Digital tachos again....

[wayne]

First of, well done DVLA. Posted my form on Monday and on my doorstep today sat my new card. 5 days door to door.

Next, how the hell do you work the bloody things.

What are all the new symbols on the printout (apart from the one’s we know, like rest other etc).

Went to a job today and the traffic bloke says “have you got a digi card”.

"yes " I reply

“use that white Merc then”

Had a look inside saw the digi crap and aske tb " how do you you use the tacho, just got my card today"

“Havent got a clue mate” was its reply.

Managed to get by I think, but why make it seem so bloody complicated.

Done a print out and the times where out by an hour.

It made my head hurt and all for the price of £38.

Wayne.

[simon]

Digi-tacho heads have to be set at UTC (Universal Time Co-ordinated) or GMT to you and me.
You can then set the display to show local time, which in the UK will be BST, but all the times on your print out will be at UTC still.

HERE is a link to the TruckNet UK guide to digi-tachos.

[wayne]

Thanks Simon. Also found this dtco.siemensvdo.co.uk/NR/rdonlyr … tions4.pdf

Its a PDF file and tells you all you need to know.

Wayne.

[reef]

Well call me TechnoReef from now on …Posted my application today…Thought i might as well get it over and done with and i may get some more work out of it too

[fallmonk]

Must be something in the air, filled out the forms , will post thursday(so wages are in friday lol) , dont really need one, as my truck is a 55plate , so will be a long time before i get a new one, but frakin(our hire Co ) have recently got a load of new trucks , so sods law would be i get one with the new tacho , when in for MOT /brakedown !

[wayne]

Digi cards only last for 5 years (at the moment) so getting one before you need it could be a waste of money, all be it , not a lot, £38 over 5 years is only £7.60 a year or about 14p a week.

How much would 5 years of paper charts cost ?
Must be more than £38.

Wayne.

[jessicas_dad]

ive had one for about 8 months and have used it … 0 times.

i was assured that asda were getting all new vehicles in at christmas with the digi cards… but alas the same 04 regs arrived from salford van hire.

[coffeeholic]

jessicas dad:
ive had one for about 8 months and have used it … 0 times.

I’m shortly having a 1 year birthday party for mine, and it’s still a virgin.

[mrflibble]

Wayne:
How much would 5 years of paper charts cost ?
Must be more than £38.

The cheapest price on Tachodisc’s website is £3.80+VAT per box, if you buy 100 boxes (i.e. 10,000 charts) at a time.

Assuming you work 48 weeks per year, 5 days per week, that’s 240 charts per year, or 1,200 charts per 5 years.

At 3.8p per chart, that’s £45.60 for the 5-year period.

If you’re buying your own charts, then you’re more likely to be paying about £6 per box (taking the costs up to £72 per 5 years).

Remember also that whilst the first digital tacho card costs £38, the renewal cost is currently only £19.

If you’re using them regularly, digital tacho cards are much cheaper than analogue tacho charts.

[paul_midway]

Had mine for coming on for a year and used it practically every working day .Probably used it about 98% of the time .The 04 stuff is going bye bye soon and then the whole fleet is digi .

[denis_f]

MrFlibble:
If you’re buying your own charts, then you’re more likely to be paying about £6 per box (taking the costs up to £72 per 5 years).

I.

some of us know where you can buy them Cheaper

[marcustandy]

What if (hypothetical question, maybe!) I don’t want to renew the card when it’s five years old? I appreciate that there won’t be so many analogue tachos left by then but assuming that I’m regularly driving a vehicle that has got one fitted, will have to keep the expired card to show my driving records or just a print-out . . . or what?

[mrflibble]

Denis F:

MrFlibble:
If you’re buying your own charts, then you’re more likely to be paying about £6 per box (taking the costs up to £72 per 5 years).

I.

some of us know where you can buy them Cheaper

Which is why I originally calculated based on £3.40 per box, and it still works out cheaper.

I can’t see them much cheaper than £3.40. The £6 per box was a vague guesstimate for what a lot of people will pay if they get them through a typical truckstop - I think I paid £5.50 for the last box I bought (since I get through about 1 box every 5 years I couldn’t be bothered to mess about finding a cheap supplier).

marcustandy:
What if (hypothetical question, maybe!) I don’t want to renew the card when it’s five years old? I appreciate that there won’t be so many analogue tachos left by then but assuming that I’m regularly driving a vehicle that has got one fitted, will have to keep the expired card to show my driving records or just a print-out . . . or what?

According to INF177B (“How to fill in your application for a digital tachograph driver card”), once the card has expired, it can still be downloaded (i.e. the recorded data can be taken off it), but you can’t record any new data.

Therefore, if you’re only ever driving analogue trucks, you can probably just give them your expired card. You’ll probably be required to carry it, though.

Of course, this is just guessing on my part.

[denis_f]

MrFlibble:

Denis F:

MrFlibble:
Which is why I originally calculated based on £3.40 per box, and it still works out cheaper.

It probably is cheaper but don’t forget you’ll need to add in the cost of the digi paper rolls for the printouts

btw, last tacho discs I bought were £15 for 10 boxes

[trucker42]

marcustandy:
What if (hypothetical question, maybe!) I don’t want to renew the card when it’s five years old? I appreciate that there won’t be so many analogue tachos left by then but assuming that I’m regularly driving a vehicle that has got one fitted, will have to keep the expired card to show my driving records or just a print-out . . . or what?

Once it’s expired, it cant be used for driving (i think it’ll continue to work if you’r driving overnight the day it expires, but only till you take it out…)

It can still be downloaded, so the compant will have to do this as part of their routine housekeeping. Once downloaded and stored, they have no further use for the card.

For a roadside police/vosa check you need (will need) the last 28 days worth of data (or thereabouts), so keep the expired card with you for the first month that you use the new one.

After that… they’ll probably make a very nice mobile. Or you could start a drivers card collection…Or bin them… etc

[reef]

Wayne:
First of, well done DVLA. Posted my form on Monday and on my doorstep today sat my new card. 5 days door to door.

.

Snap!!..

Exactly the same for me i got mine through this morning (posted monday)