Anyone know how idle time works?

**Isotopes** · July 21st, 2011, 09:06 PM

So our soup sent a the daily exception report of the whole crew out so we would know what he had to deal with.

Most peoples idle time was way over the limit. The day before I thought "screw it. Its a 100 degrees." And let it idle what I thought was alot. Turns out its was only 14mins. Thats alot lower than I was thinking. Does it not count inless your in park? I constantly just sit there in drive with my foot on the break out of habit.

Then again my souo could have went back for months to try and find a tme where he wasnt over the limit lol.

**sprayandpray** · July 21st, 2011, 10:30 PM

As long as your ignition is on Idle Time is being accumulated. However, You have up to 10 minutes per location b/4 your Idle Time is actually counted. Ex: You pull up to your job site, idle 4 min while pulling prints, turn off the truck while you are performing the locate, get back in and turn on your engine and spend 4 minutes billing your ticket, then head to your next ticket and 0 idle time would be shown. The only catch to this is that the GPS grid is about 2,000 x 2,000 ft and any time spent in that grid, with the key on , or on accessory,moving or parked, counts towards the idle time. The company doesn't want you to park and listen to the radio either.

**Paint'n & Flag'n** · July 21st, 2011, 10:32 PM

Idle time starts tracking once you have sat idle for 5 minutes. Pressing the break, having emergency brake on, or positioning the truck in a way where it will not role so that you can leave it in drive and move about does not work. The tracker tracks one thing regardless of what is causing it and thats your truck sitting idle. As long as the truck is moving and has not sat for more than 5 minutes then it doesnt track.

I do know of a few that are able to turn the ignition to the acc position and it not turn the gps on therefore it doesnt track. But, this doesnt allow you to run the A/C either to stay cool. It just prevents the battery from going dead.

**usic0419** · July 22nd, 2011, 04:24 PM

Turning the truck on in the acc position will count as idle time. If it did not track in other trucks as you say, it's because they moved the vehicle prior to being in the same area for 5 minutes.

**Paint'n & Flag'n** · July 22nd, 2011, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by usic0419

Turning the truck on in the acc position will count as idle time. If it did not track in other trucks as you say, it's because they moved the vehicle prior to being in the same area for 5 minutes.

Wrong...there are a few trucks in our fleet that for some reason do not track while just in the acc position. Not sure if they attached to the wrong wire in the harness or its some else. Ive seen it first hand and with the next day report results so I know this to be true. Worked a long project with one of the guys that is able to do this and he left his on acc the whole time while working the project...couple hours worth. His idle time did not show the time he actually sat with it during the project.

But as I said earlier I see no point in it unless you have a weak battery on your laptop and need constant current to keep it from shutting down. Other than that its still hot as hell.

**orangeboots** · July 22nd, 2011, 05:31 PM

I guess I don't get something here if your key is in the acc position its not running so its not idling.I don't get how that saves your battery either

**UULC** · July 22nd, 2011, 05:38 PM

If it is in the acc position you are pulling voltage from your battery. If the engine is not running you are not charging the battery. If you have a weak battery you will soon have a dead battery.

**usic0419** · July 22nd, 2011, 05:53 PM

Trust me, I am not wrong. There are other components to idle time that you are not aware of. If there are a few trucks that do not report, it is due to certain compnoents from a reporting standpoint that are incorrect. It has nothing to do with the truck.

**Paint'n & Flag'n** · July 23rd, 2011, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by usic0419

Trust me, I am not wrong. There are other components to idle time that you are not aware of. If there are a few trucks that do not report, it is due to certain compnoents from a reporting standpoint that are incorrect. It has nothing to do with the truck.

You are misunderstanding what I am saying. The trucks report idle time. They will have some amount of idle time showing in the report but its not as high as it should be if it were to track while in the acc position.

And I know for a fact that holding your break down, having your emergency brake on, or wedging your truck tires so that the truck wont move while in the drive position still reports idle time as long as the truck is turned on. So this tells me that the gps will track as long as it is powered on and the truck isnt moving or hasnt moved in 5 minutes of its last movement.

I also know for FACT that if the gps isnt powered its not tracking. Also if the gps isnt able to make contact with the satellites regardless if its powered on it can not track.

These are the cheapest gps trackers that they were able to get. They simple require a connection to a power source so that the gps can track position and movement. Had they went with the more advance gps that connects in with the OBD II harness then they would have had a more powerful tool and the ability to track more than just positioning and movement.

**ProfessionalLocator** · July 23rd, 2011, 08:17 AM

Originally Posted by Paint'n & Flag'n

You are misunderstanding what I am saying. The trucks report idle time. They will have some amount of idle time showing in the report but its not as high as it should be if it were to track while in the acc position.

And I know for a fact that holding your break down, having your emergency brake on, or wedging your truck tires so that the truck wont move while in the drive position still reports idle time as long as the truck is turned on. So this tells me that the gps will track as long as it is powered on and the truck isnt moving or hasnt moved in 5 minutes of its last movement.

I also know for FACT that if the gps isnt powered its not tracking. Also if the gps isnt able to make contact with the satellites regardless if its powered on it can not track.

These are the cheapest gps trackers that they were able to get. They simple require a connection to a power source so that the gps can track position and movement. Had they went with the more advance gps that connects in with the OBD II harness then they would have had a more powerful tool and the ability to track more than just positioning and movement.

Yes, hooking up to the OBD II harness even allows monitoring of the truck's system performance. It sends back report like #1 cylinder is misfiring.

**Paint'n & Flag'n** · July 23rd, 2011, 08:46 AM

There are a couple of statements that I want to clarify a bit more....

So this tells me that the gps will track as long as it is powered on and the truck isnt moving or hasnt moved in 5 minutes of its last movement

I'm referring to tracking idle time in this statement.

I also know for FACT that if the gps isnt powered its not tracking. Also if the gps isnt able to make contact with the satellites regardless if its powered on it can not track.

if the gps isnt powered on or unable to get a lock with the satellites it will not track anything...position, idle time, or movement.

I just want to clear those two statements up as I was speaking of different types of tracking.

**Paint'n & Flag'n** · July 23rd, 2011, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by ProfessionalLocator

Yes, hooking up to the OBD II harness even allows monitoring of the truck's system performance. It sends back report like #1 cylinder is misfiring.

Not to mention the more advanced gps trackers have battery backups to continue tracking in case of power loss, buffering of readings when signal is loss and report once signal is regained, when a door is open/closed...etc.

But USIC wasnt concerned with all this. They are just concerned where you are and if your truck is wasting fuel. Too bad in there part that they didnt go with a more advance tracking system.

**sprayandpray** · July 24th, 2011, 08:23 AM

It has to be a cheap system since it only tracks with an accuracy of 1,000 ft. It's all about trying to save $$.

**locator_smbk** · July 24th, 2011, 09:14 PM

Typical of USIC...they half ass everything they do. If you are gonna treat your locators like they are all stealing and wasting gas, and you are gonna treat them like a bunch of 4 year olds, then do it right. Oh wait a minute, that would cut into their bottom line as well, DGPS units are not all that cheap when you pay the monthly or annual fees for monitoring...AGPS is a waste of time and money, a AGPS is what USIC has....

**Wingfoot** · July 24th, 2011, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by locator_smbk

Typical of USIC... DGPS units are not all that cheap when you pay the monthly or annual fees for monitoring...AGPS is a waste of time and money, and AGPS is what USIC has....

DGPS vs. AGPS

AGPS - Assisted Global Positioning System

vs.

DGPS - Differential Global Positioning System

It's as clear as f-ing mud....................

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