Established in 1976, the company is now recognised around the world for its spraying accessories and precision farming applications including the Seletron system and Bravo controllers (among more than 4000 other products).

With a subsidiary based in South Australia, Australian primary producers are lucky to have access to Arag, its specialist spraying "know how" and renowned products.

Not only does that mean localised support is available, skilled staff such as Seletron manager Dillon Eldredge from Arag Australia are busy working on new developments and spraying innovations.

Dillon and his team of specialists make sure all of Arag's products are providing direct benefits to end users of spraying equipment.

All Arag products are designed and supplied to be part of one of the most complete range of spraying components available.

Key components such as computers and monitoring systems, electric valves, nozzles, lids, valves, filters and much more are all available through Arag's distribution network.

Dillon said whether it's field mapping, application management or data collection, Arag has a solution that will provide savings for the farmer through highly targeted applications.

"Like many other aspects of farming, technology is having a big impact on spraying and precision applications," Dillon said.

"Developments like the Seletron system have seen great savings being made through more accurate chemical applications where each nozzle or nozzle body is acting as a section along a spray boom."

Seletron is a cutting-edge, electronic shut-off nozzle valve that, when applied to Arag nozzle holders, allows the separate and fast control of every single nozzle.

The system comprises electronic valve control, an actuator and communication with a computer via Can-Bus. The single Can-Bus cable receives the opening/closing commands and outputs the information about valve status, leaving nothing to chance when it comes to accurate spraying.

Seletron can be retrofitted to a range of booms or onto a bare boom. The Seletron can be setup as either single or twin and runs via a single Can-Bus cable which helps keep the plumbing and cabling very neat on the boom.

New developments

Dillon said some of the latest developments under way at Arag Australia include retrofittable air stop systems and a Boom Recirculation system (BRS).

"The air stop system uses air for section control across the boom," Dillon said.

"And our BRS, or boom recirculation system, is a great addition for pulse width modulation-based spraying systems such as John Deere's ExactApply or Case IH's AIM Command."

The BRS is a common rail, retrofittable system offering full boom recirculation - being fed from both ends of the boom and the centre.

"With the BRS, the whole boom is pressurised which aims to eliminate pressure drop. This has become an important aspect with today's larger and larger boom widths which can be up to 50m."

The Arag BRS is a bolt on system which Dillon said will take about half a day to fit to most booms.

"It can be retrofitted or offered on new builds as a stand alone setup using our Seletron or Selejet air valve systems. The BRS can be switched on at any time when you are not spraying, as it utilises a stand-alone manual on/off switch in the cab. When activated, the liquid and chemical will begin to flow through the boom and back to the tank, adding extra agitation.

"When you're ready to spray, just turn the BRS master switch off and everything is ready to go. There's no wasting of chemical or time."

Dillon said another big advantage of the BRS is its flushing ability.

"There are three flushing options; flushing through the nozzles, flushing to safe chemical waste deposit, or flushing back through to tank. All of these are of course, hands-free, which is the beauty of the system."

Dillon also explained that if there happens to be any electrical issue with the BRS, you can simply turn the valves back to the normal spraying mode and use the PWM system without throwing any error codes.

The BRS will cost about $11,500 depending on boom width which Dillon said is peanuts when you consider some of the new self-propelled units today cost $600,000-$800,000.

"Down time on these big modern machines can be very costly, so every hour the sprayer is running needs to be maximised to apply product."

For more details, contact Dillon on 0467 211 968 or via email at dillon@ aragnet.com.au

More information:
www.aragnet.com