| CropTec
Bauer features Rainstar irrigation and control
developments at CropTec event
New developments for the Bauer Rainstar heavy-duty reel irrigator range will
feature at CropTec, including new control options and details of the biggest
capacity Rainstar now heading the range.
auer’s SmartRain online
management, documentation
and control App enables users
of Centerstar pivot and Rainstar
reel irrigators – as well as Bauer
diesel irrigation pumps – to
keep track of irrigators via an office computer,
an Apple or Android mobile phone, or a tablet
computer.
“By receiving information remotely about the
progress of irrigation sessions and any
problems that arise, managers can save a lot of
time and focus on other tasks,” says Adrian
Tindall, Bauer UK & Ireland sales manager.
“SmartRain provides remote control access to
irrigators and pumps, and receives SMS or
email messages on designated mobile
phones.”
Managers overseeing multiple irrigators can
receive status reports from all machines but
allocate status messaging from particular
machines to the mobiles of individual team
members looking after them. SmartRain also
saves records of water usage and of individual
irrigator operation to help optimise
management and minimise costs.
The Bauer Ecostar 6000 electronic controller
for Rainstar reel irrigators has a 4.3in LED
B
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touch-screen for entering and adjusting
settings, although basic functions, such as
‘start’, ‘stop’ and reel-in speed or precipitation
input can also be handled by dedicated
buttons.
Users can store up to 12 different irrigation
programmes and retrieve them at any time to
save having to enter individual parameters for
every irrigation session, while remote access
via SMS on up to four mobile telephones
enables irrigation managers to stop and start
machines and check on their status, adjust
retraction speed, and receive error ‘run
finished’ notifications.
Thanks to a digital input on the irrigator’s
water meter, the Ecostar 6000 controller also
records the quantity of water used for transfer
to farm records using a USB memory stick.
The new controller can be installed on Bauer
Rainstar reel irrigators in the compact Rainstar
T Series, which starts with the T32 handling
Bauer PE pipe in 65-85mm diameters from 220350m in length, and the full-size E Series, which
tops out with the E55 XL carrying pipe lengths
of 560-740m in 125-140mm diameters.
Latest addition to the Rainstar range is the
E55 XL available with 125mm or 140mm
diameter high-quality PE pipe manufactured in
the Bauer factory in Austria. The E55 XL can
cover up to 7.7ha per run and twice that area
by performing two runs from a central position
by rotating the turntable reel.
High pulling force – up to 40% greater than
with some irrigation reels – is generated by
Bauer’s top-of-the-range and highly-efficient
TVR 60 radial water turbine, working in
conjunction with a four-speed gearbox, a 1½ in
drive chain and large diameter laser cut
sprocket.
The turbine’s design and precision assembly
ensures it operates with very little water
pressure loss, while the unique Vario variable
output nozzle exploits available pressure by
delivering full stream flow over the turbine’s
impeller at all settings and a constant hose
retraction speed from the beginning to the end
of the strip.
For highest volumes, the Rainstar E55 XL is
available with 140mm Bauer PE pipe in 500m,
530m and 560m lengths, delivering up to 110cu
m/hr and capable of irrigating more than 6ha
per draw at a swath width of 110m. The 125mm
hose is available in 680m, 710m and 740m
lengths, delivering up to 70cu m/hr across
irrigation swaths up to 100m wide.
November 2016 | Farming Monthly | 19