Winter isn’t coming, it’s already here.
Time to take care of your monitors, receivers, and data.
Winter checklist for your AgTech
- Download data – Get the data off before the display is unplugged, don’t delete data off the display or card until you’re sure it’s all there.
- Label hardware – A piece of masking tape and a sharpie would go a long way towards keeping track of which display or receiver has which activation, or what vehicle it goes in
- Bring it inside – Continuous temps below freezing, and especially below zero degrees F are hard on monitors. Any major component that’s easily removable I would recommend bringing into a warm and dry place.
- Clean it up – Wipe off the dust and dirt, replace the screen protector if needed. Try not to drive dust and dirt deeper into cracks and crevices. Be careful about generating static electricity. Avoid direct shots of water from power washing to sensitive components. Give a quick look over to cabling, connectors, and antennas while it’s clean. For connectors outside a little dielectric grease would be recommended to prevent corrosion.
- Fix unresolved issues – If something didn’t go right during the season, now’s the time to fix it, AgExpress is a great source for physical repairs, or your local dealer may have a reman program. If the issue is more software related, make sure to document the issue as much as possible to give your local service people the best chance of a resolution, or at least an explanation of what went wrong.
- Backup data – Don’t just store it in one place. Make copies. Upload it to your favorite cloud service (I use Google Drive and Dropbox). Put a physical copy in a fire safe or in bank lock box. Data services marketed for Agriculture may be an option as well.
- Follow up on data – Leave a check strip somewhere? Change populations for part of field? Follow up on it. Most desktop software has the ability to query data (select an area) for a particular attribute, use a transparency option to layer different map types.
- Plan for next season – Never too early to start thinking about next season, especially if you’re making a change in equipment, or how you use it.
Edit 11-21-14 – added labeling hardware and dielectric grease