it was 104 in the yard on Mines Road this afternoon and still 88 at eleven at night. that is the context for this question.
2022 International LT, A26. the guy before me put in an aftermarket battery AC off its own bank of 4 AGMs. on a night like tonight it gives me about five hours at 78 before it cuts out on low voltage, then i either sweat or idle. idling the A26 is around 0.8 of a gallon an hour, and i am paying for every one of those gallons.
so i am pricing a diesel APU, a Carrier ComfortPro or a TriPac, and every quote lands between 11 and 14 thousand installed. the brochures on carrier.com and the others make it sound like you will never idle again. who has real run times from real hot nights, not the spec sheet?
D
dd15_wrench_marcus
diesel tech, Detroit and Cummins, 16 years on the floor
shop side. the fuel is the part people count and it is the smaller cost. an hour at idle puts wear on the engine that the shops usually call 25 to 30 miles of driving. and a big diesel idling with no load runs cold, the soot loads up the DPF, and then you get more regens and more doser work down the road.
the diesel APU is not free either. it is a little two cylinder with its own oil, filters, belts and coolant, and i see plenty of them that nobody serviced since the truck was new. if you buy one, put the service interval on your calendar like it is a second truck. because it is.
if you ever take a load into California, read the rules first. five minutes of idling and then you are breaking the law, sleeper or not, and a diesel APU on a 2007 or newer truck has to meet the CARB requirements for its exhaust. check for the label before you buy a used one off somebody, a lot of the cheap ones on marketplace are from out of state and not legal to run here.
the battery units are simpler on that side. nothing to inspect, nothing to label.
P
pocatello_flatbed
2021 Volvo VNL 760, D13 500, I-Shift, step deck and flat, own authority
different end of the problem. in Idaho in January the question is heat, not cooling, and an Espar bunk heater burns so little diesel you do not notice it on the fuel gauge. i run one all night at 20 below and the batteries are fine in the morning.
for summer i park high when i can and run a fan. no help to you in Laredo, i know.
D
dothan_reefer_run
2023 Cascadia 126, DD15 455, DT12, 53' reefer, leased on
before you write a 12,000 dollar check, put a meter on that bank and look at every cable end. my ParkSmart quit before three hours for my first two months in the new truck and it turned out to be one rotten lug, 22 dollars of parts. whole story is in my thread on the buying board.
five hours at 78 is short. even in Laredo i would expect better from 4 healthy AGMs and a tight connection.
did the meter test dothan said. after a full day of driving and a night off the charger, three batteries read 12.7 and one read 11.2. a dead one in the bank drags the rest down, so that was my five hours.
replaced all four, group 31 AGMs, 289 each at the parts house, 1,156 total plus tax. not cheap but it is a tenth of an APU. last night was 97 at sundown and it ran from 9:15 to a little after 5 at 78 before it shut off. the APU quote is going in a drawer until next summer.
Log in to reply. No account yet? Write the mods with your rig line and they will set one up.
