How would I go about playing game consoles/watching tv without killing Truck's battery

most trucks have a optimised idle type of thing to keep battery powered or a apu

 

This is on a newer freightliner with the standard 4 battery setup ; The batteries themselves are over a year old and this is after 7 hours of sitting with a fridge,direct tv receiver,and small lcd tv running .

My truck also has an apu that automatically comes on if the battery voltage gets too low

Im not sure what an xbox sucks though , I know they have a gpu which can get power hungry

 

I might be wrong here. However if a truck's electrical system is working properly it won't let you kill the battery.

 

Im going to mention a couple of things. Before I do so I beg the Moderators Tolerance for a moment.

First.

You protect those truck batteries by keeping them as full as possible all the time. If it means running the main engine at idle or running a APU big enough to supply you with 120 volts and feed the batteries etc while you play the games in the sleeper is the very best thing for those batteries.

Second.

To drain batteries playing gaming when you should be sleeping is to place your company at risk of having to make a road call out with a minimum of 4 new batteries or even a Tow etc worst case scenario.

Third, I am aware that sometimes you have some down time say during your 34 hour reset. Get a extension cord big enough long enough to a nearby light tower base and plug in there, Strip it into the sleeper and plug in your stuff and enjoy your time. Hopefully you are parked next to the light tower so you don't lose your power etc.

Forth I am doing my best not to be a fuddy duddy, but if you don't have a APU, then buy a inverter big enough with the correct electrical output that is protective of computers and wont harm them. Some inverters will burn up computers in no time. Have it profesionally installed by the Dealership after securing approval of your company officers among other possibilities. When we were with FFE, 7 Officers from Shop to VP and Operations all signed formally a paper that gave us permission to have Freightliner of Armarillo install our Inverter. We left everything with the truck when we moved on because we were seeing drivers with APAP in those days and they could use a good inverter done right. SO that's to FFE's benefit.

And here is the kicker.

Trucking means you need to eat well, hydrate well, sleep well most especially when you can. It is not really a time to endure high blood pressure hunting humans on line in battle games. It is not the time to be destroying your body clock with that bright lighting flowing into your eyes and exciting your mind with the flowing scenses of the things to your tasteful entertainment. There are times you need to rest and sleep so that when you are CALLED out as the load is READY TO GO, you are NOT LATE.

That's all I have to say here. And I think it's enough for now.

 

Hmm...... Interesting , I'm going to break out my laptop and do some gaming. I think I'm going to be Karl , he's a sniper.
Yes I'm in my truck at a truck stop!!

 

I want to be Karl.

 

Karl’s not here.

 

It's Kyle!

 

No it's Karl.

Lol ok I'm just about done being Karl