Have you ever found yourself making frequent trips to grain bins to check if aeration fans are still working properly? If you have electrical systems — like bin fans — that need to stay running, Net Irrigate’s new xProxy system can help monitor them and notify you of a problem, avoiding the need for frequent physical checks.
The xProxy is designed to detect interruptions in an electrical circuit and use the cellular network to send out an alert. It works with any “normally closed” electrical circuit, which means one in which electricity should normally be flowing. As soon as the circuit is interrupted, or “open,” the xProxy knows something has gone wrong and sends an instant notification.
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“The xProxy can be hooked up to any type of switch or relay,” explains Julie Upchurch, Net Irrigate’s director of sales. “It just needs a set of dry contacts to hook up to. When that circuit opens, it sends out a signal to let you know something has occurred.”
The system is based on one the company was selling to irrigation users to help prevent wire thefts. “There are hundreds of potential uses for the xProxy,” Upchurch adds. “In agriculture there are a lot of security uses. You could hook it onto a simple limit switch on a gate or a barn door. Anytime they open it’s going to call you. On the grain side of things there are several uses on a grain bin to monitor functions. One we’re seeing is people are hooking it up on a relay on a fan. Anytime the fan on a dryer shuts off, (xProxy) sends out the customizable alert.”
xProxy devices are set up and activated using a free mobile app, Alerts can be sent to several people.
“They can also customize who is actually getting those alerts,” she says. “It can be configured so up to five people receive an email, phone call, text message or push notification every time that alert goes off.”
Users do not have to pay for an additional cellular device in order to use the system. Each xProxy unit comes with prepaid service for it’s entire lifespan, which should be about five years.
“On the cellular side, we do not charge an ongoing subscription fee to our customers,” says Upchurch. “All the cell data costs are built into that US$679 price. The reason we can get away with that is our devices have a fixed life based on the battery that’s in there. It has about a five year life. The best way to describe the battery is it has about 2,500 events. The battery life can be monitored from the mobile app as well.”
With the xProxy, Net Irrigate is just now moving into areas of agriculture other than irrigation, so it’s looking to expand its dealer network in both the U.S. and Canada. For more information on the xProxy and to find a retailer — or to become one — go to the company’s website, netirrigate.com.
