I'm in the same boat. I had not heard of the law until today. But on the other hand, truckers are not that high in the cab when they go though DOT scale houses. Many times the scale house is elevated so they can see into the cab.
As far as it goes, I pull my laptop out and show it to the "Bears" when they want to see my logbook. They think that it's pretty cool and wish that all truckers had them.
But as far as this new law is concerned, I just learned about it here today. But there are a bunch of new laws all over the country taking effect before Monday.
>I'm currious how the new california law would affect this setup. Is the Mapping/GPS software running on a physically mounted computer enough?
I'm not sure what your are refering to.
On the Satellite systems that most company truck have installed, GPS is checked all of the time. Information is provided to the driver, and by satellite back to the company that owns the truck. It is also provided to the military for sensitive government shipments. But the GPS is constantly monitored with this system.
On my mapping system, I have a Garmin GPS unit that plugs into my laptop and my mapping software (DeLorme Street Atlas in my case) gets the information from the GPS unit. While plugged in, it can tell me when to make turns through the laptop speakers. (Talk about a backseat driver...)
But I find the laptop mapping system very useful. In fact, I've been using this so long that I'm not sure that I could find my way across the country without it.... (About 10 years.)
I've considered this same idea in my 18-Wheeler.
You're close on how it works. In trucks we use voltage inverters, converting 12 volts into normal 120 volts. Then anything will plug in. Inverters for trucks are frequently running 2,000-3,000 watts. I have a 2,500 watt inverter in my truck.
I have both, the wireless telephone card hooked to my laptop and a Wi_fi card. All of the truckstops are putting Wi_Fi stations in.
I do my legal log on my computer. I also use a mapping program.
Until recently, I also got satellite photos over the Internet of new locations where I was going so that I knew how to approach it. The service was discontinued a couple of weeks ago. I guess someone thought that it was a security risk....
I also use a GPS to verify where I am, and where I am going.
I have already been measuring where I would like to put an LCD monitor. I'm still figuring out where the rest of a full size PC would fit. Having it get air for cooling is my biggest concern. But I know that several drivers who have already done this.
I posted here somewhere about me using my laptop in the truck (18-Wheeler). Federal law requires that it is within reach whill sitting.
But you just made a good point. Most company trucks, and all trucks hauling sensitive government loads require the Quailcomm satellite system. It sits right by the driver and gives both the driver and the company a view of everything going on concerning the truck including it's location and speed. All electronics in the truck are tied into it. With the proper codes, anyone can tye into the trucks electronic. Communication between the driver and the company is by the Quailcomm system. And some companies use it for the driver's legal log, which the Federal law requies to be within the driver's reach while sitting in the driver's seat.
In fact some new rules which got voted down a year ago by the Federal government would have required this in all trucks. (I, for one, was glad that it got voted down since the system is expensive.)
This also brings up another point. New trucks don't have guages. They have a computer display built into the dash which display guage readings. As I understand this, these required displays are illegal....
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I'm in the same boat. I had not heard of the law until today. But on the other hand, truckers are not that high in the cab when they go though DOT scale houses. Many times the scale house is elevated so they can see into the cab.
As far as it goes, I pull my laptop out and show it to the "Bears" when they want to see my logbook. They think that it's pretty cool and wish that all truckers had them.
But as far as this new law is concerned, I just learned about it here today. But there are a bunch of new laws all over the country taking effect before Monday.
>I'm currious how the new california law would affect this setup. Is the Mapping/GPS software running on a physically mounted computer enough?
I'm not sure what your are refering to.
On the Satellite systems that most company truck have installed, GPS is checked all of the time. Information is provided to the driver, and by satellite back to the company that owns the truck. It is also provided to the military for sensitive government shipments. But the GPS is constantly monitored with this system.
On my mapping system, I have a Garmin GPS unit that plugs into my laptop and my mapping software (DeLorme Street Atlas in my case) gets the information from the GPS unit. While plugged in, it can tell me when to make turns through the laptop speakers. (Talk about a backseat driver...)
But I find the laptop mapping system very useful. In fact, I've been using this so long that I'm not sure that I could find my way across the country without it.... (About 10 years.)
I've considered this same idea in my 18-Wheeler. You're close on how it works. In trucks we use voltage inverters, converting 12 volts into normal 120 volts. Then anything will plug in. Inverters for trucks are frequently running 2,000-3,000 watts. I have a 2,500 watt inverter in my truck. I have both, the wireless telephone card hooked to my laptop and a Wi_fi card. All of the truckstops are putting Wi_Fi stations in. I do my legal log on my computer. I also use a mapping program. Until recently, I also got satellite photos over the Internet of new locations where I was going so that I knew how to approach it. The service was discontinued a couple of weeks ago. I guess someone thought that it was a security risk.... I also use a GPS to verify where I am, and where I am going. I have already been measuring where I would like to put an LCD monitor. I'm still figuring out where the rest of a full size PC would fit. Having it get air for cooling is my biggest concern. But I know that several drivers who have already done this.
I posted here somewhere about me using my laptop in the truck (18-Wheeler). Federal law requires that it is within reach whill sitting.
But you just made a good point. Most company trucks, and all trucks hauling sensitive government loads require the Quailcomm satellite system. It sits right by the driver and gives both the driver and the company a view of everything going on concerning the truck including it's location and speed. All electronics in the truck are tied into it. With the proper codes, anyone can tye into the trucks electronic. Communication between the driver and the company is by the Quailcomm system. And some companies use it for the driver's legal log, which the Federal law requies to be within the driver's reach while sitting in the driver's seat.
In fact some new rules which got voted down a year ago by the Federal government would have required this in all trucks. (I, for one, was glad that it got voted down since the system is expensive.)
This also brings up another point. New trucks don't have guages. They have a computer display built into the dash which display guage readings. As I understand this, these required displays are illegal....
I drive an 18-wheeler. I do my legal logs on my laptop. Federal law say that it has to be within my reach while sitting in the driver's seat.
Interesting....