Electronic Logs..

How's it going out there with e-logs?

Lot's of frustration with e-logs... I know I went thru them all early in my career.

Here's a scenario some of you have figured out, but new drivers will be faced with this as soon as they hit the road...

Say you drove all night to get to a shipper/receiver to make sure you get to an appointment on time. your about 4 or 5 hours early and park outside the gate and hit the bed... and you put yourself on line 2

ok ... alarms goes off ... time to check in... they tell you to head into the dock ... well you are in the middle of your 10 hour break... you may have hours to drive into the dock, but you know once you get docked you are going back to bed to finish your sleep while your getting loaded/unloaded.

so what are you going to do if have to move the truck and it's going to put you on line 3 which will force you to start your 10 hour break again?

every e-log device...(and I have worked with 3 or 4 different types) give you a few 10ths of a mile to move the truck before it activates you automatically putting you on line 3. Your safety department may tell you this isn't true ... so you need to test your truck to find out.

At the beginning of your day when you are getting ready to hit the road... do a little test somewhere safe so you can stop and check without getting in anyone's way .

While still on line 4 after your pre-trip ... move your truck 2/10ths of a mile and stop ... shut the truck off and sit until you think your activated on line 3... do a quick check of your logs and look at your status... this may take a few minutes ... so you wouldn't want to do this if you have to get somewhere... make sure you have plenty of time.

If you are still on line 4 ... start your truck and move 4/10ths of a mile and repeat everything again ... checking your logs ... but make sure you shut off your truck.

are you getting the idea now ...

some systems will let you move 2 or 3 tenths of a mile ... one of my systems let me move 7/10ths.

you will need to do this little test a few times and double check your findings... because the last thing you want to do is screw up a 10 hour break.

Now some companies may require you to go on line 4 while you are at the dook ... but most won't have a clue.

Now once you are positive this little trick is working for you, and you pull up to a walmart and park it while waiting for you appointment...they are not going to say a word to you if you stop your truck several times from the gate to the dock ... just stay to the right of the service lanes so you don't block traffic... but I know some of these places are huge and there is no way to get around some of them without driving half a mile or much more to get to your dock...

so watch your odometer ... If you don't have a 10ths reading on your main od... put it on trip ... it will have it...

this isn't rocket science and you need to remember only you can protect your 70 hours of service ... you burn it up ... your done...

Five hour window, when driving at night? Seems a bit much.

That's not how the ELDs work. They mark your truck as moving based on your speed, not the distance your odometer has rolled. If you go over 5mph, you're moving and you'll be put on the Drive line. This is an FMCSA regulation, and any ELD that isn't using 5mph as the definition of moving, isn't compliant.

Brock wrote:

That's not how the ELDs work. They mark your truck as moving based on your speed, not the distance your odometer has rolled. If you go over 5mph, you're moving and you'll be put on the Drive line. This is an FMCSA regulation, and any ELD that isn't using 5mph as the definition of moving, isn't compliant.

Please produce the regulation stating that. Not just text, CFR number as well.

My ELD is not configured like that; based on your point you could theoretically drive at 5mph all day and never be placed on the drive line. Fundamentally disagree with that.

It’s a weighted algorithm based on a combination of speed, duration and distance that triggers the drive line status.

That said I do not advocate anyone focus on tricking their ELD to compensate for s lack of trip planning. Especially when it involves multiple start and stops within s Walmart DC. It’s unprofessional and ridiculous.

I looked up the reg. The 5 mph threshold does not arbitrarily apply to yard moves (which is what I thought). Location mark doesn’t change.

Here is the reg...

HOS elog guidance

That's not how the ELDs work. They mark your truck as moving based on your speed, not the distance your odometer has rolled. If you go over 5mph, you're moving and you'll be put on the Drive line. This is an FMCSA regulation, and any ELD that isn't using 5mph as the definition of moving, isn't compliant.

I can go up to 14 mph. Once I hit 2 miles it will kick me to the drive line. It will also take into account the time it took you to get 2miles, and adjust your hours accordingly... UNLESS, you stop the truck, set the brakes, and sit for 10 consecutive minutes.

That's not how the ELDs work. They mark your truck as moving based on your speed, not the distance your odometer has rolled. If you go over 5mph, you're moving and you'll be put on the Drive line. This is an FMCSA regulation, and any ELD that isn't using 5mph as the definition of moving, isn't compliant.

I can go up to 14 mph. Once I hit 2 miles it will kick me to the drive line. It will also take into account the time it took you to get 2miles, and adjust your hours accordingly... UNLESS, you stop the truck, set the brakes, and sit for 10 consecutive minutes.

That’s why a weighted algorithm is used to recognize if it’s a yard move.

The first 20/30 minutes of my day is a yard move. Doesnt kick to drive line unless 14 mph is exceeded or 15 contiguous minutes of moving.

What the original poster described is not a yard move. A yard move would put you On Duty, which would interrupt the 10-hour reset he's describing. He's talking about moving the truck without going On Duty at all.

There is no FMCSA regulation on how an ELD has to handle yard moves. The ELD my company makes will allow you to drive indefinitely on a yard move, because the law allows that. As long as you don't get on a public road, you can drive for miles and miles on yard move. There's very few situations where that would be legal, but that has nothing to do with the ELD recording your movements.

The algorithm you're describing G-Town sounds like something put in place by your company. A lot of bigger companies have systems that exceed the ELD mandate requirements.

Danielsahn, it sounds like you are running an AOBRD. If you had it before the ELD mandate went into effect last year, it has a completely different set of rules than an ELD made after the mandate.

Brock you made an arbitrary statement on how ELDs work that I disagreed with.

What the original poster described was most definitely a yard move; Walmart DC? It’s a yard, not a public road. And yes technically you could drive below 5mph all day in a yard and never be noncompliant. Exactly why most companies will kick the status to the drive line after 15 minutes of doing that sort of thing because they know it skirts the edge of what’s legal and what’s not.

That said, I DO NOT in any way advocate his approach to preserving clock, unprofessional and ridiculous is what it is. Trip planning and understanding things like split-sleeper is far more reliable and predictable than trying to trick the ELD.

The guidance on yard moves is very clear; the 5mph rule doesn’t apply. Beyond that, the rules of the yard, company policy and common sense should prevail (hopefully).

Real world Brock; doesn’t always align 1 for 1 with guidance. Which begs the question Brock; what brings you to the forum?