I love parking next to reefers....the hum makes me sleep better. I agree, they need a spot to park too and I have seen alot of considerate reefer guys who will pull in so the noise isnt right next to your cab. I was in the T/A in Monroe Mich and a guy came up to my door and asked if I was gonna be bothered by his reefer before he parked next to me! I of course told him let it eat, it made me sleep better! My 450 Pound trainer used to gripe about it all the time but I kindly reminded him that most of the mounds of buffet food he crammed into his cram-hole on a daily basis were delivered by reefer....he usually shut up.

I do not idle my motor either as long as it's not too cold or too hot. If I pull into the truckstop in the evening, I try to keep it shut off until at leat 5AM...sometimes I gotta fire the heat up sooner, but usually by 5AM alot of guys and gals are pulling out....unfortunately with CRST, if you are sleeping in the TruckStop lot, you are laid over and will be there for a while too. But I do try to limit my idling....I got thick blankets.

So in closing here, let them hum reefer guys, the majority of us know what you do and understand that you need a spot to stop and rest like the rest of us.

SimplyRed,

Google Opti-Idle and you will get a lot of info.

From what I understand it is a situation of feasibility, what you can afford. APU's are expensive. We have a Blackrock (the warranty just ran out) and have been exceedingly pleased. I'm menopausal......'nuff said there. You could say the apu has saved our marriage

We have slept next to a rig with opti-idle. My husband said next time we'll move. It started on the hour every hour, each time waking us up.

Here is one guy's posting:

Now I get the fun of dealing with Opti-Idle. It's kind of a neat feature, and yet kind of annoying. See, you set a temperature range on it, and the truck will turn on and off to maintain that temperature as well as keep its batteries charged and whatnot. It's annoying because the thermostat makes a loud BEEP! when the truck turns on. That will probably get old fast. I'm not really worried because I'll quit using it once I get an APU installed on this puppy. In the meantime, though, it will be cheaper on fuel that running the truck all the time.

We went to the Louisville truck show a couple of years specifically to research what was available in apu's at the time. I'd recommend you doing the same to decide which technology you'd like. It's an important investment these days and there are several truck shows to get to. I think Las Vegas is coming up the end of June, Dallas in August. There is one really soon scheduled in Bloomington IL, but I don't know if there will be many displays there.

If you go with an apu make sure you look at their warranty, service locations and availability and how often and easy it is to change the oil, belts, filters, etc.. The EPA dished out gobs of grant money and every Tom, Dick and Harry threw something together. The dust has settled some but there are still some odd ones out there. The place that installed ours is adamant about staying away from the air cooled ones, ours is water cooled. I'd think that would be critical with you running in CA a lot. They had a pile of air cooled ones in the corner of their warehouse that they had pulled out of rigs and replaced with water cooled ones. Another thing about running in CA, if you're rig has the '07 or new engine technology your apu must have a particulate filter that has been approved by CARB, only problem is that CARB is bogged down and has not approved any yet. Here is a good article from Landline:
[LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

We loved going into CA but it will be a long time before we see it again due to the unbalanced port board decisions and CARB. We have a 2001 Western Star with a C-15. We don't plan to replace this rig until the new 2010 technology is here and proved. Sadly, CAT has had terrible problems with their new 2007 technology. We just found out that Detroit will be using the urea for their 2010 technology which has been proved well in Europe.

Good luck!
SimpsonTeam

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Opti idle is not a APU and I belive still doesn't cut it in "no idle" states. With opti-idle you still idle your trucks, it just starts and stops all night to keep your truck at the "perfect" temp. I have used it before when I was a company driver and I HATED IT! I don't have a APU but I want one, steer away from the Opti-idle.

On the subject of POS Opti Idle. I'm beside a guy that has his turned on. Its balmy tonight I don't know why he is running it even. But it starts about every 8 to 10 mins. After running for a few mins it pops off a couple real loud backfires when shutting down. Once more of that BS and I'm moving. I cannot sleep with that nonsense. Dunno how he can.

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I'm moving RIGHT NOW.

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I know we said we'd move next time we were next to an opt-idle but last night we were in Waterloo and no other spots to move to. My husband is grumpy from no sleep. The d*** thing went off every hour and he said he could hear a beep right before it went off.

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The beep and starting/stopping wasn't what bothered me. It was the 2 loud backfires right when the truck shut down. You don't usually hear a diesel doing that.
I've slept next to an Opti-Idle all night before and it wasn't as bad as last night.

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the long beeeeep comes from under the hood to let anyone that may be under the hood know it is about to start.
mine doesn't bother me, i try not to idle unless it's hot, cold i can deal with. i dont run the heat unless it is in the 30's, however i can't sleep unless its below 70 inside.
i've been sitting there on a nice 60 degree day watching TV and had trucks pull in next to me and run the engine, man is that annoying!

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tip for new truckers: to err is human, to forgive is not D.O.T. policy.
-ACT YOUR WAGE!!!- DAVE RAMSEY

I hear ya there man. I was in artillery as well. I was once on the firing line talking to someone and not paying attention to the orders, and a call was made for fire for effect. I thought my ears exploded.

I did AIT at Fort Sill, Ok. That artillary sounds like a thunderstorm without the rain. Its not really that bad from a distance. Illumination rounds are a beautiful sight to behold. Gunbunnies are cool!