Learning Center

Tiling: Start won't arm, design warnings or wrong depth

Start stays greyed out, the app says Start at the Outlet, the tile designer shows a red warning, the trench is too deep or shallow at the outlet, or a Rock Hit banner raised the line. Also Contour Tiling.

  • Full Automation Kit
  • Guidance Only Kit
  • Ditch Assist Lite

In the app Home › Tiling

Tiling installs one line from the outlet uphill, in a single pass, holding depth between your Min and Max Depth at no less than Min Grade. The app won't start until the plow is down to depth, and it warns you if you're at the wrong end. Grade control is RTK GPS only (there's no plow pitch sensor), so a steady RTK fix matters more here than anywhere.

Before you start

  • The tablet is connected, the GPS badge shows a green RTK, and the tile design is loaded on the Grade screen.
  • Have this job's numbers handy: Target Depth, Min and Max Depth, Min Grade.

Time: 1 to 5 minutes for most of these.

Quick checks first

  • A green RTK, and a fresh calibration before the first pull: the line in Calibrate Elevation (tap the BM badge) reads Calibrated to …, not Restored from ….
  • You're at the outlet end of the design with the plow lowered to design depth.
  • Target Depth, Min and Max Depth and Min Grade in the tile design are this job's values, not the last job's.
The tile depth window Side view of a tile run, depth exaggerated. Below the ground, a dashed Min Depth line (24 inches by default) and a dashed Max Depth line (72 inches by default) bound the depth window. 1: the tile line stays inside the window and is never flatter than Min Grade (0.10 percent by default). 2: Required Start Depth, measured at the outlet from the ground down to the tile, is how deep the plow has to be when you start. 3: install from the outlet, the low end, working uphill. 4: with Fix outlet depth on, the tile starts at the outlet depth you set, and inside the outlet transition distance it may run outside the depth window; Min Grade still applies. The tile depth window Side view, depth exaggerated Outlet Min 24″ Max 72″ 1 2 3 With Fix outlet depth on 4

The tile line has to stay between Min Depth (24″ by default) and Max Depth (72″), and keep at least Min Grade all the way to the outlet.

  1. Tile line. Stays inside the depth window and never runs flatter than Min Grade (0.10 % by default).
  2. Required Start Depth. How deep the plow has to be at the outlet when you start.
  3. Install direction. Start at the outlet, the low end, and work uphill.
  4. Outlet transition. With Fix outlet depth on, the line starts at the depth you set and may leave the window this far from the outlet. Min Grade still applies.

Find your symptom

Tap the line that matches what you see. It opens with the causes, most likely first. Check tells you how to spot the cause. Fix tells you what to do, one step at a time.

Start stays greyed out“Lower N" to start”

A line under Start tells you how far to lower the plow. If the plow lifts just as you tap Start, the app says Blade must reach target depth before starting. Currently N above target.

The plow isn't down to depth Most likely

Check: Start turns on once the plow is within about 1 inch (25 mm) of the design depth where you are.

Fix:

  1. Lower the plow by the amount the line under Start shows.
  2. When Start turns on (green), tap Start.

Off either end of the design line, Start stays grey with no line under it: drive onto the line.

No GPS fix

Check: The line under Start reads Waiting for RTK fix. It appears when there's no fix at all; don't take a Float or DGPS fix as good enough just because the line clears.

Fix: Wait for a green RTK badge. See Stuck on Float.

Start asks you to go to the outlet“Start at the Outlet”

You're in the inlet half of the line

Check: The window says You are in the inlet half of this tile design. Tile must be installed starting at the outlet (the low end) and working uphill. Drive to the outlet end before starting.

Fix:

  1. Tap Cancel. Grading doesn't start.
  2. Drive to the outlet (the low end of the line).
  3. Lower the plow to depth and tap Start.

Tap Start Anyway only if you really mean to start mid-line. If the outlet is at the wrong end of the design, flip it in the tile designer (how).

A notice appears the first time you tap Start“Tiling Mode — Operator Notice”
Tiling Mode — Operator Notice: Ditch Assist does not use a plow pitch sensor. Grade control relies entirely on RTK GPS elevation, with more text, and Cancel and I Understand — Continue buttons. 1
  1. I Understand — Continue. Starts grading. The notice shows once each time the app is opened.

Once per app session, by design

Fix: Read it and tap I Understand — Continue. It reminds you there's no plow pitch sensor: poor RTK or the plow pitching can put tile off grade without a warning. Check the fix before you start, watch the depth guide, and check grade by hand on critical runs.

The tile designer shows a red warning“Grade below minimum near …” · “Tile shallower than minimum depth near …”

Also Tile deeper than maximum depth near …, Tile line runs uphill near … and Could not fit within design parameters — proceed with caution. The red bar under the chart names the first station where it happens.

