Outback S -- JD9400T

An Outback S is a GPS processor. It's packed full of circuitry and is hard to tap in to. The unit has an CAN port but the company is in no way willing to supply software or even protocol information of how to work with data the box puts out to it's own proprietory auto-steering control box. (If this were to change, the world would be a more progressive place.) We prefer an optically isolated solution as this does not interfere in any way with how the GPS unit processes and puts out data.

It looks pretty crude but as you can see, we're just reading when the steering indicator lights illuminate. When the LED to the left of centre comes on, the PA reads the lincrease in light reading on the left photo cell and causes the servo to actuate a certain amount in one direction. And likewise, the opposite for the right LED. When no LED's are on, as in the center of the steering guide or in more extreme circumstances, because both the L or R photo cell's are not reading any light, the PA keeps the servo centered.

A power supply had to be built for the PilotAssist. It converts 12V tractor power to 6V for the PA. The PA is built to work at 4.8V but seems to be more responsive at 6V. The power supply is basically 2 transistors in parallel, centre pole as common ground. The unit works quite nice.