Battery Powered HVAC

My problem came when I got to the truckstop early on Sunday afternoon, it was in the low teens when I parked to I turned on the bunk heat, and closed the curtains front and back like Roehl has told us too. Then I woke up at about 4am it was below freezing in the truck, and the heat was off, no lights, no power in the bunk at all. My only options was to start the truck with the trailer brakes set, and it would idle for about 15 minutes at a time. So much for getting anymore sleep, I had to do this for the better part of two hours before the heat would work in the bunk again. As for us "old timers" that can't sleep without something running... This setup in the freightliners is just as loud as the old heaters. The AC is almost as loud as the APU's where, just without the vibration. I think these set-ups are great, but they just need to figure out what we are going to do when our break is longer than what the batteries will last. When a driver has to reset in the truck, he or she should be able to have heat or AC, so that they can rest. When someone from the office goes home for the weekend they get heat or whatever for the entire weekend, so why should we be any different??? I just want to be comfortable to sleep, that is all I am asking.

 

Well we are not allowed to have pets, so that is not a problem for us, we just have to worry about our selves... I have been able to get 14 hours with the heat on, no lights or anyother 12v stuff in the bunk. That is with the heat set on the click above the economy setting, and the blower on 2. That kept the temp about 60 in the bunk, which was fine for me. The problem was it was about 20 outside, so what will happen when it is colder than that??? I know that these trucks do have some insulation which does seem to help alot, and it also helps to keep some of the outside noise out too... I hope that the guys in Marshfield get this figured out when I am up there next week...

 

Like I said, I will be in Marshfield starting Tuesday, so I hope to get to the bottom of this. I get it, that they want to keep the idle time as low as possible, but we have to be able to recharge these batteries some how, other than just driving down the road. I just hope they fix it, otherwise I'm not sure what I am going to do. If I were to have to take a reset I guess I would have to get a motel room, and I bet they won't pay for that either...