This question has probably been asked before - but I have seacrhed and can’t find so here goes.
We are getting two new vehicles soon and they will have digi tacho’s - we are getting prepared with the drivers cards and company cards - but what else do we need as far as downloading information?
Do we need a download device to take info from the vehicles as well as a driver card download device or will a vehicle device be enough?
Also do you need a laptop in the cab to connect to the Vehicle / card download device or are there any that you can use to down load the data and then take the device back home to use on your pc?
How often do you have to download information for driver cards / vehicles?
Many Thanks
Owner Drivers:
Do we need a download device to take info from the vehicles as well as a driver card download device or will a vehicle device be enough?
You have to be able to download from both the Vehicle Unit and the cards so you will require a means to do both. There are units available which download both the cards and VU data such as THIS
Owner Drivers:
Also do you need a laptop in the cab to connect to the Vehicle / card download device or are there any that you can use to down load the data and then take the device back home to use on your pc?
No you don’t need a laptop on the cab, you can use a device such as in the link above Other devices are also available, such as the one in the photo Wheelnut posted above…
Owner Drivers:
How often do you have to download information for driver cards / vehicles?
As far as I recall it is a maximum of 28 days for the card and 56 days for the VU between downloads, but as it is not something I to concern myself with I am not 100% sure on that point.
I think most firms download the drivers card at the end of the day/week, whenever the driver is back at base. The card has to hold 28 days of information, but as I understand it, it will hold much more than that before it starts to re-write. It all depends on how many different activities are recorded each day as to how quick the card fills up.
the boss at our firm has a device that looks a bit like a credit card reader at tescos thats plugged into his computer , he downloads our cards normally every coupleof weeks and that goes to the fta for analysis . he also has a little machine that plugs into the tacho unit to download the truck then into his computer to download , this he does every couple of months .
CLICKY
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links shortened…Denis F
You will either have a siemens tacho or a stoneridge tacho depending on which are fitted to you vehicle will determine what equipment you need. If it’s a siemens you can get what you will need here:
tachographs.net/acatalog/TIS … orage.html
If it’s stoneridge:
stoneridgeelectronics.co.uk/optac_uk.aspx
I think it’s best to use branded products to match the tacho you are using.
I recommend signing up to their internet chart analysis web sites (pay as you use per volume of data) which is the way to go in my opinion rather than getting a 3rd party to analyse the data. That way you can produce infringement reports for your drivers yourself every month. Takes a while to learn how to use but is worth it.
If you aren’t sure exactly what stuff you will need just ring them.
I think the siemens web site is user friendly.
Be very careful how you store the data. I upload mine to the web-site/siemens archive servers, store it on my computer and back it up to a portable usb drive. Triple redundancy. Saying “computer says no” to “the man” might not be well received.
phone tachodisc i got the lot for £289.50 very easy to put on computer very clear instructions and just look at all the driving time you actually havnt done maybe 45 mins a day more.
Many Thanks
This has all been very helpful.
The thought of getting hubby to switch on a laptop at the end of the days driving and try to download anything just fills me with dread - at least this way he only has to shove something into a hole 
I am sure he will manage to do that…
He only has to do it once a month! 
