jessicas dad:
robinhood_1984:
I was once parked on the A19 between Sunderland and Middlesbrough with another truck from the same company. Next morning when we were about to set off the driver from a Lithuanian trucks opposite comes running over and says he has a flat battery and can we help, we said we would be we didnt have any jump leads…anyway, Lithuanian driver says no problem, we’ll use the ABS lead. I was sceptical and thought that might damage something but my mate didnt mind using his truck. After 5 or 10 minutes on high idle his truck started. Since that time its a method I’ve used on 5 or 6 occasions when my truck has had a flat battery, usually after standing in the yard for a long weekend and its worked a treat with no apparent damage to the ABS system or the trucks ECU.
how does that work then 
Connect the two trucks together using one ABS lead, ie remove one and plug the end in from the one used that would normally go on the trailer directly in to the other truck and leave on high idle for 5, 10 or 20 minutes, depending on how flat the battery is and it’ll start. Much slower than jump leads but I’ve used it 5 or 6 times and I know others who do it as well now and never a problem.
Do you disconnect it before operating the starter to avoid it trying to pull high ampage through thin wires?
Cheers robin, never knew that. 
Driveroneuk:
Do you disconnect it before operating the starter to avoid it trying to pull high ampage through thin wires?
Yes, forgot to add. Before starting the truck that had the flat battery disconnect the ABS lead!
Very handy to know, as most employers won’t kit out their vehicles with a set of jump leads,unless they know a vehicle has failing batteries and is too tight fisted to replace them with new ones, as was the one i did euro work for, happened twice in same truck, once after spending a weekend parked up, and another time after only one night, but that was partly our fault as we had the interior light’s radio & fridge on , as we where sat there drinking a few cold ones & chilling , good job the place we where collecting from had a proper battery pack in their workshop, lol as no other trucks around to get a jump start from, i did once consider buying a 24volt one of these http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=&item_ID=96379&group_ID=2217&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog#Li But te price was a bit off putting,
tommy t:
Very handy to know, as most employers won’t kit out their vehicles with a set of jump leads,unless they know a vehicle has failing batteries and is too tight fisted to replace them with new ones, as was the one i did euro work for, happened twice in same truck, once after spending a weekend parked up, and another time after only one night, but that was partly our fault as we had the interior light’s radio & fridge on , as we where sat there drinking a few cold ones & chilling , good job the place we where collecting from had a proper battery pack in their workshop, lol as no other trucks around to get a jump start from, i did once consider buying a 24volt one of these http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=&item_ID=96379&group_ID=2217&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog#Li But te price was a bit off putting,
I could never understand why our boss didnt have one of them plugged in at the yard. We had a fleet of around 20 or 25 trucks and every monday morning at least one or two wouldn’t start and he seemed quite happy for us to prat around calling Merc out to come and start the truck at £180 a time, not only that but it wasted at least an hour waiting for them.
The ABS lead is a good one to know but it does take a while to work and obviously you have to be able to get the other truck very close to the one with the flat battery as the leads are not very long.
Here in Canada I now always carry a set of heavy duty extra long jump leads and they’ve come to my rescue tons of times, both for my truck and my jeep. Its all 12v here so I’ve used my jeep to jump my truck off and vice versa many times. Also, as its 12v, if you are pulling reefers you can just hook up the red jump lead between the batteries on the truck and the reefer and it earths on the 5th wheel. My first truck here had a cable rigged up in the work shop directly from the battery and fitted on the back of the cab by the cat walk with a small clip on that could be fastned on to the reefer battery so if I got weekended anywhere I’d just hook that up and would never need to start the truck. That was handy because that truck had a very annoying low voltage cut off device that would cut off way too early and knock out all the lights and sockets in the cab and unlike most north Americans, I dont like sleeping with my engine running all night because it tends to make the cab shudder and vibrate with all the cab fittings, microwave, fridge etc. Hooking it up to the reefer and setting it to run on continuous was much more comfortable, especially if it was a Thermoking whisperer you could barely hear.
robinhood_1984:
unlike most north Americans, I dont like sleeping with my engine running all night
Isn’t excessive idling illegal in some states now?
because it tends to make the cab shudder and vibrate with all the cab fittings, microwave, fridge etc.
Sounds like the idle speed is just a tad low.
Driveroneuk:
robinhood_1984:
unlike most north Americans, I dont like sleeping with my engine running all night
Isn’t excessive idling illegal in some states now?
because it tends to make the cab shudder and vibrate with all the cab fittings, microwave, fridge etc.
Sounds like the idle speed is just a tad low.
It is illegal in many states but totally ignored by 99.9% of everyone.
The idle speed can be adjusted but the interiors are not built that well and things rattle and vibrate…nothing more annoying than just about getting to sleep and the glass tray inside the microwave starting to rattle.