Scrap Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Yea..... So coming soon to a truck near you is auto start stop where the truck will start itself, charge a few things, then shut itself off when it is done. It is kinda like the old ICON and Opt-Idle from 15 years ago but with todays truck computers. So anyways I got a couple of execs that want to experience it out at the truck stop next week so I made one up with some night lights, a couple of laptops to charge, some warm Dr Pepper to run the fridge [ ], and went out to the truckstop myself yesterday to see what it'll do for them this time of year. Of course a SOC gauge that is being watched never moves, and being 50 degrees out the thing goes on forever. I think it started twice but I fell asleep waiting both times. Yea, another tough day at work..... So now brainstorming time......I gotta speed things up a bit. If you had a 2KW inverter and wanted to plug something(s) in that drained your batts every 2-3 hours, what would you plug in? It can't make noise, it can't give them both a sunburn, and most importantly it can't burn their truck down! So I got to thinking about it and thought y'all are the perfect ones to ask. Thanks for any ideas you got! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yarome Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Y If you had a 2KW inverter and wanted to plug something(s) in that drained your batts every 2-3 hours, what would you plug in? Microwave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G&K Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Old style radiant heater. Should give you a 1500w load with no noise. If it's too hot, run an extension and put it outside beside the truck. Geo George,Suzuki Celerio 998cc Yamaha NMAX scooter Work ride is Western Star N2 Tri-Tri tanker at 56,500kg loaded Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrap Posted November 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 I forgot to say this thing has to be hands off for me as I won't be there. I put it on in the shop, they do their thing and don't know it is there, then they come back and I take it off. It also has to run all night long and the stronger it is the more the truck cycles on and off all night long so they get worst case. Now you know my agenda........ Radiant heater in the trailer could work......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HERO Maker Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Electric blanket or mattress pad in the truck. Rocky & Sheri Rhoades '01 Volvo 770 2016 DRV Mobile Suites, HoustonHERO Makers Ministry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porky69 Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Plug in the block heater... it's already on the truck, it's silent, should be a 1500watt load, wire the inverter direct to the batteries and put it in the battery box and they will not see a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yarome Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Plug in the block heater... Now that's a good idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollytrolley Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Scrap your gonna get a GOLD-STAR on this ....."Job"..... Go get a shopping cart full of .......BOOZE...... Go get a fridge full of ........FROZEN PIZZA's Go get a BIG........BLENDER Go get a BIG........SCREEN TV Make sure the ALL of the big sports games are programmed & running on the TV Make sure the ICE-MAKER is full of ICE Finally.............make sure that the air-tank-drains are fully open so that the brakes are shotgunned so the the "Execs" can't drive around after a few blender-fulls of adult beverages....... Sounds a fun-time-draining-power-at-the-truck-stop Drive on...............(12 after "blender-time") 97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoDirectionHome Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Scrap, I'm a fairly new forum member. You seem to have quite the knowledge base. Just curious as to what you do for a living if you don't mind my asking. -Steve "There are No Experts, Do the Math!" 2014 Freightliner Cascadia DD16 600hp 1850ft-lb 18spd 3.31 260"wb SpaceCraft S-470 SKP #131740 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big5er Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Scrap, you should have titled your post "Help me drain my batteries" rather than "kill my batteries". When I read the topic, my first thought was " a .357 would work" MY PEOPLE SKILLS ARE JUST FINE.~It's my tolerance to idiots that needs work.~ 2005 Volvo 780 VED12 465hp / Freedomline transmission singled mid position / Bed by Larry Herrin2018 customed Mobile Suites 40KSSB3 2014 smart Fortwo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hone eagle Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Scrap is the "go to" "sensi" to all us "grasshoppers" 2005 volvo 670 freedomline singledNewmar Torrey Pine 34rskswoot woot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyA Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Hey Scrap. Couple of issues you might want to investigate further: "Many" (meaning I am not aware of any that don't) inverters shut down when the battery voltage drops below 11.5 VDC - a few may wait a little longer. When the battery voltage is brought back up the inverter requires a manual reset/restart. This means that unless the engine restart setting is above the inverter shut-down using the inverter as a load might not work. This would put you back to direct loading on the batteries. I have the perfect thing here, but that doesn't do you any good unless you also have one lying around. It is a 12 VDC motor driven 120 VAC generator. 1,000 max watts on the AC side and about 140 amps input on the DC side at the max rating (not a very energy efficient conversion ratio) . Lacking such an animal and needing a "no touch" solution I would suggest a hefty auxilary incacdesent 12 volt lighting load connected to the batteries through a continious duty 12 volt solenoid or relay with an appropriate amperage rating. The latching (on/off) for the relay would be connected to a wire that is only hot when the engine is running. A 300 watt 12 VDC light bar would create about a 25 amp load for the batteries - you would most likely want to double or even triple that for your testing. Good luck! Randy, Nancy and Oscar "The Great White" - 2004 Volvo VNL670, D12, 10-speed, converted to single axle pulling a Keystone Cambridge 5th wheel, 40', 4 slides and about 19,000# with empty tanks. ARS - WB4BZX, Electrical Engineer, Master Electrician, D.Ed., Professor Emeritus - Happily Retired! