Learning Center

Install the tile from the outlet

Put the plow in at the outlet to the Required Start Depth, get past the Start checks, and pull the line uphill. What each Start message means, how the plow comes down to grade, checking the outlet, and picking a line up again.

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

In the app Tile Design › Apply Design, or Load Design › Implement › Grade › Start

Tile goes in from the outlet, the low end, uphill, in one pass. That way the trench drains as you go. The app helps: it won't start until the plow is down to depth, it warns you if you're at the wrong end, and it brings the plow down to grade gently.

Grade control uses RTK GPS alone, so a steady RTK fix matters more here than in any other job.

Before you start

Time: a few minutes to set up at the outlet, then the run itself.

  • The tile design is applied (Design the tile line) or loaded (below).
  • Green RTK in the top bar, and calibrated to your benchmark if the design is from another day or the base has moved.
  • You know the Required Start Depth from the design.
  • Tile, fittings and the outlet ready at the low end.

Load a saved design

Skip this if you just designed the line: the Grade screen is already open. Go to Start at the outlet.

Tap Tiling

On the Home screen, tap the Tiling card, first in the bottom row, with a picture of a tile plow.

Ditch Assist Home screen; the Tiling card is the first card in the bottom row
  1. Tiling. Bottom row, on the left.

Tap Connect

In the Tiling — Connect window, tap the green Connect button at the top (or Simulate to practise). If you're still connected from earlier, the app skips this.

Tiling — Connect window: a green Connect button, then Simulate and Bluetooth GPS 1
  1. Connect. Finds the control module.

Tap Continue

Wait until the three System Check rows show green ticks, the last one RTK Fixed. Then tap the green Continue button.

System Check with three green ticks, the last reading RTK Fixed — 0.8 HDOP, and a green Continue button 1
  1. Continue. On to the Tiling choices.

Tap Standard Tiling

Under Tiling Method, tap Standard Tiling, the first choice. (For a contour tile design, tap Contour Tiling and see Contour Tiling.)

Tiling Method window with Standard Tiling first and Contour Tiling second 1
  1. Standard Tiling. First choice.

Tap Load Design

Under What would you like to do?, tap Load Design, the last choice. A window called Load opens.

What would you like to do? New Survey, Survey Whole Field, Load Survey, and last Load Design 1
  1. Load Design. Opens your saved designs.

Tap Implement on your design

The Load window opens on its Designs tab, newest first. It lists every saved line design, ditch and terrace designs too, so find yours by name. Slide the list up to see older ones (scrolling).

Tap Implement on your design's row. Tapping the row itself only shows a preview of its route on the right. Edit opens the design in Tile Design first.

Load window, Designs tab: the top row Tiling 10-16 21:17, -0.30%, bestFit, with Edit and Implement buttons; older designs below; Import design file (XYZP) at the top right; a preview area on the right
  1. Implement. Opens the Grade screen with this design.
  2. Your design. Name, overall grade, design type and time saved.

Tap Calibrate

Implement asks Calibrate GPS? (once per design each app session). On another day, tap the orange Calibrate button. Skip only if you calibrated earlier today on this base setup.

The window's tip about a zero cut/fill spot doesn't fit tile: the tile line is feet below the ground everywhere. Use your field benchmark (next step).

Calibrate GPS? window: if your RTK base station location has changed since this design file was created, you should calibrate. A tip about a zero-cut/fill location. Buttons Skip and an orange Calibrate 1
  1. Calibrate. Opens Calibrate Elevation.

Tap your field benchmark

The Calibrate Elevation window opens. Your benchmarks are listed under CALIBRATE TO, nearest first. Tap your field benchmark. The app then guides you onto it: drive to it, lower the plow onto the ground beside it, and tap the calibrate button. Every tap, with pictures: Coming back: calibrate on the benchmark.

Calibrate Elevation window: Not calibrated — elevations are raw GPS; a CALIBRATE TO list with benchmarks BM 2, BM 1 and BM 3 and their distances; a Loaded design card below 1
  1. Your benchmarks. Nearest first. Tap yours to be guided onto it.

No benchmark? Use the Loaded design card

Use the Loaded design card further down. Check Surveyed ground is the chosen (orange) button. Stand on an undisturbed spot of the surveyed route with the plow on the ground, then tap the card's Calibrate. Never calibrate over tile you've already pulled.

Loaded design card: nearest point 18.9 ft away, two chips Surveyed ground (chosen, orange) and Design grade, an orange Calibrate button, and the hint Position at an unchanged point along the design route, lower implement to ground, then calibrate 1 2
  1. Surveyed ground. Calibrate to the ground you surveyed, not the tile line.
  2. Calibrate. On an undisturbed spot of the route.

Start at the outlet

Drive to the outlet and lower the plow

Set the plow in at the outlet end of the line. Lower it until the box at the bottom of the depth guide reads ON GRADE. Before that it shows how much deeper to go, for example +54 CUT: still 54″ above the tile line.

The depth to reach is the Required Start Depth from the design, or your Outlet Depth (fixed).

Tiling Grade screen before Start; the box at the bottom of the depth guide reads Target +54 CUT, with Current and Target elevations under it
  1. Depth readout. +54″ CUT: lower until it reads ON GRADE.

