# Scale for salter



## Snow tracker (Jan 31, 2014)

I know I have seen this discussed here before but I am terrible at searching threads. I have a boss poly VBox and am trying to get the hang of application weights. I do have a scale that I can use about a couple miles from the shop. I am wondering if anyone has found a scale to go under the spreader to know how much product is accually down on each site? I know I can go to the scale after each site but it is a run and I will be in a hurry. It there anything that holds up to the weather and runs on 12 volt? I know in the future I will get better at estimating amounts but of course everything is sold by weight.


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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

Do you have to be that exact?

I always just knew how much the salter would hold and took a guess at what I applied. Long as by the time I got to the last site, all was accounted for, then all was well.


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## LapeerLandscape (Dec 29, 2012)

Philbilly2 said:


> Do you have to be that exact?
> 
> I always just knew how much the salter would hold and took a guess at what I applied. Long as by the time I got to the last site, all was accounted for, then all was well.


Hey you got to be precise you know. Like the guy that wanted to test the hydraulic pressure on a perfectly good 2 year old wideout.


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## Snow tracker (Jan 31, 2014)

I know I can average it out, and I know I will get good at eyeballing. I have had a few on calls for private roads that I have had enough time to weigh at the scale both ways. I just thought it would be a great way to track and be exact. Maybe stupid I know but I ain't the smartest so I plow snow.


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## racer47 (Feb 24, 2011)

thats me .really wanting to get to no the plow so i can work on it myself,if needed and i new kimber could guide me .and thats how you keep it working perfectly,learn it inside and out .my dealer is 1 hour away .


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## mpriester (Oct 2, 2011)

Snow tracker said:


> I know I have seen this discussed here before but I am terrible at searching threads. I have a boss poly VBox and am trying to get the hang of application weights. I do have a scale that I can use about a couple miles from the shop. I am wondering if anyone has found a scale to go under the spreader to know how much product is accually down on each site? I know I can go to the scale after each site but it is a run and I will be in a hurry. It there anything that holds up to the weather and runs on 12 volt? I know in the future I will get better at estimating amounts but of course everything is sold by weight.


Calibrate your salter


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## LapeerLandscape (Dec 29, 2012)

Take the spinner off the salter, put a bucket under to catch the salt, run for X amount of seconds or minutes and weigh the bucket. Do this for different settings on the salter and different timed runs and it should get you pretty close.


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## framer1901 (Dec 18, 2005)

LapeerLandscape said:


> Take the spinner off the salter, put a bucket under to catch the salt, run for X amount of seconds or minutes and weigh the bucket. Do this for different settings on the salter and different timed runs and it should get you pretty close.


That is really the easiest way, we run our auger at max speed and know how many seconds it takes to drop 100# - do the math

While someone probably makes it, I couldn't guess the cost of 4 load cells that'd put up with the movement and conditions in the back of a truck.

A few years ago, someone did make poly spreaders that you could calibrate and it'd tell you how much salt you put down, it was snow ex if I remember right. They would of had some sensor on the auger counting rotations and the controller would do the math.


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## Herm Witte (Jan 27, 2009)

Snow tracker said:


> I know I have seen this discussed here before but I am terrible at searching threads. I have a boss poly VBox and am trying to get the hang of application weights. I do have a scale that I can use about a couple miles from the shop. I am wondering if anyone has found a scale to go under the spreader to know how much product is accually down on each site? I know I can go to the scale after each site but it is a run and I will be in a hurry. It there anything that holds up to the weather and runs on 12 volt? I know in the future I will get better at estimating amounts but of course everything is sold by weight.


Are you selling salt application by the ton (lb.)? I wonder if you would get into trouble with weights and measures in your state. By calibrating your spreader and knowledge about how much product to put down to achieve your desired results you should be able to charge on a per visit rate for salt applications eliminating the guess work of charging by weight.


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## Snow tracker (Jan 31, 2014)

Thanks for all the feed back guys. I do charge by visit. When I used my tailgate with bags it was easy to figure out exactly how much went down. This coralated with price and profits. Bulk is half the price so if I use more it's not the end of the world. I am I a northern small town, rural area that has the idea that ice is just a way of life in the winter. We are also very seasonal, most businesses only stay open in the winter to keep their key employees on. They do not really make money in the winter, they kinda tread water and therefore do not like to spend money on winter maintenance. My point in being exact about price is more of a selling point. We also have three products, rock, rail or calcium and picked sand, and of course we can blend any of these to match conditions and clients expectations. But they are still all sold by weight. I guess I have a stupid fear of coming to the end of a pile in the shed and doing the math to find out I broke even or lost money. A lot of the lots are small so it's not like we are going to a mall dumping the whole load and then returning the the shop to reload.


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## JD Dave (Mar 20, 2007)

I think your over thinking things. If you know what your spreader holds and you get up to look every time you'll have a pretty darn good idea. If you fill your spreader then time how long it takes to empty, that will give you lbs/second if you really want to be close. I've known guys to drive around a lot like they would be spreading salt when bidding new properties to estimate salt usage.


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## Aarons Auto AsSalt (Jan 16, 2017)

I'm doing a bit of market research: Would anyone be interested in a product that easily connected to any controller (even one you built yourself) that allowed you to calibrate with pounds per second and use one button to both activate the spreader and start a time/poundage/kg tracker on an LCD? I have a prototype that I use and am looking into a patent which costs a lot of money.


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## LapeerLandscape (Dec 29, 2012)

Aarons Auto AsSalt said:


> I'm doing a bit of market research: Would anyone be interested in a product that easily connected to any controller (even one you built yourself) that allowed you to calibrate with pounds per second and use one button to both activate the spreader and start a time/poundage/kg tracker on an LCD? I have a prototype that I use and am looking into a patent which costs a lot of money.


If your going through pounds per second you putting on way too much.


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## 1olddogtwo (Aug 6, 2007)

LapeerLandscape said:


> If your going through pounds per second you putting on way too much.


With a proper spreader set up, that is very doable.

Will it count the grains of sand in a hour glass, that's on my bucket list to know.


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## Aarons Auto AsSalt (Jan 16, 2017)

1olddogtwo said:


> With a proper spreader set up, that is very doable.
> 
> Will it count the grains of sand in a hour glass, that's on my bucket list to know.


That is only half funny, because, for the right price, I can make it do that.

And LapeerLandscape*, *I can do seconds per pound if you'd like. Our guys cover a lot of ground in a night, they move pretty quickly. Anything less than 1 pound per second and they won't finish their route before 11:00 AM.


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