OK I’ve ran a search for an answer to this question without success. I’ve been given responsibility to download the company’s tachos with a Digidown VU reader.
I put in the company card and plug in the reader. Now do I press “all VU” or “latest vu”? Does latest just give you everything since the last download or is it something else? The All VU takes bloody ages!
You only need to press “latest”, still takes a while but a lot less than “download all”.
So you’ve been given responsibility to perform this task - the correct performance of which could well have serious consequences for your employer - and yet you are posting a request on here to ask which option you should take? Surely you should be asking your employer…?
Shall we say things at the company have slipped somewhat and its my responsibility to sort it out. I feel that asking the question here is as good a way as any to get a right answer! Any reason why not?
Sorry - I was assuming that the company would be in a position to specify exactly what they wanted to get from the download. A quick read of the instruction leaflet reveals that the “Latest” option is programmable, and “Options include the last 1 or 3 months of data plus a selection from events &faults, detailed speed and technical information”.
Yes its getting a bit frustrating. I only discovered this yesterday when I was the only one in the office. Its possible some of the other management staff will know when we get back to normal.
I’ve done an exhaustive search online and found a user manual. But what it DOESN’T tell me is what my legal requirements are, what I actually need to download. The only thing I did find was this…
So that implies that I always need to do a full download which is going to take ages! And also will that not duplicate an awful lot of data every time?
If I programme the gadget to only download the last six weeks or two months data and then do it once a month would that be OK?
You should have ‘all the data’ stored from previous downloads. Therefore only need to add the ‘latest’ to add it. So who previously downloaded the VU’s and what did they do with the data?
Ok let’s assume you don’t have all the data
The first time you do each truck download ‘all’. Keep a record of registration number and date. All the following downloads will only need to be ‘latest’ and you will have everything you need. I used to do it every 2 weeks and mark them off against a list. It’s a little bit of overkill but still safer than missing one
Wolfie - it’s not the best position to leave you in. Have you worked there long? Have they put your name on as TM and left you in the lurch like this?
Yes it’s going to take a while to download ‘all’. Take a book with you 
If you don’t have “all the data” available in the office, that’s the first thing you need to do. That way you’ll have the 12 months’ worth as required by law (albeit without the data from any vehicles you no longer have access to, but there’s nothing you can do about that).
Once you have “all the data” as a baseline, any future downloads need only be “latest” - with the device set to capture sufficient data to match your download regime. E.g. if you download the VUs monthly, you’ll need to have the device set to capture at least six weeks worth of data (just in case you are a few days late with the download).
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Thanks guys that just about tells me what I want to know.
Wolfie - it’s not the best position to leave you in. Have you worked there long? Have they put your name on as TM and left you in the lurch like this?
No its not quite that bad, I just decided to start that part of my duties while it was quiet over Xmas and most of the wagons were in the yard. Then discovered that its been let slip and the guys I need to ask are still on hol. I will have it sorted as soon as I can find out the current position.
As well as getting the download frequency right and storing the data, you need to lock-in the tachograph with your company card if that hasn’t been done, I seem to remember that if the tacho hasn’t been locked-in, it will ask you when you if you want to when you insert your company card and ask if you want it locked-out when you remove it, (you should do that when you get rid of the vehicle) but otherwise say no. You won’t get any data out of the tachograph if it’s been locked in with a different company’s card.
You also need to analyse the data or get it analysed.
Are you on a restricted licence?
Yeah we do get it analysed apparently but I don’t yet know when it was last done. And I know about the locking in thanks.
Its a standard licence, not restricted
Chris, if you need to talk this through give me a call, I can help you through it mate.
TC
