Parksmart, good, bad ???

carrkool · Jan 3, 2013

i just idle my truck...........................................

KANSAS TRANSIT · Jan 3, 2013

toughnight said: ↑

Hmmm....In 2007, I added four batteries and wired them in parallel with the other four batteries on my 1998 International condo cabover (ex-Schneider truck). I used deep cycle/starting dual purpose batteries. I added a 2000 watt inverter and an 8,000 BTU portable room air conditioner with an insulated exhaust hose attached to the window adapter that was cut to fit in the passenger-side window. With the curtains closed I get 8-10hrs of cooling until the low voltage cut-out circuit in the inverter shuts the system down. I've ALWAYS had plenty of power to start my engine after the inverter has powered my aircon for 8-10hrs and I NEVER have to worry about dead or low batteries because the inverter cuts out before they get too low to start the engine. The cost of my ENTIRE system was $900 for the eight new batteries, $300 for the portable room aircon unit, $300 for a 165 amp alternator (which fully charges the low batteries in 5hrs) and about $500 for the extra battery box/addtional wiring. Total cost of my A/C system was about $2,000. Add $75 for a 1200 BTU Mr. Heater unit, $50 for a BBQ propane tank and $25 for a CO detector and it comes to $2,150. Add another $850 to replace all of the batteries this year, 2012, and it comes to $3,000 for a "ParkSmart"-like system that I designed five years ago that is now good for another five years of dollar-free use (except for the occassional Rhino-Propane tank exchange for $20 at Walmart or Pilot). I guess I should have patented this system years ago; and my system ACTUALLY works. Email me for additional info, if you need it. God bless all of us truckers.

PS. A 2,000 watt portable gas generator ($400) bungee'd to the back platform or a cheap motel room gets me through the long breaks I occassionally take during the months of June/July/August.
Click to expand...

Good info TN, I well be be looking at doing something similar in the future, the heat side of my P/S works well with no problems, but the A/C side has been a bear.

I may very well look into your setup as I already have the battery's and the trucks ARE WELL insulated, I will give them that. Biggest down side will be for the lazy drivers that now just set a thermostat to a desired number and the unit takes care of the rest, that is if it is working!

Stan

Robtail · Jan 20, 2013

Great response from everyone. Thank you. The local Freightliner salesman just brought in a 2013 Cascadia for us to look at with the ParkSmart unit. We currently run TriPac apu's with Wabasco diesel fired heaters. We're just waiting for an economical/user friendly and durable option to become available and it doesn't sound like the ParkSmart is the answer.

Thanks again,
Rob

zrock333 · Apr 8, 2015

Google it. I did and there's lots. Park Smart battery powered APU.

zrock333 · Apr 8, 2015

highflight1985 said: ↑

Forgive me, but I googled ParkSmart and could not come up with any truck related sites. What is this ParkSmart you
speak of?
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Try wws.teamrunsmart.com/articles and www.truckingefficiency.org

Hick · Apr 8, 2015

Bad.

Just bad.

Studebaker Hawk · Apr 9, 2015

Good luck dealing directly with the vendor. It is not hard to identify who made the parts, but when I tried to get a cab jack pump from Power Packer in Wisconsin they told me anything with a Freightliner part # on it is a proprietary part and they could only sell them to Freightliner. Soooo, a pump that they sell to Freightliner for about $300 winds up in the parts whse in Memphis costing $1800. They couldn't even tell me who could rebuild them without getting in a contractual dispute with Freightliner.
I am going outside the OEM as much as possible for that reason..

mhyn · Apr 11, 2015

park smart is junk, knowit from my experience. if you don't want to spend money on apu buy Honda generator, small a/c unit 110v and airtronic/webasto.

cfburkkett67 · Apr 24, 2015

I use to drive a 2011 Cascadia with the Park Smart system on it and I absolutely loved it.I can tell ya this,it froze my ### out in the summer time when I was in Georgia and it roasted me out in the winter time. I am buying 4 new Cascadias this year with the Park Smart system on them. I highly recommend it

KANSAS TRANSIT · Apr 25, 2015

cfburkkett67 said: ↑

I use to drive a 2011 Cascadia with the Park Smart system on it and I absolutely loved it.I can tell ya this,it froze my ### out in the summer time when I was in Georgia and it roasted me out in the winter time. I am buying 4 new Cascadias this year with the Park Smart system on them. I highly recommend it
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I have come to the conclusion that the later ParkSmarts (condenser/fan setup on back of cab) are doing well, and better every year newer you go, however the earliest ones like my 2010 (built in 2009) with the condenser/fan under the sleeper will always have issues.

At this point I would probably order a new truck WITH ParkSmart, BUT, I would sell it before I had to put an alt. on it, or carry a spare in the truck, on the road it is 2,000.00 to replace that alt.!!!

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