# PTO Tracker: The PTO On/Off Reader for Tow Billing and Hydraulic Maintenance A PTO tracker logs each time a truck's power take-off engages, with time and place, so tow and vocational fleets can bill winch time and plan service. Source: https://www.highpointgps.com/resources/pto-on-off-reader-tow-billing By Stefano Mazzone, IT Technical Support Specialist, published 2026-09-18, updated 2026-10-22 ## What Is a PTO Tracker and How Does It Work? A PTO tracker records each time a truck's power take-off (PTO) is engaged and disengaged, with the time and location, so you can prove the winch ran and service the body on its working hours. It works through the GPS tracking device: a sensor such as the PTO On/Off Reader picks up the PTO's engagement signal, and every on and off goes into the High Point GPS platform as a timestamped event. The PTO drives the vocational body: the winch on a wrecker, the packer on a refuse truck, the pump on a vacuum or water truck, the boom on a bucket truck, the mixer drum. Engaged, the truck is working; disengaged, it is driving or idling. Billing fleets (a winch-out at a rate, pump time by the hour) need the engagement record to invoice, maintenance needs PTO hours, and every vocational fleet wants to tell productive idle from waste. ## What Does the PTO On/Off Reader Do? The reader connects to the PTO's engagement signal and to the GPS tracking device. Each change of state, on or off with the time, goes into the High Point GPS platform as a data stream on that vehicle. The platform then gives you PTO time per trip and per day, PTO time inside a customer's geofence for billing, alerts when the PTO runs outside working hours or away from a job site, and maintenance intervals on PTO hours for the body's hydraulics. ![Diagram of telematics data flowing from the vehicle to the GPS tracking device, the cloud, the High Point GPS platform and the fleet's own systems](https://www.highpointgps.com/images/figures/telematics-data-flow.webp) *Where the data goes: the engine bus and sensors feed the GPS tracking device, the cloud applies the fleet's rules, and the High Point GPS platform or the API hands it to your systems.* ## How Does a PTO Tracker Read the PTO With Geotab? We work with Geotab, and a Geotab GO device can read the PTO in two ways. The first is engine data: Geotab notes that most trucks made in 1996 or later can report PTO status through the engine computer, so the GO device reads values such as "power takeoff engaged" and PTO fuel used without an auxiliary input. What the engine reports depends on the vehicle. The second is an auxiliary input. Where the engine does not report the PTO, an IOX-AUXM module on the GO device's expansion port reads the PTO switch directly. One module has four inputs, a second module brings the total to eight, and each input learns its circuit type during installation. Geotab also notes that the engine's "power takeoff engaged" value comes from the PTO governor state and may not always match the actual switch, and that an auxiliary input can give a more reliable on and off record. Geotab requires professional installation for the IOX-AUXM, and High Point GPS has it done by professional installers. The trucks that need it are the ones that work while parked: tow trucks and wreckers running a winch, plow and spreader trucks in public works (where Geotab's IOX-WRKS module adds plow and spreader data), utility trucks with booms, augers and compressors, and waste trucks running a packer. ## Which Fleets Use PTO Tracking? Towing and recovery operators use the winch record to back the invoice and the motor club's or insurer's audit. Refuse and vacuum fleets base maintenance and idle policy on packer and pump hours. Utility and construction fleets fit readers to booms, augers and pumps. Any operation that bills, services or disputes equipment use can put it to work. ## Turning PTO Time Into an Invoice Line Take a tow operator's day. The wrecker arrives at the customer's location, a geofence created from the dispatch address. The PTO engages at 14:12 and disengages at 14:41, and the truck leaves the zone at 14:50. The High Point GPS platform records 29 minutes of winch time inside the customer geofence, and the office's end-of-day report lists every job with its PTO minutes beside it. The invoice bills the winch line at the contract rate for that time. If the motor club's auditor asks how a 29-minute winch-out was justified, you show the time, the position and the truck. Totalled by month, the same stream tells the shop when the winch's hydraulic service is due, a date it used to guess from engine hours that included the drive there. ## How Is the PTO Reader Installed? An installer connects the reader to the PTO signal on the body and to the GPS tracking device, then names the data stream and sets up rules and reports in the High Point GPS platform. High Point GPS installs PTO readers on tow, refuse, vacuum and utility vehicles for fleets across Canada and the United States. ## FAQ ### What is the PTO On/Off Reader? The PTO On/Off Reader is a sensor connected to the power take-off's engagement signal and to the GPS tracking device. It reports each PTO on and off state, with time and location, into the High Point GPS platform, so you can see when the winch, packer or pump was working. ### How does PTO tracking help with tow billing? It gives you a winch engagement record, with time and location, for every job. That record backs the invoice for a winch-out. When a motor club or insurer audits the bill, you can show when the winch ran and where the truck was while it ran. ### Can PTO hours drive maintenance schedules? Yes. You can use PTO hours as the interval basis for servicing the body's hydraulics, in place of engine hours that also count the drive to each job. Totalled by month, the PTO stream tells the shop when the next hydraulic service is due. ### Does it separate productive idle from waste? Yes. Idle with the PTO engaged is the job: the winch, packer or pump is running. Idle without the PTO is the waste, and that is the report the fleet acts on. You can also get alerts when the PTO runs outside working hours or away from a job site. ### What vehicles can the PTO reader go on? It goes on any vehicle with a power take-off. That covers wreckers, refuse trucks, vacuum and water trucks, bucket trucks and mixers, plus utility trucks running booms, augers and pumps. An installer connects it to the PTO signal on the body and to the GPS tracking device. ### Can a PTO tracker bill tow jobs? Yes, as the record behind the bill. The tracker logs when the winch's PTO engaged and disengaged and where the truck was, so the platform can total PTO minutes inside each customer's geofence. Your invoice applies the contract rate to that time, and the same record answers a motor club or insurer that audits the winch-out. ### Do I need extra hardware to track PTO? Not always. Geotab notes that most trucks made in 1996 or later report PTO status through the engine computer, which the GO device can read without an auxiliary input. If your truck does not, or you want the PTO switch itself as the source, an IOX-AUXM module on the GO device reads it. High Point GPS checks each vehicle first. ## Sources - [Geotab: The power of PTO connections in telematics](https://www.geotab.com/blog/power-pto-connections-telematics/) - [Geotab Support: IOX-AUXM document (auxiliary inputs)](https://support.geotab.com/ioxs/doc/iox-auxm) - [Geotab Community: Understanding and Using PTO Data in MyGeotab](https://community.geotab.com/s/article/What-is-Power-Take-Off-PTO)