# Bale Command Users



## JCRFARMS (Feb 8, 2012)

Ok, I've Baled 3 small fields now with our New Holland BR7070. I have read the book on the monitor and baler at least 5 times!!! When I an done at the end of the day and want to wrap a bale what is the procedure? Shouldn't I just be able to hole the wap button for 2 seconds? The last field I rolled I turned the monitor from Auto to Manual before the bale got full size because I wanted to roll it bigger to get the windrow finished. Then I pushed wrap button 2 seconds and nothing happened. I ended up turning off monitor and back on and then wrapping it. It seems like I get a little worried and end up hitting retract and then wrap and by the time I get it to wrap I don't even know what I've done!!! Thanks for any suggestions from some of you seasoned Hay guy's out there.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

> Shouldn't I just be able to hole the wap button for 2 seconds


Yes you should. Maybe have to hold the button longer. When I do this I get a short beep when I hit the button, and I hold it until I hear the long beep that indicates the wrap is begining.



> The last field I rolled I turned the monitor from Auto to Manual before the bale got full size because I wanted to roll it bigger to get the windrow finished


Rather than switch to manual mode I'd recommend upping the bale size on the monitor to clean up a few feet of balance windrow. Its easier to do and much more foolproof. One of the worst things you can do to a round baler is overfill the chamber to the point that the belt take up arm hits its mechanical limit. After that point adding crop will stretch the daylights out of the belts.


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

The Bale Command will not automatically wrap by pressing the wrap key when in the manual mode. Manual mode is just that , manual controll of the wrapping process using the extend and retract keys.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Mike10 is correct. What I do at days end or when ever i want to wrap a bale before its completion.. IS continue in AUTO Mode; push. wrap button and hold button in UNTIL alarm sounds.. Then release button and after a six second delay it will wrap.


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## JCRFARMS (Feb 8, 2012)

I think I understand where I messed up now! Thanks for the reply's. It's one of those things that once it was done I couldn't try it again to see if I had figured it out. Now it makes sense knowing that manual mode really means MANUAL. I lay awake worried about these silly questions!!!


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## Chessiedog (Jul 24, 2009)

That's right JC you have to be in auto to do that . I have 770 . My guess the controls have not changed . In auto hold the wrap key in and it will wrap . If you have a little extra you want to fit in a bale , say your at the end of a field and wind row , want to fit it all in the bale , put it in manual finsh the wind row , then go back to auto , hold the wrap key to wrap it .


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Great read! I'm going to need to know this, too. 
So are you guys talking about what to do if there's not a perfect amount of hay left at end of last row? I thought of that myself. What do I do if there's only a partial roll left? Will it wrap say a 30" roll and eject it properly?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Not sure on the newer ones, my 644 took a minimum of a 42" bale to wrap. If it's less than half full I take the baler home, back up to the steer lot and dump it our for them to eat on thru a gate..


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

OK, so you can just open it up and dump a partially made bale? I always wondered what happened if you don't end up with a full bale?


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## JCRFARMS (Feb 8, 2012)

I'm definately a green horn at this but what happened to me was I tried to get the rest of the windrow as I could see rain coming! I switched it to manual which was my mistake, I got to 72" and tried to hit wrap and nothing happened. Well as I said earlier I really don't know what I ended up doing but I think after turning on and off I switched it back to auto and then held down wrap and it worked. I still had a piece left of the windrow so I got it up and it made a 36" roll. I held down the wrap and it wrapped. I dumped and then since it was the last of the field I turned the tractor to look back and see the baby bale I had just made. I couldn't see it so I thought it must not haved dumped. I got off my tractor and went to back of the baler and it was riding behind me still on the bale ramp! It was starting to rain and without thinking I got beween the baler and the bale and pushed off the bale and the ramp sprang up hitting my shin and knocking me to the ground!


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

> Not sure on the newer ones, my 644 took a minimum of a 42" bale to wrap


I've wrapped when the bale was under the 30" min that the monitor registers. Looks like an oversize cigar!



> If it's less than half full I take the baler home, back up to the steer lot and dump it our for them to eat on thru a gate..


