Forget the tacho timer
A timer glued to your dashboard does one thing: it counts the minute. Your phone counts along and sets the tachograph to rest itself the moment you stop.
Tacho timers such as the Tacho-Timer3 exist for one reason: the one-minute rule. A digital tachograph books each calendar minute to the activity that lasted longest within it. Stop just before the minute turns and that minute counts as a break instead of driving. That rule is real, and it is exactly what such a device tells you: a red and a green light and a beep on your dashboard. The question is not whether the minute exists. The question is whether you need a box for it.
Why your phone is enough
It sets the tacho to rest for you
Stop, and a DTCO switches to work or available by itself; that minute then does not count as a break. The app sees this and puts the activity back to rest over RHMI, the official remote interface. The same action as the button on the unit, but you do not have to reach for it. You switch the function on yourself and the app shows whether the command arrived.
No hardware in the cab
No unit taped to the dashboard, no wiring into the 12 or 24 volt supply, no installation at a tachograph centre. You already carry the device in your pocket.
It sees more than a minute
A timer only knows the running minute. The app reads the actual data from the tachograph: speed, odometer, the current activity of driver and co-driver, and rest taken today.
Straight from your VDO
The phone connects to the tachograph over Bluetooth. The figures come from the device itself, not from an estimate or a stopwatch running alongside it.
It also explains the rule
The simulator shows the minute rule at work on a VDO DTCO and a Stoneridge SE5000, so you understand why a minute falls the way it does instead of merely obeying a beep.
One device, more than driving time
Card and vehicle downloads, an analysis of your DDD file, the fine tables per country and the knowledge base are on the same phone.
Nothing to lose or break
A taped unit can come loose, break down or stay behind in a swapped truck. An app moves with you to the next vehicle.
Questions about the tacho timer
What is the one-minute rule?
A digital tachograph records per calendar minute, and books the whole minute to the activity that lasted longest within it. So a minute in which you stood still for 31 seconds counts entirely as a break. That is what a tacho timer helps you time.
Is a tacho timer legal?
The minute rule itself is laid down in Regulation (EU) 1266/2009 and is simply the way a digital tachograph records. Using that rule is not the same as manipulating the tachograph. Whether an aid fits your situation is for you and your employer to judge.
How much does the minute rule actually gain?
That depends entirely on your journey. You gain most with many short stops right before the minute turns; on a motorway run with two stops there is nothing to gain. A fixed number of minutes a day does not exist.
Does the app really set the tachograph to rest by itself?
Yes, if you switch it on. The function is off by default and needs an RHMI pairing once: driver card in the slot and the code from the display typed over. After that the app sets the activity to rest as soon as the tachograph stands on work or available. Driving cannot be set remotely; the tachograph determines that itself from the movement of the vehicle.
Does the app replace the timer completely?
The app shows the same information the timer is based on, but from the tachograph itself and with the context around it. And it goes a step further: where a timer only beeps and you then turn the knob yourself, the app can set the activity to rest directly.
Does this work on any tachograph?
The live connection is designed for the VDO DTCO with its own Bluetooth interface. The simulator and the explanation of the minute rule cover both the VDO DTCO and the Stoneridge SE5000.
What if I have no signal?
The connection to the tachograph runs over Bluetooth, directly between phone and device. That works without a mobile network; only synchronisation to the server waits for coverage.
Try it without a timer
Open the simulator and see the minute rule at work on a real tachograph display.
Open the simulator