An ongoing PeopleNet ELD outage was caused by a disconnect between the system’s GPS and server clocks, a problem triggered by the 2020 calendar year, a former Trimble Transportation (NASDAQ: TRMB) executive told FreightWaves.
The two clocks do not sync, putting the devices into a continuous reboot, said the former executive, who contacted FreightWaves via LinkedIn but declined to be identified on the record.
PeopleNet is a Trimble company.
Earlier on Jan. 2 FreightWaves published an article about drivers having problems with PeopleNet electronic logging devices (ELDs).
Users reported a higher-than-usual number of outages, along with sluggish log-in times and other system malfunctions.
“They’ll log in and it [the ELD] just thought and thought and just wants to think the whole time,” Tom Kuehl, owner of Kuehl Transport in Heron Lake, Minnesota, told FreightWaves.
The Trimble executive said he texted that article to several Trimble employees.
“They told me it’s a 2020 issue and the GPS clock and server clock were not syncing,” ultimately killing the device, he said.
In other words, when the calendar transferred to 2020, the servers could no longer recognize the date of the ELDs.
According to the Trimble employees, it is taking 30 minutes for each device to download the fix over the air once the driver disconnects the GPS antenna.
The outages “absolutely could have been avoided,” the executive said, adding: “It should have been discovered in the testing phase.”
UPDATE: Lea Ann McNabb, a Trimble spokesperson, emailed FreightWaves the following statement about the outages:
On New Year’s day, she said, “we began to observe computer software rebooting issues in a subset of our customer base that utilizes the PeopleNet g3 legacy telematics on-board device.”
Once Trimble, identified the root cause, according to McNabb, “we quickly worked to communicate and provide options to these customers to address this issue.”
She said Trimble made a software update available to users on the evening of January 1.
“We are actively working with impacted customers to implement the update and restore the connection to the devices in a timely and complete manner,” McNabb said. “Impacted drivers have switched to using paper logs as an alternative to track hours of service until their g3 on-board device has been updated.”
This is a developing story. Check FreightWaves.com for updates.
Tracy L. Damon
PeopleNet is a VERY UNDRIVER UNFRIENDLY device that is dangerous, and in my opinion, should be BANNED from all commercial vehicles!!! It’s favorite navigational command is “Now turn around” after it tells you to turn the wrong way. Never mind 180 degree U turns are ILLEGAL in a commercial vehicle… I have worked for three different companies who used this system, all of whom have had nothing but trouble with it!!! It constantly crashes, will chew up your clock trying to get it to function and is TOTALLY UNRELIABLE as a navigational device. WORST PIECE OF ELECTRONIC JUNK EVERINVENTED!!! I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. Every driver I’ve ever talked to that uses this system has expressed the same opinions!!! Whoever invented this piece of garbage needs to be taken out behind the woodshed and have their ass kicked squarely between there shoulder blades… Or worse ..
Shelly Long
I have tried all these solutions , nothing is working. I finally went into the OTAB and was looking a all the plug-ins, you will find very little current plugins and a whole lot of plug-ins from 5/03/2007. I really believe this is the issue , now only to figure out how to remove those . THis may very well be the issue . PNET figure it out !!!!!!
Christopher C
Several drivers have lost all record of their logs since they switched from AOBRD to ELD and the only thing we get from support is “we’re looking into it”. Ridiculous!
Kristy Snodgrass
What information are they needing? I have found a couple of ways to get this information for them Let me know.
Ammie
Can anyone send me the fix, it states they sent any email out but I have not received one. I am so sick of sitting on the phone for hours on end. Or not receiving a call back until 8 9 hrs. Any help would be great!! Thank you.
William T Brown
I can help you if u wish. I can forward their email to you, but I would need your email to do that. Your call.
[email protected]
Kristy Snodgrass
GPS Firmware Update Process – Over the Air Programming
1. Locate the silver g3 device.
a. Common locations include: dog-house area, center dash, glove-box area, under the
bunk, and beneath/behind the passenger’s seat.
2. Disconnect the GPS Antenna by rotating the connector 1/4 turn counter-clockwise and pulling it
up to create separation.
3. Leave the vehicle ignition On, if possible, and wait 30 minutes for the download to process.
4. Reconnect the GPS by aligning the guide pins and rotating the connector 1/4 turn clockwise.
5. On the screen, navigate to System/OBC Diagnostic/Diagnostic Basic and verify the DSN appears.
This will confirm that the g3 is now stable.
a. If the OBC Diagnostic field is unavailable, disconnect the GPS Antenna again and wait an
additional 30 minutes, then reconnect and retest.
Kristy
If you need anything on help you are more than welcome to reach out to me. I am a One person safety department with 50 plus trucks. I can help guide you as much as I can with the issues I have dealt with. Its been non stop every day for 9 weeks with issues. Reach out to me if needed.
Andy
I have drivers now with logs that are completely pooched. Drivers logs were all certified, but now show 24 days of uncertified. All of the events are now marked as inactive. They are now just shown as continuously on duty. There is no practical way to unwind this – it would take hours and hours just to correct one driver’s logs – and then, of course, the driver would have to accept all of these edits.
To add insult to injury, I now get to spend my weekend going around to terminals to fix all of our G3 units.
We’re a 180 truck LTL fleet. We’ve been using Peoplenet since 2009, and on the whole, they’ve been decent. Until now. Trimble’s ELD product is hot garbage, and it’s costing us A LOT of money.
Patrick Sadler
Hi John. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to see what Samsara has to offer. Good luck.
Patrick – 678.272.3840
John D.
We tried disconnecting the GPS antenna and this solution didn’t work for us. I suspect that Trimble didn’t program the older G3 unit’s to work past 2019. Our units now show a date of May 3, 2007. We have drivers stuck in drive status and we cannot change their status to on-duty or off-duty. We have 80+ trucks in our fleet, I can’t imagine what’s going to happen with larger fleets. This whole ELD changeover has been nothing but headaches. We have so many errors being recorded, that when I print an 8-day log for a driver, it takes about 120 pages sometimes, due to the number of “engine synchronization” and other errors. Trimble ELD’s have been a complete fiasco.
Christopher C
I am having the same issues with a 350+ fleet. This has got to be the biggest kerfuffle. Y2K 2 decades late.
Mike Valnev
The Update over air doesn’t really work. The best way is to update the firmware via USB.
Andy S
Even that hasn’t been 100% successful for us.
J
We have devices running Win 7 starter vs WinCE and doing the update via usb isn’t working, and trying to force an OTA update by unplugging the GPS antenna has done nothing over the past 3 hours.