Tap Start once it turns green

Start, second from the top on the right, stays grey until the plow is within about 1″ (25 mm) of the design depth, or deeper. A short note under the button tells you why:

  • Lower N″ to start (Lower N cm to start in metric): lower the plow by that much.
  • Waiting for RTK fix: the app has no GPS fix at all. The note clears on any fix, so check the top bar shows a green RTK before you go. Float or DGPS is not good enough for tile.

Off the ends of the line, Start also stays grey, with no note: drive onto the route. If the plow lifts at the moment you tap Start, an orange message says so: Blade must reach target depth before starting. Currently N above target.

The same Tiling Grade screen; the green Start button is second from the top of the right-hand column
  1. Start. Green once the plow is at depth. (The simulator skips the depth check, so here it's green already.)

Tap I Understand — Continue

The first Start of each app session shows Tiling Mode — Operator Notice. Ditch Assist® has no plow pitch sensor. If RTK accuracy drops, or the plow pitches down between GPS updates, tile can go in off grade without warning. Check your fix, watch the depth guide, and check grade by hand on critical runs.

Tap the orange I Understand — Continue button in the bottom right corner. Cancel doesn't start. With Ditch Assist Lite this window doesn't appear: nothing moves the plow but you.

Tiling Mode — Operator Notice: Ditch Assist does not use a plow pitch sensor. Grade control relies entirely on RTK GPS elevation. Buttons Cancel and an orange I Understand — Continue
  1. I Understand — Continue. Once per app session.

Pull the line

Drive uphill at your normal plowing speed. You should see the red Auto Grading Active banner at the top of the depth guide. The route on the map turns green behind you as tile goes in, and the profile along the bottom shows where you are on the line.

Tiling under way: a red Auto Grading Active banner at the top of the depth guide, the route green behind the machine and orange ahead, the depth readout 0.0 ON GRADE, and the profile with the machine marker part way along
  1. Auto Grading Active. The plow is under depth control (guidance only with Ditch Assist Lite).
  2. Depth readout. On grade here. Behind the machine the route turns green as tile goes in.

How the plow comes down to grade

When the target is below the plow, the app doesn't drop it all at once. It lowers the target it sends to the control module gradually as you move forward:

  • no steeper than a 2 % slope over the ground you cover,
  • never more than 1″ below where the plow is right now,
  • not at all while you're stopped or creeping under about 0.2 mph, and backing up doesn't count as progress.

Normal tile grades (0.1 to 1 %) are never slowed; only a steep dive is paced. Raising is never slowed. There's nothing to set. The depth guide always shows the design depth, so it can read a little CUT for a moment while the plow settles.

Nudge the line up or down

Use Nudge to lift through a soft spot, or to stay under an obstacle you know about. Each tap of Nudge Up or Nudge Down, the blue buttons on the right, moves the target 2″ (set in Settings, GRADING section, Nudge Sensitivity).

You should see the number between the two buttons change, for example +2.0". The top bar adds a Design column, and the depth guide shows a blue CURRENT line with Current Tgt and Final Tgt. Tap back to 0″ once you're past.

Tiling while grading after one Nudge Up tap: the number between Nudge Up and Nudge Down reads +2.0 inches, a blue CURRENT line on the depth guide, and the readout box shows Current Tgt and Final Tgt
  1. The nudge. Between Nudge Up and Nudge Down: +2.0″ after one tap of Nudge Up.
  2. Current Tgt and Final Tgt. The nudged target and the design.

Hold and Resume

Before a road crossing, a waterway or anywhere you lift the plow on purpose, tap Hold, the grey button under the red Stop. HOLD — Manual Control shows, and you run the plow on the lever. Tap the orange Resume to go back to automatic depth. Ditch Assist Lite has no Hold button: tap Stop instead.

Tiling on Hold: the banner reads HOLD — Manual Control and the second button on the right is an orange Resume
  1. HOLD — Manual Control. No depth commands; work the plow by hand.
  2. Resume. Orange. Back to automatic depth.

HOLD — No RTK Fix and GPS Stale hold the plow by themselves and let go when the fix returns: Hold banners. On critical lines, check the depth by hand at any spot where the fix dropped.

Check the outlet

After the first few yards, stop and check the tile at the outlet by hand. Measure from the ground to the tile and compare it with the Required Start Depth (or your fixed outlet depth). A steady difference means the calibration is off: recalibrate before you go on (Wrong depth at the outlet). Check by hand again on any critical stretch.

Stop and pick up again

At the inlet end, tap the red Stop button at the top of the right-hand column. The job saves itself, with any nudge and rock-hit lift.

Tiling under way; the red Stop button is at the top of the right-hand column, under Home
  1. Stop. Ends the run and saves the job.
  • To finish a line later, open the Grade screen with nothing loaded and tap its orange Resume button, then Resume on the job (Resume a job). Calibrate if it's another day, put the plow back in to depth where you stopped, and tap Start. The depth check applies; the outlet check doesn't.
  • Need to change the line after you've started? Tap Edit Design, the small button on the profile along the bottom: Edit a design and resume.
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

Start at the outlet at the Required Start Depth and work uphill. The plow follows the tile line, which stays between Min Depth (24″ by default) and Max Depth (72″).

  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.

On each kit

KitWhat happens on Start
Full Automation KitThe valve holds depth; paced descent and Rock Hit Detection work on the plow.
Guidance Only KitYou hold depth on the lever to the guide. The Start checks still apply, and Rock Hit Detection (if on) can still raise the target.
Ditch Assist LiteGuidance only. The Start checks apply; no operator notice; Rock Hit Detection is always off.

If something goes wrong

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