Apus and inverters

An APU is an Auxillary Power Unit. Basically a generator that produces enough electricity to run whatever you need. In most cases that's an airconditioner or things like a micro wave, or other electric appliances.
An Inverter is a device that converts DC voltage to AC voltage and allows you to run some devices without an APU. Their power source are batteries, so their ability to provide power is limited to the extent of the storage in the batteries.
They really work as a team...an inverter providing power for smaller use devices such as a light, small draw devices or things like TV's or refrigerators. An APu will produce larger amounts of power for higher use devices like microwaves and keep batteries recharged.

 

If you plan to do some serious long haul trucking, try to go with a company that has APU's.

 

When I drove OTR as a company driver for May Trucking, they had their own inverter policy. First, you had to buy the inverter from the company (2000 watt Tundra). Second, you must have the company shop install the inverter before you can use it. I guess they has some problems with drivers installing them and the trucks having electrical problems, fires and ect...

Now the problem here is that the company also monitored your idle time and you were only allowed a certain percentage of idle time. Well you had to idle the truck to use your inverter. If you went over your idle time the company charged you for it! The one advantage was that you could finance your inverter and they took the payments out of your check every week. When I left the company I removed my inverter and I still have it.

With an APU you don't have to idle your truck for them to work...

http://www.tundrainternational.com/en/

Uncle Ben

 

That sucks that May will make you pay for going over your idle limit.

Asking about both is important when trying to pick a company.

USX has no APUs but allows us to have an invertor up to 1700 watts. They install it for free.

I've seen Gordon trucks with APUs.

 

Both APU's and inverters give you power to run all your a/c needs like, microwave, fridge, etc. Inverter runs off batts or off engine power and thus has a limited run time when motor is off. You can't run a/c or heat off an inverter while the truck is off because the batts wont support it. An Apu can do the same thing, but needs to be running to provide power. It has it's own motor that charges the truck batts and provides power for everything. APU's have heating and cooling built in and can run without the truck engine on.

Most companies will allow you to install their approved inverter or they provide one. Some have APU's but it much less common. For heating and A/c most drivers idle their truck witch provided heat/a/c and keeps their batts topped off. If using an inverter it is best to run the engine on the truck while using your microwave so the heavy draw doesn't kill your batts. if your batts are in good condition, you should be able to run a fridge tv and laptop for a 10 hours break off an inverter and still be able to start the truck.

 

Richter has a good point; even with a inverter installed in the truck you may still need to idle the truck to keep from draining the batteries down. If I was cooking dinner in my microwave then I would idle my truck, but for example if I was just watching a movie on my laptop then I would not need to idle.

With an APU you can just start it and stop it as you need the power. I could be wrong but I think the TriPac APU's have a built in inverter (1700-1800 watts maybe). When the batteries get low while using the inverter, the APU will start up and charge the batteries back up.

Also in cold climates most APU's can be connected to your engine cooling system and they keep the engine coolant warm to help in morning cold starts. Eliminates having to idle your truck in cold weather while your sitting at the truck stop for 3 days.

 

Most Apu's now have a separate cooling system to avoid your truck being dead if the apu cooling fails. Also the engine will over heat if you run both at once if they use the same cooling. most just have an extra outlet so you can runt he trucks block heater while the engine is off and APU on.