So I might be goin with swift but had some thought about what swift drivers do for entertainment and food cooking. I read there are no apu in swift trucks but what about inverters. Do any guys have tv or laptops and what about microwave and fridge? Also with the weather changing do they let you idle the truck to use the heater or ac? Im thinking it would suck to spend most of your time in your truck without some basic needs to stay sane. I would ask the recruiter but i know drivers have there ways of working around things. My second question is i plan on going to the swift school to obtain my cdl and i know they take out payments for 13 months until your contract is over but could you make double payments and buy out you contract in half the time? They say its a no interest loan so they wouldn't be losing money by you paying it off early. It would suck to go 13 months without any of the things above but if I could cut that time in half it would be better.
I have an inverter with a laptop and a small tv. Swift allows you to idle when its hot out. We have bunk heaters when its cold. I have a propane hot plate that I use to cook. And I have a coleman 12V "cooler" hardwired into my truck.
I really need advice: I purchased a 1600W inverter and wired it to the battery....Problem: From my understanding the remote kill switch you can buy only kills the outlets...I wish to kill power to the unit completely from a switch mounted in the cab while leaving the inverter switch to the on position....for clarification....I wish to turn it on/off with a switch. Any advice will help....
Thats alot of power running through those wires, what I would try is following the positive wire in the cab cut it half. Put in an terminal on both sides and hooking it up to a battery kill switch.
don't let swift catch you hardwiring anything on the truck if you are a company driver. shop has to do it. i don't think swift will have a problem if you pay back the loan early. but you mite want to check to see if they"ll make you wait for the 13 months to be over to start paying you back.
Normally when you are using that much current it is best to use the switch to trigger a relay that supplies power to the inverter.
ok so the shop has to put in your inverter thats fine. with it being winter im not to worried about the temp in truck cuz i like the cold. the payment i would pay early is because if i want out of the contract im not to worried about being payed back just dont want to have to stay a full year im looking for something around my home.
If you are a company driver they won't let you have a wired-in inverter, so you'll be limited to a plug-in. That means you're also limited to 150W of power, because that is all the 12V plug can handle. No matter the inverter you buy, when you use the 12V plug it will only output a max of 150W. That is fine to run a laptop or small TV, chargers, etc.. (if you have a laptop don't bother with a TV, just get a USB TV tuner from Best Buy) Not a microwave, however. I also use the Coleman 12V cooler, and it does a very good job. I've had 2 other brands that didn't do so well. And I have a 12V lunchbox oven that I cook meals with. It does take a bit longer to cook certain things than you might be used to. A baked potato can take 3 hours or so, so it's best to get it started before you stop for the day. As others have said, we have bunk heaters. And you might even get a truck that has a working one. 2 of my first 3 trucks didn't, so I idled when I needed to. As a new driver you tend to get older equipment, with all the problems that go with it. I also idle when it is too warm. My idle times are always way too high, and my DM says something every month about it. Got written up for it once as well. But my MPG is always in the range they want, and I have a good safety and on-time rating. I think those things are much more important to them.
I had a swift recruiter told me last month, that swift would furnish me an inverter for my cpap machine at no cost to me.
You are NOT under a contract to work FOR Swift. You are under a contract to pay them back, just as you would be with any loan you take out. All Swift wants is that you show them you will make efforts to get the loan repaid if you go somewhere else. If you don't make good on your promise to pay, they will pursue you to make good on the total amount due. If you go somewhere else you can arrange for them to pay Swift back through payroll deductions.
