Electronic APU???

Does anyone you know have the 12volt A/C system from Cruise N Comfort?

I wonder how good it is for Trucks? I only know of people putting them in Van conversions and boats.

 

Average age is 3 years. Most trucks get run to 600-700k. The more expensive a truck gets to maintain the earlier it's sold.

 

I guess everyone’s experience with APU’s is different and dependent upon the company they work for. I have never had any issue with the 3 companies I worked for that had diesel apu’s as they maintained them well every month when I went home. Now the current company I have has electric apu’s, these things can’t cool worth a crap, they’re basically useless during summer and not much better during the winter. It also depends on what brand you have.

Mines runs off the 4 main batteries and last about 10 hours, any longer and the truck has to run. This is a brand new truck of 6 months and the batteries are already having problems. Been in the shop 4 times because of some issue.

I’ve had worse experience with electric apu’s than diesel. Electric lacks the power of the diesel apu.

 

I've been told that electric APU's aren't meant to cool but to maintain the current temperature. You're suppose to pre-cool before you're ready to stop and then maintain that temp with the EPU. Sounds ok in theory but it doesn't work well from what I hear.

 

Good to know. My only major concern about getting an electric APU is that it wouldn't be able to charge the truck batteries to prevent a jump start like a diesel APU can.

 

I have had a Freightliner with the EPU. It worked for 6 months and that was it. I got a Lonestar 3 years ago and the EPU worked for about 8 months. Changed the batteries and it lasted about 6 months. The heat was great the first two winters, but this past winter…no heat. With four new batteries in the truck and four new batteries in the back for the EPU, it will run about 30 minutes then it shuts down. Really not happy with it.

 

I used an EPU for about a year on a Freightliner and it worked very well but the AC left much to be desired in hot temperatures. I picked it up in Dallas when it was well above 100° during the day and only got into the '80s for a low that night. I had the EPU AC cranked it just barely made a difference.

My current truck has a Thermo King tripac and while it works exceptionally well it is also noisy and shakes the truck, sometimes shakes it to the point that it feels like another truck hit me.