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuke-E Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Hey Scrap. Couple of issues you might want to investigate further: "Many" (meaning I am not aware of any that don't) inverters shut down when the battery voltage drops below 11.5 VDC - a few may wait a little longer. When the battery voltage is brought back up the inverter requires a manual reset/restart. This means that unless the engine restart setting is above the inverter shut-down using the inverter as a load might not work. This would put you back to direct loading on the batteries. I have the perfect thing here, but that doesn't do you any good unless you also have one lying around. It is a 12 VDC motor driven 120 VAC generator. 1,000 max watts on the AC side and about 140 amps input on the DC side at the max rating (not a very energy efficient conversion ratio) . Lacking such an animal and needing a "no touch" solution I would suggest a hefty auxilary incacdesent 12 volt lighting load connected to the batteries through a continious duty 12 volt solenoid or relay with an appropriate amperage rating. The latching (on/off) for the relay would be connected to a wire that is only hot when the engine is running. A 300 watt 12 VDC light bar would create about a 25 amp load for the batteries - you would most likely want to double or even triple that for your testing. Good luck! You're thinking the same way I was Randy. I was thinking a bunch of 100W LED flood lights (~$60-70 each) at first, but go cheap and just get a bunch of 500W quartz work lights. Then if you ever want to really show off, you can melt the snow around the truck! I know my inverter shuts off around 10V. Probably not good if you were wanting it to make sure you could start the truck, but would work for this demo. Need to hurry up with the new batteries in my rig though--6 T105s couldn't start my generator last week, while a little portable jumper pack fired it right up. 45' 2004 Showhauler -- VNL300, ISX, FreedomLine -- RVnerds.com -- where I've started to write about what I'm up to Headlight and Fog Light Upgrades http://deepspacelighting.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkennell Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 SOmething realistic...and not disturbing in the Truck stop...Hmmm. Exterior Spot Lights are out. Trailer A/C unit (Add (2) RV A/C units to the trailer??) or Heaters would be the best "option" on VAC. OR... The comment about the Inverter shutting off makes sense. So how about we skip that entirely and: Set the trailer up with a bank of 12V lights inside it. Run some 4/0 battery cables back to the trailer, and add some halogens. More lights, more load. Suggest that this is a "SHOW" trailer with lots of lighting and Displays, etc. for some company. No camper at present. Way too many farm machines to maintain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noteven Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Scrap - if the auto start restarts the engine before inverter low DC auto disconnect occurs fridge plus plugging in the engine block heater should work? "Are we there yet?" asked no motorcycle rider, ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmzero Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Coffee maker(s). You could even get one of those fancy ones that had a built in timer. "Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy HaulerT-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrap Posted November 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 Sorry to not get back to this but somehow it all morphed into a 11 truck deal that darn near killed me. I payed waaaay too much to rent a new 780 w/ workstation (nice truck BTW) and even a freakin DAF is going out there. So finally everything has its mole planted and is all lined up and ready to go. The block heater was awesome and I thought was going to be the ticket. So I made up my secret cord and plugged it together. The truck started in less than 15 minutes then ran for near 2 hours. It did start before the inverter tripped but their programming of it all was right down to the wire at that much load [not that I don't trust them ]. So that was too much. I played with a bunch of other stuff and ended up going with fridge, TV, marker/park lights, KIMS fan on 3, and an electric blanket on each bunk. That put it at near 3 hours off and around 30 mins on. Good enough for what I need. But again, there was no time for math or even thinking so thanks for the ideas! It's funny you mention the light wall. That's what we use in the shop for playing with different inverters, APU's, etc. We actually built it back 8 some years ago when I was gonna put a hydrogen fuel cell inside a fuel tank skin to run a sleeper. Y'all should be glad that bright idea never happened.... Big 5er, save your rounds for my retirement (or my going postal) day - ooohhhh that'll feel sooooo good! Stekay - product planning for an OE. In automotive there would probably be a building of 200 of us. But in trucking it is a whole different vision and just a few gotta be able to do it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoDirectionHome Posted November 11, 2015 Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 Scrap, Nice gig. Next time I'm out at Boeing, maybe we can say hello or I can get you an insider's tour. "There are No Experts, Do the Math!" 2014 Freightliner Cascadia DD16 600hp 1850ft-lb 18spd 3.31 260"wb SpaceCraft S-470 SKP #131740 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noteven Posted November 11, 2015 Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 Scrap how do you like driving the DAF with a loaded trailer? "Are we there yet?" asked no motorcycle rider, ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrap Posted November 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 Still wallows and still only goes 60 klicks, But I've only done trailer on the track. I am kinda a fan of the EBS on those and the K270's though. Pretty crazy what you can do to a regular ol drum brake. Keep your fingers out of the way when checking adjustment..........she's gonna apply NOW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.