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Telematics

jcha8765

New Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2021
Messages
1
Location
Pittsburgh
Hello,

I am a graduate student currently doing some research on how telematics is utilized in the heavy equipment industry.
I would like to get professionals' insights on this. So if you have some time, it would be great if you can answer to some of the questions below!

1. Have you used telematics?
2. Which product?
3. What did you like/dislike about it?
4. If you don't use it, why?

Thank you so much for your time!
 

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,275
Location
sw missouri
1. No
2. see above
3. see above
4. My fleet is small, the real use is for large rental fleets with huge #'s of equipment in far flung locations. Most of the info is useless. I'd be more interested in equipment manufactures spending resources on making their equipment more reliable, than spending $$ on making me deal with their telematics working to solve the problems.
 

NepeanGC

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2017
Messages
203
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Occupation
#dirtherder
1. Yes
2. OEM
3. Only useful thing it tells me is fuel level, but I've got a slip tank on my truck, so that doesn't really matter. Everything else I couldn't care less about.
It is a parasitic battery drain that drives me nuts. It's sent me emails to tell me my battery voltage is low. None of my machines without telematics fail to start...Only the ones with telematics have repeatedly needed boosting, and killed batteries in under a 2 years.
4. I echo crane operators comments. I'm tired of manufacturers adding cheap tech, instead of giving me things I could actually use, and would actually make me money...like better layout for quicker and easier preventative maintenance, more ergonomic cab layouts, more reliability, better visibility, etc.
 

Midnightmoon

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2013
Messages
445
Location
Ny
Telematics should be powered by a small solar panel. The extra cost isn't really worth it. Some are great and cover fuel usage fault codes gps ect all available on a portal for easy viewing. Email alerts can be setup for low fuel low def. Manufacture can reach out to dealer and inquire about problems with a machine. Great idea not cost effective for small businesses. The way I see it the manufacture collects the data too and uses it so how about every business that uses information gathered from a customer provide it for free or hey even pay us for this data.
 
Last edited:

terex herder

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2017
Messages
1,779
Location
Kansas
As Midnightmoon says, the manufacturers are forcing us to pay them to collect our data for their use. Show me a privacy policy that says they will only use my data to assist me, and not aggregate it into metadata to better cover their own needs, including raising the price. If the manufacturer wants data my data, they can come out and get it.
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
In this area the Komatsu system is on for life of the machine with no subscription fee. The larger construction companies like them as they can monitor their operators and operations from anywhere with a log in, even on a smart phone. Machine idle times seems to be the big issue with fuel consumption. The Cat and Deere dealers make you pay after the first year and they all make you sign a statement that the information derived from the systems belongs to the manufacturers. The location functions were sold as a theft preventative. Since no one publicly reports a machine as stolen, there is no way to tell if that is true. The answers are still out there on whether or not the systems actually help prevent break downs and from where I'm sitting, they do absolutely nothing for things like parts supply and knowledgeable technicians to repair problems.
I view these systems as the precursor for autonomous operating machines.
 

nicky 68a

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2013
Messages
1,159
Location
england
I don’t trust them .
I’ve one D9T averaging 25 litres per hour over its 310000 hours,I’ve another burning 320 gallons per hour(yes,you read it right) and a D8T that averages 35 litres per hour.
The 25 litre D9 must have spent its life parked up waiting on trucks or something?
The other D9 that burns 320 gallons per hour doesn’t seem to move more than the other one
As for the D8,that’s about right when it’s ripping steady.It will sup about 55 litres if it’s on a production dozing job though.
As for idle time,I’m told it’s not to be relied on.
As for time spent in neutral,I believe it registers every time it’s in between forward and reverse during direction changes?
Eitherway these modern day site agents get all hung about the fuel burn that’s on the telematics.
They don’t seem to bother with the actual hours the machine works in the day and how many litres the fuel truck dumps into it.
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
The real statistic that should be monitored is production per gallon of fuel burned. How much dirt got moved for that tank of fuel. It's getting close to being able to do that because now you can figure how much fuel the machine would have burned if the engine was at max fuel burn and then compare that to how much fuel it actually burned. These are both theoretical figures but you can check fuel burn on the monitor with the gallons dumped into the fuel tank if you want. That might actually be a good project for someone with access to a machine.
 
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