So the regs say this thing needs to be mounted facing me within reach, but the tablet I'm using goes to sleep if I don't constantly touch it every two minutes. Now, I'm fine with that, I don't want the distraction, but is it allowed?
Don't know about the regulation about being mounted facing the driver. The JJ Keller ELD goes to a frozen screen with the 3 timers and cannot be manipulated while moving. It will stay on that screen without prompts. I can change the brightness daytime/nighttime. All other apps go to sleep in whatever interval I specify in settings, which can be 2 minutes to never going dark if I show choose. Land of unintended consequences ahead. Guys who have tablets mounted for the ELD's are already discovering they can also watch sports, porn, check email and a host of other activities. Watch for ELD mandate to actually cause many more deaths than they save through enforcement because of this. Whoops.
Yup. It seems to have a standby mode and then gets "packets" from the ELD at regular intervals. For instance, I'll go line 4 at a shipper and let the eLog handle when I go on line 3. (After a mile or over 15mph) so on my way back to the highway while waiting at a light I'll take a quick look at it and it'll show me me going from line 1 and down to line 4. I get on the highway and drive for 2 hours. During a point where traffic is light and I'm figuring out how much time I have left, I'll look at the eLog and now it shows me going from line 1 to line 4 to line 3 but that's it. (Last entry 2 hours prior). When I get to the recipient, I'll go on line 4 and then it shows me all the time for the driving. This is where the errors show up. If I'm in stop & go traffic or there's a temporary hickup in power to the ELD, it shows as a spike to line 4. These have to be corrected manually. Also when I go home at night I set the app for line 1, wait to confirm it took (doesn't always) then log out of the app, wait for the data to backup on the cloud, and shut the tablet off (I take it home with me, theoretically, we're going to be slip seating in the future, but my assigned tractor is mine, nobody else gets to drive her) in the morning I turn the tablet on, log onto the app and if I'm within 15' of the truck it begins to update.
