Phillips Industries, a leading supplier, innovator and manufacturer of advanced electrical and air brake interface equipment for the commercial vehicle industry, has unveiled its Sta-Dry Tracker - an innovation in electrical socket technology designed to significantly upgrade and improve the connection between the tractor and trailer, saving fleets downtime and money.
When a truck/trailer combination is required to move in tandem into a tight space, it creates a severe angle between the two vehicles, says Bob Phillips, the company’s president and CEO. This increases the chance of expensive and time-consuming damage to air and electrical cables, nosebox, connectors and gladhands.
Simply increasing cable length to account for this not a good option, as each added foot of cable adds cost, plus a sagging cable that will rub on the deck plate causes damages and draws attention from vehicle inspectors and that could result in CSA points, he points out.
The swivel electrical socket, the Sta-Dry Tracker, does away with these concerns as it will allow the cable to simply follow the movement of the truck. It will accommodate a turn up to 80 degrees (40 degrees left or 40 degrees right), and will automatically disconnect if, in the unlikely circumstance, the turn exceeds that angle.
Avoids damages
“The common damages associated with a jackknife pullout are averted and you can simply reconnect the electrical cable,” notes Phillips.
“We’ve wanted to build this for years, but we could never find the method to make it functional without compromising the copper wire. Finally, our engineers figured it out and we think this product can be a real game-changer because it simply saves fleets money with only a minor modification to their equipment.
“It pays for itself over and over again.”
Other features
Other features of the Sta-Dry Tracker include:
- When combined with swivel gladhands, like the Phillips Swinger Gladhand, the entire air and electrical lines are safe.
- The shroud protects the swivel from icing in extreme cold weather.
- Inherent corrosion protection. All Tracker units are designed with Phillips Industries’ waterproof QCS2, or Quick-Connect Sockets, which keep 100% of all corrosion from entering the trailer's electrical harness system.
- Because 70% of people are right handed, the Sta-Dry Tracker allows a driver to plug the cable in and take out using his right hand versus feeling ergonomically awkward while using left hand.
- 3 year warranty.
The swivel Sta-Dry Tracker socket has been tested to over 600,000 rotating cycles, well beyond any imaginable working condition, and performed without constraints, says Phillips.
For more information, visit www.phillipsind.com.
