Idling alternitives

Its amazing how much they pack into that little box
Do they rate it as far as amount of hours to be expected out of the unit?????

 

If you have $7k to $9k to spend on a company truck you can send it to me. I assure you I will put it to much better use

 

I wasn't even thinking it cost that much. I was on the search for an alternative apu - where's the hokey, outback homemade air conditioner picture when you need one?

Besides, I wouldn't let them KEEP it! It can be uninstalled just as quick as it can be installed, I would assume. (I hate that word) DON'T QUOTE ME!

Oh yeah, here it is! I forgot, it's the REDNECK AIR CONDITIONER

 

Ok, uh, this is gonna date me but... back in the day when I used to work on 'em, there was no such thing as an ECM control, you could get three basic flavors of engine: Yellow, Green or Black (unless you wanted something weird like a Mack [Gold]).

The Yellow ones were for those mystical people that pulled a bull wagon. All the company drivers had a "Four and a quarter Cat" on their wishlist.

The Green ones could be found in the union man's truck. Four am at the Consolidated Freightways terminal sounded like a hundred garbage trucks racing at Daytona. Blue smoke filled the air as the "Green Grenades" warmed up to a hunt and surge idle.

Black... (or pseudo-Cat yellow) The company man usually got stuck with an anemic 200 horse mechanical 855. Try pulling Donner with this one and you'd be down on the low side before you knew it.

The thing most of these had in common was a split electrical system... 24 volts to the starter and 12 to the rest of the system. On a truck with 4 batteries, you could tap 12, 24, 36 or 48 volts if you wanted.

The reason for going with a higher voltage is that it lowers the amperage. 12 volts at 40 amps is 480 watts. 480 watts at 24 volts is only 20 amps, half the amperage. You can still get 24 volts off a modern truck as long as it has at least two 12 volt batteries.

As for new trucks having 24 volt starters... I have not a clue—I quit turning wrenches for a living in 1991. But when it comes to playing with electricity, count me in!

 

solar panels work during the day DEPENDING on your angle to the sun. They have an efficiency curve that is significantly flattened by tunnels, clouds, etc.

wind generators don't work because at 60-70mph for 9-10 hours the bearings would never last. Also, they are not nearly as efficient as solar panels.

therefore, what would really get the job done is a) deep cycle batteries connected to a regenerative breaking system. these deep cycle batters, provided they had sufficient amp hours, could probably power a SMALL air conditioner overnight.

really, if you're talking about efficiencies, then consider that if your truck consumes 1 gal / hr idling, it would cost you 40/night at 5/gallon. This is cheaper than most motels and you have the comfort of sleeping in a space that is familiar to you. if you are so lucky as to get .25gph from your idling rig, you're looking at 10/night.

in the long run though, at 40/night - even if it's just 1/2 of your time out (say 15 days) it'll cost you or the company an extra 600/mo. maybe it's just better to sweat/freeze

 

fair enough. so, for my future reference, what is a trucker to do? i guess it depends on your trucks gph - it may be cheaper to idle all night. now we're back where we started...