This works too. No wrap used, no bale on the counter.


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## Chessiedog (Jul 24, 2009)

Try to stuff to much in that last bale and it may not wrap ..


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

If I have a partial bale, I just wrap it and dump it and give them to my customers for free. They really like that! Leave your baler in auto. Mike


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

NDVA HAYMAN said:


> If I have a partial bale, I just wrap it and dump it and give them to my customers for free. They really like that! Leave your baler in auto. Mike


Agreed, doesn't take but a second to change from whatever size your making to full size.


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## Sherman Farms (Feb 21, 2012)

Good to know info. Just bought a 2012 BR 7060.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

JCRFARMS said:


> I'm definately a green horn at this but what happened to me was I tried to get the rest of the windrow as I could see rain coming! I switched it to manual which was my mistake, I got to 72" and tried to hit wrap and nothing happened. Well as I said earlier I really don't know what I ended up doing but I think after turning on and off I switched it back to auto and then held down wrap and it worked. I still had a piece left of the windrow so I got it up and it made a 36" roll. I held down the wrap and it wrapped. I dumped and then since it was the last of the field I turned the tractor to look back and see the baby bale I had just made. I couldn't see it so I thought it must not haved dumped. I got off my tractor and went to back of the baler and it was riding behind me still on the bale ramp! It was starting to rain and without thinking I got beween the baler and the bale and pushed off the bale and the ramp sprang up hitting my shin and knocking me to the ground!


Man, you got beat up by your baler? My wife & kids usually take care of that!!








I hope you're OK. I can't tell you how edjumicational this stuff is to read!!
My sea-cruise with the round baler starts soon. Scared half to death!!


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

One point to mention for those new to round baling. 
It is not a good idea to leave a partial bale in the baler for an extended period of time. The hay can not breath and will heat up. Combine that to the heat generated by the friction of baling and the chances of spontaneous combustion increase.


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## kevinbyrne1970 (Jul 12, 2012)

* New Holland 853 Baler*

* Would anyone have an electronic version of the Bale Command manual? We bought a used baler but no manual for the controller. Thanks, Kevin

*


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## swalker269 (Nov 3, 2016)

I need some help on this one.

My NH 644 Silage Special baler command Control had a problem today. It all of a sudden went to full bail for no reason. I tried to power it down with the user keyboard, but none of the keys do anything. The beeper doesn't work either. If I disconnect the power it reboots to 644, then shows the left and right sensors bars and momentarily the minimum empty size of the bale as 30 ( Normal) then goes to 48" the set size for the Max bale size and tells me it has a full bale, NO errors, or beeps. The yellow light flashes 1 time. I have checked all the wires for signal, power and grounds to the baler and back to the user module. Checked all the harness in the baler and the connectors for visual bad connection, but found nothing. Since I cant get the user control keyboard to go into diagnostics I am stuck.

Thanks,

Sherm


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

Do the connector rings lock onto the mating plug? Loose connectors will do strange things. If you have a friend with a bale command baler you can try your operators panel on that baler. Your panel will work on any bale command baler from the 6X4 balers, like yours, through the BR balers.

The controller on the baler is different from the BR balers but will work on the 6X8 balers. If your friend has a BR baler you can still plug your baler into his tractor to check if the system works. You can use any 6X4 and 6X8 baler on a BR tractor harness, but you can not use a 6X4 or 6X8 tractor harness on a BR baler.

The other possibility is a broken wire in the harness. The 6X4 balers were more susceptible to broken wires where the harness hangs of the pto support rod. I am attaching a wiring diagram of your baler. Check the continuity of the wires.


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## swalker269 (Nov 3, 2016)

Iam back working on the 644 Silage special to get it ready for the upcoming season. We were still making hay up until Thanksgiving. During tha ttime I found a couple of things out. The ring locks on the connector all seem to engage fully and none of the pins are bent or pushed back. I found out after receiving the full bale alarm, if I touch the clear and the bale size button or the # of bales button, it will reboot.

