The best cheap Redneck APU？

Lots of us are meticulous on our maintenance. I know several people with carriers and thermo king apu’s with over 20k
Hours and still going strong. Oil changes regularly and regular checks and services.
In the long run much more cost effective than the red neck way.
I leave mine on comfort monitor and program to start in mornings to pre warm truck before I get to the truck when I am home. Plug my block heater in to it when extremely cold and not home.
Life time idle on my Detroit is at 4%
Roi is around 2 years. How many generators and portable A/C units and heater you going to go thru in 20 years?
In grand scheme of things it more expensive
And time consuming nog to have an apu.
Maintenance is required and easy to do and relatively inexpensive.
Get a brand new carrier installed 11k
With 5 year 10k warranty

 

Not everyone has a place to put one. I have zero frame space left. I also can’t put it behind the cab. I have a wet tank there. So I’m forced to go a different route. All that being said I had four trucks with the tripack. They were nice and convenient, but they weren’t exactly cheap and maintenance free either.

 

Put it by the taillights? I wish mine was there.

 

Be awesome if this was a company truck.

 

This How we do It down here..

 

I am deeply offended by the title of this thread. Seeking safe space now... I hope by the time I feel safe again this whole thing has been cancelled.

 

I have a flat top and this won't work on every truck, my sleeper is currently going through a remodel in my garage, everything is tore out of it right now, I just got done cutting a hole in the roof for a fantastic fan vent fan, I am cutting in 2 slider windows tomorrow, one in the rear and one on the passenger side. Next to the roof fan is going a dometic rx 1000 12v ac. I have 2 200ah agm batteries that are going inside the sleeper, I would go with lithium batteries but am afraid they won't perform in the cold up here. the rest of the flat top area is going to house solar panels that will charge the house batteries and also the regular truck batteries when it sits, The solar panels are basically flat and also can curve with the roof but since I am a flat top I don't care about that. I will have 350 watts of solar and also charge my house batteries when my truck is running. If my math is correct (I am a bit skeptical myself after all I am a truck driver not a mathematician) I should be able to run my ac for 12 hours with out starting the truck. The house batteries are also going to run a 2000 watt inverter, tv, video game system and my lap top and charge all my batteries for cameras phone and what ever else no trucker should carry but most of us do. The weight on all of this is about 300 lbs and would be under 200 with lithium batteries. Also cost has been about $2000 so far but will go up as I add more. I am gong this route because like others I despise the noise of apu's and reefer units. With all the noise insulation I have added it should be nice and quiet and also allow me to have full power and be no where close to a truck stop which I also despise most truck stop areas. Realistically you could add solar and batteries to every sleeper out there, they don't add anything for height and good butyl tape and other things to adhere them with will hold them threw tornado force winds so a truck would be no problem. The draw back is with most sleepers it adds a bit of ugly to them, but once mine is all done you shouldn't even be able to see anything up there from the ground. The house batteries also power a webasto coolant heater cause like I said I live up north and imho that is a need not a want. All in I will be in about 5-6g for this set up and be able to do anything an apu will do and not have to listen to that and feel a little bit better about being able to figure this all out myself

 

Harbor freight generator and stand up AC unit installation.

My ghetto set up.

 

Look up the Zero Breeze MKll

 

You're gonna need 5x the battery power for this to work.