If you're thinking about buying an APU, don't get a Rigmaster

[Pack_Rat]

I have a rigmaster on my truck. And let me say it is the biggest piece of crap I have ever seen. The heater will not keep the truck warm hence that is why me and the better half are in a motel room for the weekend. I have tossed many belts IE AC and Generator belt and the alt belt. If you are lucky you will get maybe 8000 hrs out of one told to me by the mechanics when my first one went south. Thank god i do not have to pay for thses peice of crap things. Do yourself a favor do not ever buy one of these even if they do stay in bussiness.

[Rev.Vassago]

I have a rigmaster on my truck. And let me say it is the biggest piece of crap I have ever seen. The heater will not keep the truck warm hence that is why me and the better half are in a motel room for the weekend. I have tossed many belts IE AC and Generator belt and the alt belt. If you are lucky you will get maybe 8000 hrs out of one told to me by the mechanics when my first one went south. Thank god i do not have to pay for thses peice of crap things. Do yourself a favor do not ever buy one of these even if they do stay in bussiness.

I'm sorry, but you're clearly lying. BigJohn said that Rigmasters are the greatest thing since sliced bread, therefore it must be true.

[BanditsCousin]

I know of 2 guys running them at my agent and they love them. They said i was nuts for spending a bit over a grand more for my tripac.... until I told them the Tripacs features. Them SOB's are loud azz units!

I'll never forget the one at TK when I got my apu installed. An o/o came in, swapped out his (working) rigmaster and never came back for it!

[Pack_Rat]

Well what the Good ole Rev said is true about Rigmaster. The company is out of business. The only place to now get them worked on is in Olathe Kansas. And they will not be honoring warranties.

PS I heard this on the Dave Nemo show on XM this morning.

[BigJohn]

Rev. my apologies I just found out they are out of buisness. They sent a fax out to the dealers this morning saying they are bankrupt. And Rev. I never said it was the best thing since slice bread but I have good luck with mine and it works just find for me.

Pak Rat maybe you don't know how to run the control panel.

And Olathe, KS is not the only place to get them worked on. Big Rig products in Oklahoma City and Baytown, Tx still can get parts and will do service work on them. They told me they have contacted the vendors and will be working direct with them to get parts. The only warranty that is still good is the engine, Perkins is standing behind their product.

Dave Nemo, Bill Mack and Bozo put me to sleep, got to change the channels.

[Pack_Rat]

Rev. my apologies I just found out they are out of buisness. They sent a fax out to the dealers this morning saying they are bankrupt. And Rev. I never said it was the best thing since slice bread but I have good luck with mine and it works just find for me.

Pak Rat maybe you don't know how to run the control panel.

And Olathe, KS is not the only place to get them worked on. Big Rig products in Oklahoma City and Baytown, Tx still can get parts and will do service work on them. They told me they have contacted the vendors and will be working direct with them to get parts. The only warranty that is still good is the engine, Perkins is standing behind their product.

Dave Nemo, Bill Mack and Bozo put me to sleep, got to change the channels.

Nope no clue how to run the control panel. After using the piece of ***** for 2 years. After all I am just a stupid azz truck driver!!!!!

[Rev.Vassago]

From what I heard, most of the parts are from outside vendors anyway, so the main question is what will become of the dealers who are servicing them now. Will they continue?

But I still say good riddance to Rigmaster. There are far better APU's out there, and the market apparently agrees.

[BigJohn]

Rev you have to compare apples to apples. Rigmaster is a stand alone unit and not tied to the truck to run and you don't need an inverter to run your gadgets like some units. That is what sold me on the Rigmaster. If my truck quit running I could still run the generator or if my alternator quit I could still have heat/AC. The T/K unit was quieter but not stand alone and was $1500 more. I know my Rigmaster is quieter then some I checked out.

[BanditsCousin]

Big John, the TK is pretty much stand alone. It has its own A/C, but it uses a few OEM/factory ducts as plumbing, in addition to its own. While it does use an inverter via the batteries, it still doesn't need the engine.

Now, I said "pretty much" stand alone. Mine has the artic package where the coolant is also heated by the generator (apu) for cold weather, but still utilizes a built in radiator.

Either way, the control panel is pretty simple on the TK, but this thread isn't about how EZ the panel is on TK

[Doghouse]

The loudest APU on the market,.....those things are as loud as a refer!!
I'll keep my guardian at 58 decibels.

[Chiefwhatdahey]

The loudest APU on the market,.....those things are as loud as a refer!!
I'll keep my guardian at 58 decibels.

I'm looking at Guardian, did you buy the gas or diesel model, what wattage did you buy and have you had any issues with it? How about maintenance, is it easy to service?

