Ok so question, If I am sitting and not able to idle what is the best way to avoid running your batteries out where your vehicle won't start? do people carry a battery charger with them or what? There is no way I am just going to sit in my truck and look at the walls, so does anyone have any suggestions for being able to watch tv, game etc without running down truck batteries?
need help on not running out of battery strength
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by crankyazz, Aug 6, 2011.
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If you use electric stuff it will run down the batteries. No way around it.
If they have enough reserve you won't have a problen, but if not you will need to idle the truck periodically to keep them charged enough. -
All the trucks I have been in which is Freighliners and Peterbilts have a low voltage cut off, which means that when you run the batteries down to around 12 volts, the power will cut off automatically... If you sit long enough to run them down to that point, you will have to start your truck to bring them back up, idle for at least an hour. Just use the lease amount of juice you need at the time...
Also, if your truck has a bad battery than you will run out quicker. A good set of batteries should last around 8 hrs with like a tv, laptop and lights but if a battery is bad, no more than about 3 hrs.crankyazz Thanks this. -
and the cranking amps are much less in cold/freezing weather... I would not want to risk running them down to the point of cut-off. Find out what that point is and restart the motor a little sooner.
Mikeeee -
Most inverters will beep when they are about to cut out, just start your truck up to recharge the battery's.
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Get yourselk a stationary bicycle with a generator hooked up to it and watch TV as you pedal.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pedal+bike+that+generates+power&aq=fBigJohn54 Thanks this. -
Don't work for a company that wont let you idle! Problem solved
American TruckerRanger70 Thanks this. -
Different trucks behave differently. I had one Freightshaker that could run the fridge for 4 days while on hometime. The next one couldn't run the fridge and TV for more than 4 hours.
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What kind of trailer do you pull? If you have a reefer, you might hook jumper cables to the truck and get some charge from the reefer alternator.
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There is a doohicky that plugs into the cigarette lighter plug.
It has a warning buzzer,
sounds the before batteries are to weak to start the truck.......
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