A truck that sits idle for eight hours uses 120 amp/hours, enough to reduce a standard battery pack to 52% discharge a 50% charge in warm weather is considered a minimum for starting). Restarting a dead truck can be expensive, not to mention frustrating and inconvenient.
Also, because commercial batteries are designed to provide a sudden burst of energy for starting -- not a long, slow trickle that discharges deeply when you kill a battery once you risk shortening its life overall.
The solution? Most truckers simply idle the engine, but that wastes fuel. Here are some alternatives:
Isolated battery system: Common to RVs, a typical system consists of four batteries that are split into two separate systems, isolating one battery for key off loads and the remaining three for cranking power.
Once the engine is running, the two systems are automatically connected in parallel through a magnetic switch, or charged individually through a diode-type isolator. 'Creature comfort' items like radios and communications devices are fine for- isolation, but essential items such as electronic controls, federally required lighting, and anti-lock braking systems should not be isolated.
Auxiliary power units (APUs): Many of these diesel fired generators will produce 110 volt AC power to run household electrical appliances and tools. Most consume only a couple of pints of diesel an hour.
The downside of APUs include added weight, cost, and maintenance. But the payoff in battery life and lower
fuel consumption may make them better in the long run.
BATTERY CHARGERS
Some fleets have tinkered with battery chargers, and one of the most innovative is produced by Winnipeg-based Solartech Products. The product, called the Can-PULSE Charge Partner, is designed to prevent the build-up of sulfate on the battery plates a natural chemical reaction which gradually removes the sulfur from the battery electrolyte, where it's needed for a proper electrolyte reaction. Can-PULSE returns the sulphur to the electrolyte, where it belongs, by using gentle electrical pulses to nudge the accumulated sulfation off of the plates and back into the electrolyte.
Other benefits include brighter headlamp illumination, prolonged starter motor life, and a corrosion-free battery box. The product installs right onto the battery set (you generally require one unit per vehicle, not one unit per battery and activates whenever the battery is receiving charging current of any kind, generally at 13.3-13.5 volts for the 12-volt model, and 25.5-26 volts for the 24-volt model.
Battery recharging at regular intervals is unnecessary. Solartech backs up its claims with a variety of independent studies, but the most impressive endorsements have come from customers
"At first I thought Doug was trying to sell me the equivalent of snake oil" admits Brian Hiebert, equipment service manager at Winnipeg-based TransX, a truckload specialist with more than 750 power units. "In two years. we've saved $106,000 in batteries, alternators, and lights." Where TransX once replaced batteries every 12 to 15 months, now they last two years. Hiebert says a bonus is that the trucks'alternators last nearly two years, a year longer than they used to.
Solartech has adapted its charging technology for smaller engines, gen sets, and heavy-duty construction markets, among others. Details are available from Solartech on the Web (www.solortech.com or by calling 204/885-4652.
- Myron Love