Control system for a large round baler

A baler adapted to be towed by a towing vehicle comprising:

• a bale-forming arrangement for forming a bale of crop material;
• a bale size monitor for determining the size of the bale formed by the bale-forming arrangement;
• and
• a control system for controlling the bale-forming arrangement in response to operator commands to control the size of the bale, the control system including an input device mounted in the towing vehicle for receiving bale size input commands from the operator, the input device including processing means;
• an implement control device mounted to the baler and interconnected with the baler for controlling operation of the baler so as to control the size of the bale, the implement control device including processing means;
• and communication means between the input device and the implement control device for adjusting the control of the bale-forming arrangement provided by the implement control device in response to manual bale size input commands provided by the operator to the input device.

A method of forming round bales of crop material, comprising the steps of:

• providing a baler having a bale-forming arrangement for forming a cylindrical bale of crop material and having a bale wrapping mechanism;
• securing the baler to a towing vehicle;
• mounting a processor-based implement control device to the baler;
• mounting a processor-based input device in the towing vehicle for receiving input commands from the operator;
• interconnecting the implement control device with the bale wrapping mechanism;
• and
• establishing communication between the input device and the implement control device for communicating input signals from the input device to the implement control device to control operation of the bale wrapping mechanism, and for communicating signals indicative of operation of the bale wrapping mechanism from the implement control device to the input device.

A method of forming bales of crop material, comprising the steps of:

• providing a baler having a bale-forming arrangement for forming a bale of crop material and having a bale size monitor;
• securing the baler to a towing vehicle;
• mounting a processor-based implement control device to the baler;
• mounting a processor-based input device in the towing vehicle for receiving input commands from the operator;
• interconnecting the implement control device with the baler so as to control the size of the bale formed by the bale-forming arrangement;
• and
• establishing communication between the input device and the implement control device for communicating input signals from the input device to the implement control device to control the size of the bale, and for communicating signals indicative of bale size from the implement control device to the input device.