Financing an APU

.42 being company starting pay was not the norm 20 years ago. It was closer to the low 30 cent range. Many of the major carriers weren't offering more than 36 cents to start as late as 2008. Heck, 30 years ago it was not uncommon to see starting rates nearer to the low 20 cent range. This is not saying that company pay rates are decent, they are not. Just putting clarity to your claim about company per mile compensation.

They limit me how much I can work? Really? Why in the hell would I want to work more than 70 hrs in a week and work more than 14 hrs in a day? If you have to work more than that to make a living, you are indeed in the wrong place. No one grabbed you by your junk and forced you to work at such a place.

There is a lot of misconceptions in your analysis of the situation. Sure, a shop might get $135 (though most are less than that.... shop rates fluctuate on the regional basis), but look at the liability, property taxes, utilities, building maintenance, worker's compensation insurance, employer portion of FICA tax, and the landmine of government regulations they have to deal with also. What a company may pay in an hourly wage to a worker actually ends up costing the employer at least double that. So that $20 an hour actually ends of costing the employer $40 and hour. If you ever employed people you would understand this.

Sure, diesel is up, but so is the surcharge that gets tacked on to the rate I pull the load for. In this market where freight rates are the highest they have been in 11 years and 40-50% higher than they were in January 2017 on the spot market, and the capacity is at near 100% (in other words, there is more freight to move than there is trucks to move it) if one can't get the rate to cover the diesel, the toll roads, etc then what on earth are they doing it for?

And I have never bought an APU and have had no desire to. The Webasto bunk heater does great on the cold nights and a Yamaha generator riding inside of it's own cargo box strapped to the frame rail of the truck handles any power needs. I have a Xantrex inverter charger on board that the generator (or shore power) can hook up to and not only do I have 120v power, but the Xantrex feeds 55w of 12v to the batteries and charges them at the same time. Most times in the summer (like tonight for instance) I just open up all the vents to the sleeper, install window screens in the cab door windows, and use a 12v window fan to keep things nice. Occasionally I will use a $130 window AC unit I got from Lowes. I have a mount and housing for it that fits the window of the passenger door. The generator runs it. So far this year, I haven't even used it. Probably the best thing I might do in the future is install a Fantastic Vent in the sleeper roof like the RV campers have. That thing will move a serious amount of air and is weather proof.

I would contend that the big trucking corporations don't control anyone except those who chose to be controlled by them. Everyone is free to choose another career field. No one is forced to drive a truck, especially as a company driver.

 

I am seriously considering just going the generator route, and installing a mini split AC unit. I like the idea of the Xantrex inverter. I’m wondering how to best set it up. Do you plug the inverter into the generator and have the inverter connected to the batteries? Will the power from the generator charge the batteries this way? I’m trying to understand which direction the power flows because my current inverter gets power from the batteries and does not charge them

 

The Xantrex inverter charger is permanently connected to batteries just like a regular inverter. Looks just like a regular inverter. But, It has not only AC output but has AC input that comes from generator or shore power. When there is no AC input from shore power or generator, it is just an inverter converting battery power to AC. When shore power / gen set hooked up to it, it acts as a transfer switch and charger and passes thru the AC power from that generator or shore power for your use and at the same time becomes a 12v charger for the batteries. When it is a charger, it can push anywhere from 55 to 80 watts (depending on model of inverter/charger) of 12v to the batteries. It is also multi phase charging, which is the preferred method of keeping batteries properly charged up.

 

Missed this post, my junk dynasys ks running strong since Jan 2012.

 

I dont no he may be a driver. I agree with his first sentence and paragraph.
He lost me when he went off the rails with the " it's all the govt fault" then said maybe govt should MAKE all drivers owner ops.

 

Just don't buy a Rigmaster lol My Rigmaster works fine , cools well and powers everything but #### its loud ! It came with the truck and maintenance for the most part has been cheap and easy to work on .

 

I seen you mentioned you have a Yamaha EU2000i is it still working for you how do you like it ? Also you said you dont run in hot areas but in colder areas. How do you keep your engine warm when in cold weather ? Thanks.