Re: streight trucks with APU
You know, it's gonna surprise you that I don't have a generator on my van. I could sure use one, and a decent air-conditioner. Believe me, when you've driven all night to make an 8 AM delivery and you realize the sun is gonna beat down on your van and make sleep impossible, that generator and air-conditioner would be real sweet.
Now, no amount of whining I can do on these forums is going to make the sun not beat down on my van on a summer day. I can insulate which I have done, but right now that's about it. I get away with this because I'm in out-and-back stuff, I'm rarely on the road more than a couple of days.
Most of these guys and gals are living in their vehicles for several months at a time. This has become a way of life, that APU runs the air conditioning, helps feed the Espar heater (can't live in Winter up North without good heat) keeps electric power up so's you can have refrigeration, lights and entertainment, and generally makes life on the road possible. Think batteries can do all of that? Maybe for a short time, but air conditioning and refrigeration are HUGE power-grabbers, and they'll sap the very best batteries made in no time. While we're at it, some places require you to keep marker lights lit all night. How long do you think it'll take all those clearance lights to drain a battery to the point where it's useless for anything else? The APU helps to keep the power up so starting in the morning actually happens.
Now, I've tried to be decent about this. Most of us at least have severely reigned in our "tongues", not saying fully what's on our minds here. But, not to put too fine a point on it, if you can't handle the noise generated in truck-stops, maybe you ought not to park there. Just a suggestion.