Mounting Tiltmeters

[Harv]

Paul -

You raise an interesting point. My side-to-side meter is mounted vertically, relative to a perfectly horizontal tractor. But when I'm climbing or descending a 15-degree slope, that same meter, along with the rest of the tractor, is now at 15 degrees. I sure hope it's still giving me accurate readings.

Of course, if you mount your meter on a 15-degree sloped dashboard and then head down that 15 degree hill, your meter is now at a 30-degree angle.

Hey, Rick!!! Are we still okay here?

 

[Will]

If you mount your tiltmeter on an angle it will report slightly higher side to side angles than you are actually at. For instance if you have it mounted 15 degrees off vertical it will report that you are sideways 20 degrees when you are actually only sideways 19.4 degrees - not a big deal at all. If your tiltmeter is off by 30 degrees, perhaps due to a combination of mounting and terrain, the tiltmeter will over report by quite a bit more. For instance it will report a side to side tilt of 20 degrees when you are 17.5 degrees tilted to the side.

Since the tiltmeter will always over report it should still help keep you from rolling over.

 

[Harv]

Thanks, Will -

That's good info. How'd you figure all that out? Mathematical model or empirical data?

Either way, I like any system that errs in the direction of safety.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hi Guys,
Rick here. As stated here, less than vertical will cause the tiltmeter to read higher. Not a bad thing where safety is concerned. However I hope no one thinks,"well I know it
reads high, so I can push my limit." I believe accurate is
better. Magnets. Thats a no no. Ball is a high quality
anodized steel ball.
Not to worry. I spent all day today driving to tractor
dealerships to view mounting possibilities for different
makes and models of tractors. I have found a sollution for
MOST (not all) tractors. No holes required.Simple but
effective. Will draw it out and post it here next day or so.
No canopy required. With a little innovation, you could add
a cup holder etc. Heck, with alot of innovation you could
add a grenade launcher for those pesky stumps.
Will post soon. O.K. maybe not grenades.
It would just give my
neighbors another reason to think i'm weird. They must
think I really have a fear of slopes. Otherwise why do I
always have at least 6 tiltmeters on the hood of my
tractor????? Anyway, I will post drawing soon. Rick

 

[PaulB]

Will - I echo what Harv said - thanks for the data. With my meter mounted where it is, my inner balance center (cerebellovestibular apparatus actually. I may not know a jpeg from a gigabyte, but some things I do know) and the meter both are on the same page. I can "feel it" when the meter says 12 degrees, get real nervous at 15, hate it and back out s-l-o-w-ly at 18, and hope to never see the far side of 20. If those numbers are off by a degree or 2 I am OK with that as long as I remain consistant.

 

[Bird]

Whew! I really had a brain lapse when I said I didn't know why a strong magnet wouldn't work, didn't I?/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Bird

 

[Will]

I worked out the formula (actual angle) = arctan[cos(angle of inclination of tiltmeter) *tan(angle you see on tiltmeter)] a month or so ago when I was thinking about buying a small tiltmeter that measured from -45 to +45. I was thinking about mounting it at an extreme angle of maybe 45 degrees from vertical.

 

[glennmac]

Got my #25C yesterday. It is smaller than I thought from looking at the pictures here. Thought Rick had just sent me the bracket at first.

I put it at the top of the left FEL stanchion on my 2910, the part that always stays on the tractor, right where the big removal pin is. So it is just above my clutch. I thought that this might be a temporary place, but after using it all day I will keep it there. It is completely level and vertical there, it's perfectly readable, and is also protected from brush. I have to glance down to the left to see it, but I do that anyway when I am on a slope, and I don't need to have the meter in front of my vision at any other time. (Placing my tiltmeter there also saved me from destroying my FEL today. See my upcoming post on the Brush Cutting Armor thread.)

I was surprised how many times I hit 15-20 degrees. I wasn't even on the steep parts of my land. How do machine operators work on really steep slopes?

Being at 15 degrees feels uncomfortable but that doesn't necessarily mean the angle is dangerous. In canoes, novices feel nervous at any little tip angle. Intermediates will commonly lean a canoe or kayak 30-75 degrees to turn them. An expert can put a kayak on a 90 degree angle with a sculling brace or at 120 degrees with a Greenland balance brace. The point is that one can get comfortable at these angles of lean.

But that's an imperfect analogy and begs the real question: at what angle will my tractor tip. I would guess that it wouldn't tip with all implements lowered at less than 40 degrees ... but who knows. Are there any studies? Actually, the answer for each tractor will be somewhat different, depending on ballast, wheel width, implementation, etc. Those of you with other heavy equipment and vehicles could actually experiment tipping your tractors to the balance point with some sort of chain apparatus, but that wouldn't do the rest of us much good except satisfy some curiosity.

Glenn

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Harv,
I like the mount you made for the meters. Again today, I
spent most of day viewing tractors for best/easiest mount
solutions. I will use your picture to direct others to, to
view my ideas. On your instrument panel, there four screws holding clear plactic cover over instruments. Remove the
two top screws in both top corners, use a 1/8 in.
thick or so X 1 in. wide steel strap. Drill holes in strap
to match the two screws location you removed. Using the
brackets supplied with tiltmeter, mount them to the bar.
Reinstall screws through this strap,(washers or spacers
will be required to hold it off of instrument panel slightly.)Bend supplied brackets to bring meter to vertical.
If the instrument panel has a shroud around it, with screws
on top of shroud instead of on panel face, the same can be
done here. A piece of angle instead of strap would allow
for other items, switches, etc. to be attached to surface
of angle.Top of shroud is curved, so again, spacers would
be required to shim up sides of strap. Reinstall screws.
If desired, bracket can be removed and screws put back in
place, and no evidence of meter ever being there. Longer
screws might be required in some cases. Local hardware
store will have almost identical screws. I would advise
painting strap flat black, or original tractor color. Might
want to round off any sharp edges. Have I totally cunfused
anyone with my not so perfect instructions? How about it
guys? Sound feasible? Any added suggestions? Hope this helps.
If not, i'll try to explain more clearly. If anyone uses this, please post a picture for others to follow.
Thanks, Rick.

 

[PaulB]

Glenmac - I have the 25C also, exactly because it IS smaller than the other meters. Your idea to mount it on the FEL stantion is a great one - you are right, I always look down when things get hairy. I think I will shift mine around a bit until I find just he right spot. thanks for the idea