Filip’s Electronic Folding Plate Pasture Meter
1 / 13Pages

Filip’s Electronic Folding Plate Pasture Meter EC-09 User Manual REID LINE EAST, RD 5 FEILDING 4775, New Zealand Phone (06)323 6146 Fax (06)323 6116 Email Jenquip@Clear.net.nz

FILIP's ELECTRONIC FOLDING PLATE PASTURE METER Introduction Congratulations on the purchase of your FILIP's Folding plate pasture meter. This meter is a high precision engineered device for measuring the average height of pasture relative to density of the pasture. This is directly relative to the quantity of dry matter present (Kilograms of dry matter ). Learning to operate your FILIP's Folding Plate Pasture Meter won't take long. You will soon find it to be an invaluable tool in your farming operation for day-to- day feeding decisions and long term feed budgeting Please retain this...

Conditions of Sale and Guarantee Your JENQUIP product is guaranteed to be free from defects in materials and/ or workmanship under normal use and service for a period of 6 months from date of initial purchase. JENQUIP’S liability and obligation is limited to problems which JENQUIP acknowledges to be defective under the guarantee conditions either to - the free replacement or repair (where practicable) at the JENQUIP premises of any parts returned within the guarantee period - or shipment of replacement parts to the customer, as mutually agreed to. Supply of non standard parts or services...

INDEX How to Assemble the FILIP's Folding Plate Pasture Meter How to Dismantle and Transport Optional Extras Operating the Electronic Counter Zero Calibration Formulas Using Your Plate Meter Taking Paddock Readings “The Farm Walk” Maintenance Replacing the Battery Fault Finding Addendum - Cutting Quadrats - Conversion Factors - Supplementary Feed Values Notes How to Assemble the FILIP's Folding Plate Pasture Meter Your meter is supplied in three parts : -The Carry Bag. Used for storing or transporting the meter around -The Plate. This light-weight circle of anodised aluminium sits on the...

9 bales hay 15 bales hay 14-15 bales hay To Assemble - Hinge the handle to an upright position -Holding the meter by the grooved area, slide the tube assembly 50mm up the shaft and retain it with your thumb. With the other hand offer the plate (printed side first) up to the meter and thread the two together. It is important that the printed side of the plate is upper most or incorrect readings will result. Cl. SUPPLEMENTARY FEED VALUES 1 cubic metre of silage averages 800 kg (0.8 tonne). To estimate DM content of silage, twist the silage in your hand to see how easily the juice...

oven to prevent arcing which otherwise could occur as the sample dries out. Drying time depends on the size of the sample but is usually less than 15 minutes. Once the sample is dry it is then weighed. If your sample area was 0.1 m2 then Weight (gms) x100 = Kg DM / ha The more quadrats you cut in a paddock the better will be your result. Typically 3 to 5 samples per paddock are taken. DERIVING THE FORMULA Although a long hand mathematical calculation can be used to derive the formula, the easiest method is to use a programmable calculator capable of regression analysis. The "average"...

Addendum OPERATING THE ELECTRONIC COUNTER Switching On and Off The Electronic Plate Counter is switched on and off using the toggle switch at the back of the unit. Off is in the ‗up‘ position. When the unit is off there are no numbers displayed on the LCD screen. The Front Display Buttons The various functions of the EC09 are accessed by the two buttons on the front of the unit, labelled ‗Height/Reset‘ and ‗Count/Formula‘. The wordings in bold type are the primary functions. These are activated by a short press of the button. The secondary functions ‗Reset‘ and ‗Formula‘ are activated by...

If you are having problems, require assistance or spare parts please contact : JENQUIP REID LINE EAST, R.D. 5, FEILDING 4775 Ph (06) 323 6146 : FAX (06)323 6116 email Jenquip@clear.net.nz We trust your meter will give you many years of valuable service and we are sure you will find feed budgeting to be very beneficial. Zero Calibration To ensure the Plate Meter accurately measures the compressed height of pasture, the counter must be calibrated. This requires setting a base level of zero so measurements can be benchmarked against this. If the counter does not return to zero after each...

The display will then show the kgDM/ha calculation based on that formula and any readings stored in memory. To clear the readings, press and hold the ‘Reset’ button until the display shows ‘0.0’ There is one default plate equation, and one custom (user editable) equation. The former is built into the chip and cannot be replaced or modified. This equation is typically used between April and September in New Zealand. During start up if the battery charge is low it will display “Lo” and give 2 beeps. It will still work OK for quite some time. However it would be a good idea to take a spare...

Equations may change without notice and are influenced by seasonal differences. If you are unsure of the current equation contact Dexcel or your local consultant.

Entering your own formula. To enter your own cover equation or one that may have been recommended by a third party such as your consultant or Dexcel please do the following: 1. While the EC09 is switched on, hold down the ‘Formula’ button. The display looks like this ‘F__d’ Press the formula button again briefly the change the ‘d” (default) to ‘c’ (custom). Now press ‘Reset’ briefly and the display will look like this: ‘0___’ This is the first of two numbers you will enter. The first number is the equation ‘add’ number and the second the ‘multiply’ number. For example in equation 2 above,...

Fault Finding There is no visual display This is a precision meter - look after it. Replacing the Battery On start up if you get a “Lo” battery warning then the battery will need replacing over the next Farm Walk or two. A Triangle icon in the top left hand corner also indicates a low battery. The electronic counter is powered by a single 9 V battery. The use of an Alkaline battery is recommended though a standard heavy duty battery will still work well. An Alkaline battery should give 40-50 hours continuous use. A NiCad rechargeable battery may also be used. Before you replace the battery...