A red warning bar: Could not fit within design parameters — proceed with caution.
The red warning bar in the tile designer.

Not enough fall for the depth window Most likely

Check: The drop you can get inside Min and Max Depth is less than Min Grade over the length.

Fix, in the tile designer, in this order:

  1. Raise Max Depth (keeps drainage).
  2. If that isn't enough, lower Min Grade.
  3. Or accept the line touching the limits. Check the chart before you tap Apply Design.

The Guided and Freeform tabs let you place the line yourself.

The fixed outlet depth doesn't fit

Check: OUTLET DEPTH at the top is on, or Suggest said No distance in this run clears the depth limits. Change the outlet depth or the limits.

Fix: Change the outlet depth, the transition distance or the depth limits.

The outlet is at the wrong end

Check: Tile line runs uphill near … on a line that should fall.

Fix: Tap Reverse at the top right of the tile designer. It turns orange and the line flips to drain the other way.

Tile Design window: OUTLET DEPTH: OFF and Reverse buttons at the top right, the BestFit, Guided and Freeform tabs, the profile chart, and the cards for target depth, Min Grade, Min Depth and Max Depth, with Cancel and Apply Design at the bottom.
  1. Reverse. Flips which end is the outlet. Orange while reversed.
  2. OUTLET DEPTH. Fixes the depth at the outlet (BestFit tab only).
The trench is too deep or too shallow at the outlet

The benchmark is off Most likely

Check: Tap the BM badge. Does the line in Calibrate Elevation read Calibrated to … (not Restored from …)?

Fix: Recalibrate on your benchmark, with the plow on the ground. Steps: Grade is off.

You followed the load prompt's zero-cut/fill tip

Check: Loading a tile design asks Calibrate GPS?, and its tip says to drive to a zero-cut/fill location. That tip is written for Land Forming; a tile line has no zero-cut/fill spot.

Fix: Calibrate on your benchmark (or an undisturbed point of the survey) instead, with the plow on the ground.

Target Depth carried over from the last job

Fix: Check the target depth card in the tile designer for every job.

You need an exact tie-in at the outlet

Fix: Use a fixed outlet depth: tap OUTLET DEPTH at the top of the tile designer (BestFit tab).

Banner: the line went shallower by itself“Rock Hit — Design Adjusted”

Full Automation and Guidance Only Kits, with Rock Hit Detection on in the GRADING box of Settings (it's always off in Ditch Assist Lite). The plow rode more than 2 in above design for about 2 seconds (10 positions in a row), so the app raised the target by that much (it beeps once) instead of diving after the obstacle.

Tiling grade screen: an orange banner across the top of the map reads Rock Hit — Design Adjusted, the same words run along the bottom of the screen, and the nudge readout in the sidebar shows +3.0 inches.
  1. Rock Hit — Design Adjusted. The banner over the map.
  2. The nudge readout. Between Nudge Up and Nudge Down: how far the target was raised.

A rock, hardpan, old tile or frost

Fix: Usually keep going. Once you're past it, look at the nudge readout. If you want the original depth back, tap Nudge Down (the lower blue button) until the readout is back at 0", or as close as its steps allow (2 in each, unless changed).

You lifted the plow on purpose

Check: You raised the plow for a road crossing, waterway or obstacle, and the target came up with it. Rock Hit Detection keeps running during a manual Hold, so a lift while on Hold still raises the target.

Fix:

  1. After any deliberate lift, check the nudge readout and bring it back with Nudge Down before you go on.
  2. Next time, tap Stop (not Hold) before you lift, and tap Start again at depth.

If soft ground sets it off when there's no obstacle, turn Rock Hit Detection off in the GRADING box of Settings for that job. See Rock Hit Detection.

Depth swings in soft ground

The hydraulics react to every change

Fix: See Slow or chasing.

Contour Tiling picks the wrong contour, or loses the zone

The nearest contour is highlighted until you tap Start

Fix: Drive onto the contour you want before you tap Start; it locks then. Stop, then Start, picks again.

The saved contour is missing after Resume

Check: The app says Contour reference unavailable — steering off the saved route.

Fix: Carry on: guidance follows the saved route. Reload the contour design if you need to see the zone.

The design won't load from Load

Check: The app says Contour tile design — use the wizard.

Fix:

  1. On the Home screen, tap the Tiling card.
  2. Under Tiling Method, tap Contour Tiling.
  3. Tap Load Existing Design.

A job you already started also comes back from the Resume button on the Grade screen. Contour problems: see Levee & Contour.

Still not fixed?

Related

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