opti-idle or apu for o/o?

APU hands down. Have a 2010 DPF truck with 710,000 miles and climbing. I believe it got this way from having an extremely low lifetime idle %.

 

This is the hours you get with a truck w/o a APU
07 Pete 386

 

Depends on where you run and what you do. I'd rather have opti-idle, but I have a pre-emission engine and I try to stay in the upper midwest in the summer.

 

Love my APU.I can set it to come on when the voltage gets to low or when the temp gets to high or low and even set it to come on a set times and run for a predetermined amount of time.

 

I am going to go with Webasto Thermo Top C for heating and Viesa cooling unit. Under 3k for parts and installation another $500 I assume. If I was planning to keep a truck for more than 5 years, I would possibly go with APU

 

I am not an O/O, but to me it makes sense to have an APU simply for the above mentioned reasons. I have one on my company truck and it was extremely helpful last summer when my AC went out and at least I had the cool when sleeping. Plus you won't use as much fuel in the long run, less engine hours, etc...

The only drawback I can see is you would have another engine to maintain/fix when needed, but the positive sides far out weight the negatives, IMHO

 

I should disclose, my "APU" is exactly that, a small Honda generator that powers a 7000 btu air condition and space heater. Costs about $0.35 cents per hour to operate if gasoline is $2.5.

Compare that to $2 bucks an hour at Idle Aire or a $10,000 conventional strapon APU.

Each choice has its own pros and cons. But overall with APU is better than without.

 

Think about where you will be running/parking. Opti-Idle is still idling and against the rules many places. And battery powered AC or heat systems won't do you much good for more than 10 hours.