Putting GPS in a new freight liner

One of my customers asked me today to install a GPS/Alarm and CB radio on there new MK4 freight liner box truck what a pain the freight liners are now all computerized and trying to get something hot when key is turned is a real pain use to be able to go off fuse block not now luckily i called freight liner and was told to hook into radio which has always hot and key hot which solved problem.

Reply to
nick markowitz
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I wouldn't hire you to plug in a desk lamp.

Reply to
Nicko

obvious troll- who has no idea what im talking about.

Reply to
nick markowitz

Try u-Traq from Uplink

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Reply to
mleuck

I've got about 25 of those in service now, and they are ok for general fleet management.

He should still have switched power for the CB so it doesn't get left on.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

They use a company called Itellesync? has very small draw 25ma and does things uplink does not. They need CB on when truck is off so they can hear dispatch when its time to bring a load into a site etc.and it draws so little it will not effect battery for many hours to be safe I installed a timer to shut it off if battery does start to weaken. Your no longer allowed to sit and idle trucks in this state for more than 10 minutes and it can be up to 2 hr wait till its your turn to unload. many truck fleets now automatically shut down after 10 mins. idling and the real pain can be with the use of a powered tail gate.etc. dam environmentalists actually cause more problems than they fix around here.

Reply to
nick markowitz

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Around ............... EVERYWHERE!

Reply to
Jim

New vehicles have just about everything on running on computers and have multiple local area networks (modern vehicles have 24 to 80 computers and 3 local area networks). And existing fused circuits on vehicles are designed to handle ONLY the existing electrical loads connected. This includes the size of the fuse, the size of the wire used for the circuit, and a 20% minimum "leeway" overdesign of amperage capacity for the circuit.

With that said, before adding anything electrical to a new vehicle, you are best to get the factory electrical diagrams manual for the vehicle, turn on everything connected to a particular circuit, measure the amperage used, determine the amperage draw of whatever you are installing (use amp meter), then determine if the existing circuit will be able to handle the load and still have a 20% overdesign leeway.

If not, then install a new fused circuit with the proper fuse and wire size for the amperage load and switch this circuit on with a "continuous duty rated relay" powered by the existing circuit.

If a fuse blows on a modern vehicle and that fuse also goes to a computer, and that computer has anything to do with local area network communications, then the vehicle will NOT run! (Or if you connect a wire to a network communication wire, this will disable many computers which are running on that network - the vehicle will not run!)

Wire gauge sizes and amperage...

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This site has factory documentation online for passenger vehicles, I don't know if they also have this for semi trucks or if there is a similar service...
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The above costs money - if they want it done right you need the factory documentation electrical diagrams and the customer needs to pay for this!

An amp meter which will measure any DC amperage on a modern vehicle... (Many multimeters can only measure up to 10 amps.)

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Reply to
Bill

Good info Bill I followed what factory advised and prints they sent. The new thing where seeing now especially on emergency vehicles is programmable relays controlling lights etc very similar to addressable alarm systems its driving a lot of mechanics nuts.

Reply to
nick markowitz

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