Every fleet asks the same first question: what data will we get? The answer is not ours to give. It depends on the truck, and above all on which port sits under the dashboard.
Three things work on any truck: ignition, battery voltage and whether the engine is running. Beyond that, light and medium trucks usually expose a 16 pin diagnostic port, and heavy trucks built for fleet management carry a 12 pin FMS port. The second gives far more.
| Data | Any truck | 16 pin diagnostic | 12 pin FMS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ignition, battery, engine running | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Engine speed, vehicle speed, coolant | Yes | Yes | |
| Engine load, accelerator pedal | Yes | Yes | |
| Fault codes, warning lamps | Yes | Newer trucks | |
| Vehicle ID | Usually | Yes | |
| Fuel level, live fuel rate | Sometimes | Yes | |
| Total fuel used, odometer, engine hours | No | Yes | |
| Brake, clutch, cruise control | No | Yes | |
| Axle weight, distance to service | No | Yes | |
| AdBlue level | No | Newer trucks | |
| Driver hours from the tachograph | No | If fitted |
Where the truck does not give speed or distance, GPS does. Where there is no signal, the unit keeps everything and sends it when coverage returns. Events and their clips go straight away; location and truck data follow every few seconds to a minute.
So before we quote a fleet, we look at the trucks. A fleet of fleet managed heavy trucks gets the whole table; a fleet of light trucks gets the top half, and we say so up front.
