Forget the tacho timer
A timer glued to your dashboard does one thing: it counts the minute. Your phone can do that too, and a great deal more.
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. The manufacturer of the Tacho-Timer3 states this can yield up to 45 minutes of extra driving a day and calls on Regulation (EU) 1266/2009. That rule is real, and it is exactly what such a device tells you: a red and a green light and a beep, from a unit of 49.8 by 14 millimetres taped to your dashboard and wired into the 12 or 24 volt supply. The question is not whether the minute exists. The question is whether you need a box for it.
Why your phone is enough
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 manufacturer of the Tacho-Timer3 states the device complies with Regulation (EU) 1266/2009, which describes the minute rule. Using the rule is not the same as manipulating the tachograph. We report that claim as the manufacturer states it; assess for yourself and for your employer whether the use fits your situation.
Do I really gain 45 minutes a day?
That is the manufacturer’s figure and it is a maximum under ideal conditions: many short stops right before the minute turns. In practice the gain depends entirely on your journey. Nothing is gained on a motorway run with two stops.
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. What it does not do is beep at you every second; it shows you what the tachograph is recording.
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