It comes up with 644 and the the left and right indicators are now live and I can continue to make and wrap a full bale. I still can't power the unit on/ off or get into diagnostics. I can get it to go auto or manual and manually wrap or manually extend or retract. I looked at the control box in the baler today and it doesn't have any external relays.

I hope someone has some more troubleshooting ideas.

Thanks, Sherm


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

You need to narrow the problem down and the easiest way to do that is to find another baler and tractor where you can plug you operators panel and controller into.

Your operators panel will fit and work on all 4, 8, and BR series balers with bale command. It will also work with the Case models.

Your controller will work with the 4 and 8 series balers and the corresponding Case models.

Perhaps your dealer has spares which you can plug into your baler harnesses.

You could also send the controller and operators panel to AgExpress and have them checked.

The controllers are very trouble free but the operators panels on the 4 series caused more problems then later models. Also the 4 series was more susceptable to wire breakage in the harness particularly where the harness went through the hose and pto support. Unless you do a continuity test on the wires you will not know if the wires are actually good. You will not and can not see the breaks in the wires for there is seldom any damage to the harness braiding.

At this point I would suspect the operators panel


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## swalker269 (Nov 3, 2016)

Mike,

Thanks for your quick reply. Last summer I spent a lot of time ringing out the wiring and found nothing. However, you are correct. The internal wiring could be frayed and sometimes opens. I remember a couple of times while in the middle of baling, the operators panel would suddenly restart, and go to full bale, then I would have to touch the clear + bale button to get it to go live again. The intermittent break might be in the data or clock line. Sometimes it will run for a couple of hours without any glitches. Unfortunately the unit is in Massachusetts were we have few fellow farms and no NH dealers left. Thanks for all your posted tips and wiring diagrams, they have been a great help. I will go back and rip the main harness over the PTO area, for a close up inspection. I will also check out AgExpress.

Thanks

Sherm


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

The problem with the harness is there will be no physical evidence that the wire core is broken. If the problem is active then use an ohm meter to check continuity of the wires between the plugs while wiggling the harness. A fault finder is a great tool to find the break in the wire once you determine there is one.

Your problem is a rare one. I have had one or two balers over the years, while in the shop, where the operators panel would not shut off until the plug was disconnected, but I could never get the problem to reappear. I use my own set of operators panels when I work on the balers in the shop, so I know it is not the panel or the problem would show up on other balers, however, that does not mean your panel is ok since it does it continually.

Bad connections at the operator panel will cause similar problems like going to 48". Had one customer who had this problem and finally determined it was the plug at the operators panel. The way he had the harness installed in the tractor, the harness was not supported and the weight of the harness was pulling down on the plug. Once he supported the harness so the operators panel was not supporting the harness weight the problem went away.


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## swalker269 (Nov 3, 2016)

I was looking at the details in the 6X4 schematic. I am thinking I might have 2 problems. One in the operator panel and the other in the harness. I think the operator panel might have a shorted on power relay or the keyboard membrane for the power button is stuck on. I can trouble shoot that now with the schematic. I looked into the NH 644 parts files and don't see any individual parts available, they are just showing complete assy. Do you know if i can get parts like the keyboard, or a relay?


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

Only the relay is available. That might take care of not powering off, but I think it would be better to send to AgExpress to have it checked. We had some keypad issues with the 4 series balers when they first came out. Not a lot but more than we should have had. Since you have no other way to check the panel or the controller, I think it would save you a lot of time to just send the panel in. I think their fee for checking, but not repairing, is 75.00 plus the freight. Check your harness first before you do anything to the controller or operators panel.


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## swalker269 (Nov 3, 2016)

Mike, Received the 644 baler operator panel repaired from AgExpress in Sulfur Springs IN. They found the keyboard had a short in the membrane. They replaced the keyboard and a few lights inside and returned it in less than a week. $220 good deal. Thank you very much for your assistance and troubleshooting.


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## Tige (Feb 22, 2017)

When I get close to the end I make the last couple a bit smaller, just by guessing so I get a couple of 4x4 instead of one massive and one core. I just hit tie on my bale command monitor, older one and it ties. Just puts more on a smaller bale.


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

It always feels good when a problem is no longer a problem. Glad things worked out for you.


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