LAVA Provides Charging Solution for Portable Tractor Guidance System

LAVA’s SimulCharge adapters are available for both enterprise and consumer environments. When finding a solution for certain scenarios, an Enterprise adapter may not be necessarily the best choice; our Home series adapters can provide an efficient and reliable solution for use cases requiring both SimulCharge and OTG capabilities. This whitepaper will showcase how LAVA’s TL-002R SimulCharge USB adapter created a value-add tablet charging solution for an agricultural technology company.

This LAVA customer, an Irish farmer, developed a Portable Tractor Guidance system using Lenovo tablets. The system allows farmers to concurrently track the progress of multiple farming tasks, such as fertilization, mowing, slurry spreading, and more. They can also program guidance lines and field boundaries within the system and save features to avoid unnecessary repetition.

The guidance system operates via Lenovo Tab M8 HD tablets, mounted to the windscreen of tractors or other farm vehicles. The tablets connect to either a wired or Bluetooth GPS receiver to track their location and communicate with the guidance application. Originally, when using wired GPS receivers, the receivers would draw power from the tablet battery via the USB connection. Before LAVA’s involvement, the Portable Tractor Guidance system had to be taken apart each evening so the tablets could be plugged into a power source to charge.

The customer contacted LAVA because they were looking for a way to maintain the battery charge without requiring system disassembly. The solution was LAVA’s TL-002R SimulCharge adapter. SimulCharge technology allows the tablet to connect to the GPS receiver (USB peripheral) – while operating in Host mode – and simultaneously be charged. This eliminates both the need to disassemble the system overnight for charging, and the risk of the battery dying during a task. When an external 5V power source is not available, the TL-002R adapter switches to OTG mode: the tablet provides power to the USB peripheral, and remains a USB Host. The switch between SimulCharge and OTG modes allows for automatic, user-friendly, and reliable connections during long days in the field. Plus, its small size makes it easy to implement within the tractor and the rest of the guidance system.  

The TL-002R ensures the guidance system maintains sufficient battery power when transferred between vehicles. It can also stay attached to the vehicle overnight, so the next day’s tasks won’t be delayed by low tablet battery concerns. Even if the tablet is disconnected from the power source for a period of time, it will continue operating. Ultimately, LAVA’s tablet charging solution saves farmers both time and energy, without interfering with their busy schedules.

For more information about the TL-002R and our other Home Series adapters, visit our website.