Ambient Sensors

I'm not a fan of them telling me I ought to turn off my cooler to help save battery power. Um, the reason I have the cooler is to keep my drinks and food cold. So I get to choose between affordable, healthier meals and heat now?

 

Better yet, just leave the truck and heater off at night and you can then just store your food on the passenger seat. It will be below 40*F anyways.

 

What's with all this "truck shutting off while in traffic" bs that everyone keeps saying? Our trucks shut off already if there idling too long. Only way to avoid it is by clutching down and reving the engine up to reset the timer as razororange already stated, or pull the brakes and and set the high idle (although obviously it will shut down if its between 20-70 degrees). IMHO I think the 20-70 limit is reasonable. The only time I've ever idled is when its above 80 to keep cool. I've never had idle to keep warm. Hell, I had a truck last winter that the bunk heater kept going out in and I had no problem keeping warm with enough blankets while sleeping in below freezing weather.

 

Lol, I slept in below freezing temperatures last winter while my bunk heater was broken. Had the ice in ky cooler melt during the day and refreeze at night. Saved money on ice!

 

It sounds like they are working on driver retention. They are too sorry to put diesel fired bunk heaters in the trucks?

I wonder who come up with that brilliant idea and how they come to the 20-70 conclusion? 20 they can survive 3 hours before hypothermia sets in. 15? Nah that's too cold. Most Coleman sleeping bags are rated to 35 degrees, lol. But make sure they treat the fuel when it gets below freezing.

I know people that won't leave their dogs outside in them temperatures. The CEO ought to have to sleep outside and see what it's like.

I saw the other day Walmart sells little propane camping heaters. Some are suitable for inside. It would be better than freezing.

 

I would be surprised if they didn't have Bunk Heaters.

 

We have diesel fired bunk heaters, but they also have an electronic thermostat, which in my experience draws 1.5-3 amps an hour. Provided the thing doesn't break heat won't be a problem. Neither should staying cool in the warm months for the most part. They chose 20 degrees for the low end because diesel will start gelling in the fuel lines below that point. I think 70 was chosen on the top end after driver push back in the very select driver meetings on the subject.

Here's the scenario I'm worried about in regards to the truck shutting off in traffic: I'm heading west on I-94 just south of Milwaukee. I get of on exit 322, Ryan Road, to go into the Pilot to be compliant on the fuel solution. The light is timed so that 1.5 trucks can turn left each light cycle. I'm the third truck in line, light turns green, two trucks gets thru and now I'm the first truck in line. The light turns green again, as I start to pull into the intersection the 4 minute cutt off kicks in, shuts off the truck. I'm now in the middle of the intersection, no power steering, and need to restart the truck. Not a position I would choose to be in.

The big issue for me is power. I'm fine unplugging my cooler for 5-7 hours when it's really cold out. The food does stay cold. But when its in the 40-50 degree range and I spend a significant amount of time in a dock, or waiting for a delivery window, I want my food to stay cold, I want to be able to use my laptop, charge my phone, have lights to read a book - in short all the things that Chris Loftgren(sp?) does when he goes home at night. When I wake up in the morning I'd like to be able to flip a switch and have light.

I don't idle much. My 3rd quarter charged idle was 7.5%, and thats with not shutting the truck off for the first two weeks in July. SNI is reducing my power to control my truck, and it doesn't make me happy.

 

We have bunk heaters. The problem is what happens if the batteries get drained during a longer period of time and we're without power? CPAP users will be the first to get screwed since the batteries will drain faster. Also, people with plug in items such as fridges and other electronics will have issues. If we have to sit for extended periods of time (34 hour restarts, sitting hours without a load or waiting for an appointment time) issues may arise.

I'm taking a wait and see approach but at this point it doesn't sound good.

 

The first sentence sums it up in a nutshell...."let's take more control away from the drivers, because we, as management, always know best."

BEE ESS.

Hey...here's a novel idea....SNI still have driver managers, right? How about making the driver managers MANAGE THEIR DRIVERS??? Got a problem with a driver? MANAGE IT!

"Well, now that we've asked for driver's opinions from the drivers we know will kiss our corporate butts, let's do what we were going to do all along....at least we can say we "consulted with drivers".".....SNI Management

 

To be fair, and I completely think I'm at liberty to hold myself as being some sort of authority on the topic since I grew up and lived in WA until I was 32 and then moved to Wisconsin, is that the cold out here is a completely different ballgame than the cold out West.

Speaking of, I really need to get to gettin' with preparing my truck with winter stuff.