provides exploded diagrams with detailed parts numbers. Kris says once you identify the part you need you can order it online, specify which dealer to send it to, or tap the screen and have the phone dial your local dealers to see if the part is in stock. Cool!

Rodney also mentioned an aspect of that app that I use frequently on the laptop I carry in my service truck. Many times when reassembling equipment, it's more understandable for me to reference a blown-up parts diagram to see how pieces are supposed to fit together than it is to use the "repair" manual for that machine. So, if you forget which side of the assembly a washer goes on, or whether a certain bolt should be head-in or head-out, this app gives you access to a blown-up diagram with answers to your reassembly questions.

Sadly, that's only if you're working on red equipment.  If any of you know of similar apps for equipment of other colors, let me know and I'll pass it on.