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Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

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Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#451

Post by hypercube33 »

uticus wrote: post #156
adamcharnock wrote: post #134

Up until a year ago I was regularly using a Massy Fergusson 135 [0] (Perkins Diesel version), made sometime in the 1970s. It was wonderful! So amazing to drive and use. Clunky and heavy, but you really really felt like you were using a machine. In low gears, if you put you foot down on the accelerator the engine would roar, and your speed would barely change! And there was no fancy technology in it at all. If I was i…

> The air filter was basically a shisha-pipe that bubbled the incoming air through wire wool and engine oil. What is a shisha-pipe?

The other name for these filters are "oil bath filters" basically it snorkles the intake air through oil and that sticks to any dust and dirt.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#452

Post by jcgrillo »

PunchyHamster wrote: post #355
MisterTea wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However, the tech exists for a reason and is not inherently bad, the issue is the lock-in, the lack of choice and interoperability. These low-tech tractors could become a hot bed for open source experimentation. Nothing stopping someone from sticking a tablet on the dash. You could run GPS harvesting optimization software or some webthing locally. Could be cloud or clever DiY farmers could run their farm off a loca…

They have no driving electronics, electronic throttle, ECU controlled injection etc, so you are limited, you can't for example easily make it go constant set speed, because the throttle isn't electronic. It went a bit too far, optimum would be modern enough to have drive by wire but with open ECU and documentation

It has a governor.. The P pump 12 valves (and many other multi-application diesels) come with either one of two different governors, an automotive one which has a high idle and low idle, but unrestricted fueling in between. This is what you want in a car or truck where you're controlling road speed with your foot. There's also the "industrial" governor that essentially maps lever input linearly to engine RPM, and endeavors to maintain its set RPM independent of load. This is the kind you find in tractors, generators, boats, etc.

These governors are basically mechanical analog computers which use the inertia of flyweights, springs, and some very clever linkages to do their thing.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#453

Post by cmrdporcupine »

childintime wrote: post #203

Wait? No electric tractors yet? Swappable batteries would be perfect.

There's been a few. The big manufacturers don't really want to make them, and for the last decade just show off expensive concepts at industry shows and that's it. The small companies only get investment by making a VC play for "autonomous" and "smart" agriculture; they soak up investment, make very expensive product, then go out of business.

I think Monarch tractor just folded up and sold their assets, for example. They were a nice looking product but did what I described above.

Innovation here will happen in Europe and China, not here in North America. "Tractor" here in North America means big giant machine that is owned in a fleet by a giant corporation that manages multiple properties, and works over a dozen fields in a few days.

Every time I've looked into it for my hobby farm, a compact utility tractor that is electric ends up either being vapourware or twice to three times the price and missing features.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#454

Post by cmrdporcupine »

bluGill wrote: post #316
childintime wrote: post #203

Wait? No electric tractors yet? Swappable batteries would be perfect.

the battery in a tesla would run a medium tractor for less than an hour. The tesla can produce more power - but soon it is up to speed and so making a lot less. Tractors are expected to produce their full rated power for 10 hours without stopping.

Maybe a row crop tractor, but a utility tractor is not running continuously for 10 hours. Just running around doing chores and a lot of that time is sitting idling a diesel engine.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#455

Post by pocksuppet »

throwaway85825 wrote: post #381
origin_ wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not familiar with spanish politics, care to explain?

They just gave millions of foreigners the ability to vote for the government.

Do they not want to use the internet when football is on?

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#456

Post by pocksuppet »

WarmWash wrote: post #211
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any technology from before the time of your grandparents, and often parents, is usually perceived to be "not fancy". Because then those elders can't tell you in your childhood what life was like before that technology. So in your lived experience that technology was always there. Reading history later on, doesn't change your emotional experiences.

Freeze LLM progress right here and the future is still totally inconcievable. Humans who have only ever known being able to talk to machines...

It's already inconceivable since today's teenagers have never not had an iPad.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#457

Post by mikestorrent »

Ancapistani wrote: post #434
EvanAnderson wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, god yes. I mowed using a Farmall H on a family farm when I was about 12 y/o. I don't remember ever having deadly serious conversations with family members up to that point in my life. All four grandparents, aunts and uncles-- it seemed like everybody-- sat me down, looked me dead in the eye, and told me sternly and bluntly "you turn off the PTO and see the shaft isn't turning before you get off the tractor. Every…

Without going too far into the weeds here, IMO this experience is representative of gun rights, zoning, and all sorts of other differences between urban and rural. Rural kids are put into situations where they are expected to rely fully on themselves, with life-or-death consequences, from a young age. When your pre-teen is driving a machine on their own that could easily kill them or those around them, giving them a…

I don't "want" to extend childhood; but where I live makes it a little difficult to let my kids roam the way I did. Go too far one way and you're heading into busy highway traffic hell, go too far the other way and you're heading into hobo territory.

Wish I could move; I could sell this overpriced place and almost retire.... not under my control

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#458

Post by mikestorrent »

aucisson_masque wrote: post #393
adamcharnock wrote: post #134

Up until a year ago I was regularly using a Massy Fergusson 135 [0] (Perkins Diesel version), made sometime in the 1970s. It was wonderful! So amazing to drive and use. Clunky and heavy, but you really really felt like you were using a machine. In low gears, if you put you foot down on the accelerator the engine would roar, and your speed would barely change! And there was no fancy technology in it at all. If I was i…

Still rocking one over here. The thing had not been maintained for 20 years while still being used, ran several times with almost no oil in the engine, drank gasoil full of water. And it still works. Things were made different back then. I looked up the manual, you got everything you need to repair it. Maintenance is extremely easy. Even have electric schema. Now my BMW, I looked into the manual how to change a light…

> It said to go to the dealer lol.

It's amazing we let it slip this far. Even cars from a decade or so ago feel much more repairable. I bought an EV and I haven't even seen the motor yet, because I'm going to have to dismantle a bunch of plastic-clipped stuff to remove the frunk, and I've broken enough brittle tabs for one lifetime. God forbid they'd just use actual metal fasteners for this stuff.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#459

Post by givemeethekeys »

numpad0 wrote: post #449
jmward01 wrote: post #59

I want this for cars but to keep the modern powertrain. So an EV without the tracking/touch screens, etc etc. Or an internal combustion engine car that is just simple and efficient (and again, no tracking). I'll take the low-tech but nice features like heated seats and power windows still thank you.

People who says this never even consider Nissan Leaf. "Because the charging..." or whatever. So consumers DO want all-touchscreen disposable cars like Tesla - it's similar to how disposable phones had replaced phones with removable batteries(even among IP rated phones). Wallets vote strongly against consumers.

It's just so ugly. Why did they make it so ugly? :(
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