[The Old Man's Mekanik]

my father had one installed when he purchaced his used freightshaker from sharp's (in indiana, they didnt install it, they had an outside joint do it).

installer/dealer, improperly tightened the belts, the generator wasent even straight and had one leg of the generators 3 phase field wired into the buss (took a while to figure that one out!), and they left the exhaust venting under the sleeper...not to mention not tightening the flexpipe

aside from the ****ty work at the installer it's worked great, found a much better dealer/service joint up in Wisconsin just before the warranty went out. we shoulda spent more for the better controller (with timer/autostart)

since its warranty expired i've been modifying it just a little, it's even better now, 3000+hrs and counting.

now it has:
a highly modified ford escort air intake and filter housing (much quieter and cheaper/easier to find filters)
better exhaust routing (kinda hokey lookin fer now lol)
link belts
car audio sound deadening material (ya'll should try it, works great!)
magnetic sheet for covering the radiator opening (for the colder weather)

currently i'm working on a couple more serious "mods"
a seperate GM 140amp alternator for truck loads only (in addition to the barely functional OE 60amp nipondenso unit)
APU dedicated battery (for starting - charged by the 60amp)
muffler from a 98 buick regal (cheeep, aka free, and quieter lol)
large external fuel filter (screw the damn tiny arse OE unit)

it's far from perfect, and it wasnt installed properly, but it works well enough and thankfully the old man has a son that cant leave anything with an engine alone

[devildice]

anyone familiar with Pony Pack? I talked to a driver a while back about the one he had and he loves it......Pony Pack - The Leader in Auxiliary Power Units & Idle Elimination Since 1988

[catalinaflyer]

That guy has been around for a very long time. I was running West across New Mexico late one afternoon when I passed a pickup in the right lane. The guy got on the radio to tell me I had missed him. I was hauling an aircraft piece for Boeing and he was asking me about it. To make a long story short it turned out to be the owner/inventor of PonyPack. We visited for the next 50 miles into Albuquerque and since it was almost sunset and I had to shut down for the night anyhow he invited me to come over to his facility and look at them. I will have to say this guy was an inventor for sure. He showed me his very first APU, it was a motorcycle less the wheels, tires and seat but eveything else was still there. He would get parked for the night, hop out, kick start the motor, put it in gear, let the clutch out then set the throttle with a friction lock. As I remeber he had it turning a big alternator at the time but I was more in awe at the though of an almost complete motorcycle bolted to the frame. It still had the handlebars to hold the throttle and clutch. The units he was building at that time only provided 12v, A/C and used the water cooling of the motor to heat the trucks cooling system. They were run with a 2 or 3 cylinder diesel motor, I think they were a Perkins motor but that's been 17 or 18 years ago. What really caught my attention was how he had come up with a way to generate more heat in the cooling system, he was circulating water through the muffler to generate more heat and even had a damper type system that would choke the end of the muffler to get it hotter.

I have no idea what he's building now but he's been in longer than most all of them you see advertising now days. And I know he was a driver/owner-operator before he went to producing them so he's been in the trucking thing even longer.

[devildice]

That guy has been around for a very long time. I was running West across New Mexico late one afternoon when I passed a pickup in the right lane. The guy got on the radio to tell me I had missed him. I was hauling an aircraft piece for Boeing and he was asking me about it. To make a long story short it turned out to be the owner/inventor of PonyPack. We visited for the next 50 miles into Albuquerque and since it was almost sunset and I had to shut down for the night anyhow he invited me to come over to his facility and look at them. I will have to say this guy was an inventor for sure. He showed me his very first APU, it was a motorcycle less the wheels, tires and seat but eveything else was still there. He would get parked for the night, hop out, kick start the motor, put it in gear, let the clutch out then set the throttle with a friction lock. As I remeber he had it turning a big alternator at the time but I was more in awe at the though of an almost complete motorcycle bolted to the frame. It still had the handlebars to hold the throttle and clutch. The units he was building at that time only provided 12v, A/C and used the water cooling of the motor to heat the trucks cooling system. They were run with a 2 or 3 cylinder diesel motor, I think they were a Perkins motor but that's been 17 or 18 years ago. What really caught my attention was how he had come up with a way to generate more heat in the cooling system, he was circulating water through the muffler to generate more heat and even had a damper type system that would choke the end of the muffler to get it hotter.

I have no idea what he's building now but he's been in longer than most all of them you see advertising now days. And I know he was a driver/owner-operator before he went to producing them so he's been in the trucking thing even longer.

Yeah the website says they've been around since 1988. The driver I talked to that had one said it was extremely reliable and efficient. I can not recall for 100% certainty, but I believe he said he paid something like 5k installed.

[big-trucker]

I am familiar with the Pony Pack and one thing is that there are no service centers and it is hard to get anyone to work on them. It is also hard to get parts that are specific to the Pony Pack esspecially the older ones. Service after the sale is not to good either and it is hard to talk to find someone there that knows somthing about the units and can help with problems. Also not to reliable

[Walking Eagle]

Best, most reliable unit, I have ever had is the Tri Pack. . I have a 148 inch sleeper and it run all the bells and wistles (micro, water heater, convection oven, TV, lights, shower pumps etc.) , with two big inverters. It is the quietest unit around ( don't pi$$ of your neighbors) and runs only when it's batteries are getting low, I have 4 golf cart batteries hooked to it and have never had a low battery warning.

[Doghouse]

Its a single sided service unit, easy to do. Mine is quieter because its inside another insulated box. I'm happy with it. I have 350 hrs on it and it works perfectly.
Here are the spec's

Model Number 04700
60 Hertz
Gasoline Powered
3600 Watts Continuous
4000 Watts Surge
3600 RPM
120 Volts
30 Amps Continuous
33 Amps Surge
170 Pounds
29.5" Long
20" Deep
13.5" High
0.24 Gph No Load
0.35 Gph Half Load
0.55 Gph Full Load
Starts one AC unit with 1750 Watts left over
Single cylinder Guardian OHVI engine
Air cooled
7.8 Rated Horsepower
68.9db @7 Meters 1/2 Load
1 Year Warranty

[big-trucker]

I forgot to mention that the Pony Pack is very loud people move when you park next to them