Mike
Well-Known Member
So, here we are. Third new truck, all equipped with new Thermo King APU units.
The current unit has been in service for roughly 14 months, and as with every other unit I have had experience with, the alternator dies an early death. I'm not positive, but I "think" the unit has a two year warranty, but it doesn't really matter at this point. These alternators should last longer than this. If they are simply being overworked by hotel loads, then there needs to be a larger replacement.
Got my first shutdown yesterday shortly after I parked. It was fairly warm in the truck, the trucks on each side of me were noisy as hell, and I had to go to sleep early in the day to get up and finish out my run. APU ran for about 5 minutes with the air conditioner running and shut down.
Wasn't so bad, the sun was setting soon, and the temps were going to drop down into the upper 30s. Once the temps cooled down, the alternator worked well enough to charge the batteries overnight.
Today, not so lucky. Delivered in Blythe, CA early this morning, and by the time 0900 hit, so did 90 degrees. Bounced over to the truck stop to clean out the dirt and rocks from my trailer after the solar panel delivery, and was greeted to alternator failure. Tried it a couple times and gave up.
Luckily, I had the truck equipped with optimized idle when I purchased it. Works great other than if the invertor is on, which it will be overnight, the low voltage alarm sounds off when the truck is cranking. Fat chance sleeping through that.
And, I had my first parked regen today thanks to all of the idling. That scared me a little when it happened. I dealt with one parked regen in my life prior to this, and it was 10 years ago. Got out of the truck while that was going on, and the heat being generated under the truck was enough to make me want to get this alternator situation fixed ASAP.
It will be a while before I have to make this decison, but I will definitely be spending some time over the next 3-4 years researching other APU options, may even go with a battery powered and solar panels.
The current unit has been in service for roughly 14 months, and as with every other unit I have had experience with, the alternator dies an early death. I'm not positive, but I "think" the unit has a two year warranty, but it doesn't really matter at this point. These alternators should last longer than this. If they are simply being overworked by hotel loads, then there needs to be a larger replacement.
Got my first shutdown yesterday shortly after I parked. It was fairly warm in the truck, the trucks on each side of me were noisy as hell, and I had to go to sleep early in the day to get up and finish out my run. APU ran for about 5 minutes with the air conditioner running and shut down.
Wasn't so bad, the sun was setting soon, and the temps were going to drop down into the upper 30s. Once the temps cooled down, the alternator worked well enough to charge the batteries overnight.
Today, not so lucky. Delivered in Blythe, CA early this morning, and by the time 0900 hit, so did 90 degrees. Bounced over to the truck stop to clean out the dirt and rocks from my trailer after the solar panel delivery, and was greeted to alternator failure. Tried it a couple times and gave up.
Luckily, I had the truck equipped with optimized idle when I purchased it. Works great other than if the invertor is on, which it will be overnight, the low voltage alarm sounds off when the truck is cranking. Fat chance sleeping through that.
And, I had my first parked regen today thanks to all of the idling. That scared me a little when it happened. I dealt with one parked regen in my life prior to this, and it was 10 years ago. Got out of the truck while that was going on, and the heat being generated under the truck was enough to make me want to get this alternator situation fixed ASAP.
It will be a while before I have to make this decison, but I will definitely be spending some time over the next 3-4 years researching other APU options, may even go with a battery powered and solar panels.