Parked beside a flip flop in an Autohof here and about every hour he runs the engine for a few minutes, why do they do this? Fair enough if your taking a 45 weekly break but for only a daily rest don’t see the need except for microwave for few mins
I have an air con pod on my unit but I was parked next to one of our other drivers who doesn’t a few times during the summer round Europe and he kept his unit running all night for the air con 
Not all will have 24 volt extras in the cab, many use 240volt through an inverter and this can really drag batteries down . Starting up now and then just tops the batteries up. Im very OCD with cleaning and dont like the low power of a 12/24v vacuum, i use a small size Dyson cylinder vac off an inverter and even though just use it for a short period of time still start the truck afterwards, probably no need but force of habit…
Many EE drivers have satellite TV in their cab, either a magnetic base attached to the side window or on a metal pole .
Some dishes are the size of a Sputnik satellite , if you see a few parked in a row , you think that you have a stumbled on the film set for Extra Terrestrial 2 .
When away from home , it is important to catch up with X Factor in Bogroviastanky.
The OP has a point , when I took a weekend off in Europe , you could never have a quiet lie in Saturday/Sunday morning .
Surrounded by 300 E E trucks running engines all day and night to power their their batteries.
bbatte
If i’am parked up, and had the TV, interior lights and night heater on i always run it up for 15mins before bed time, some moan, but they always do, if you want piece and quite, no,noise don’t park in a lorry park next to a fridge, unless it has night mode.
Id imagine they’re just being safe with their batteries while using microwaves, TV’s etc
I used to do the same on a 45…running a fridge,phone charger, dvd/tv , microwave, all takes it out of the batteries when stationary…if the trucking industry got its act together, maybe they could supply a mains plug in, but dreams are just that.
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toby1234abc:
The OP has a point , when I took a weekend off in Europe , you could never have a quiet lie in Saturday/Sunday morning .
Surrounded by 300 E E trucks running engines all day and night to power their their batteries.
You obviously never got enough booze down yer neck the night before then, problem solved (unless you wake up needing a pee …)
truckyboy:
I used to do the same on a 45…running a fridge,phone charger, dvd/tv , microwave, all takes it out of the batteries when stationary…if the trucking industry got its act together, maybe they could supply a mains plug in, but dreams are just that.
I’ve said this before, but if the starter motor had its own dedicated battery leaving the other battery to power everything else, with both charged via a split charge relay then this problem would be largely eliminated. That is a fairly standard system in boats, RVs, car/caravan combos etc.
Have a leisure battery in my van thru a split charge relay and a 500w inverter and a solar panal because the van stands doing nowt for weeks on end …
toby1234abc:
Many EE drivers have satellite TV in their cab, either a magnetic base attached to the side window or on a metal pole .
Some dishes are the size of a Sputnik satellite , if you see a few parked in a row , you think that you have a stumbled on the film set for Extra Terrestrial 2 .
When away from home , it is important to catch up with X Factor in Bogroviastanky.The OP has a point , when I took a weekend off in Europe , you could never have a quiet lie in Saturday/Sunday morning .
Surrounded by 300 E E trucks running engines all day and night to power their their batteries.Your right they do have a magnet not for a satellite dish though !
bbatte
We have battery guards on our fleet. Everything gets shut off if the battery gets close to low. We run our engines for 20 mins too. I don’t own flip flops. Do I win?
I think you need flipflops and a healthy disregard for personal hygiene.
so for that reason your out
Very true H …i had this system in my motorhome, why cant trucks…although i carry jump leads as well…just in case…theres always a flip-flop ready and willing to help, and i do too.
Harry Monk:
I’ve said this before, but if the starter motor had its own dedicated battery leaving the other battery to power everything else, with both charged via a split charge relay then this problem would be largely eliminated. That is a fairly standard system in boats, RVs, car/caravan combos etc.
My last DAF ssc (63 plate) came with exactly this set up as standard from the factory so I’d guess it is available at a cost.
It had split charging, 2 ‘leisure’ batteries and 2 dedicated back-up engine starting batteries.
It used the leisure batteries in normal use, but if you ran them flat overnight or over a weekend then all you did was turn the ignition key to start (the dash went completely blank at this point) and hold it for 3 seconds, there was a click as the relay switched over to the engine starting batteries and you were good to go.
No idea why other manufacturers don’t offer the same, it saved me a few times.