Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

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Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

January 25, 2015, 12:31:08 pm

I write this product use report only to relate my own experiences with tire monitoring and this is not intended to advertise for any company. The intent is to only be informative to other LD owners interested in this topic.
When I picked up my 27'Rear Bath at the LD factory in April 2010 I installed a full set of Tire Tracker sensors with a battery powered repeater located in the rear window of the LD.
What I liked: sensor and repeater batteries could be easily replaced when needed (yearly).
I used the system for three years and found during the entire time the monitor would continually loose the reception of sensors requiring the re-setting of the monitor/sensor link. This was not due to the battery voltage level. I also kept the battery contacts clean and made sure the O-rings were in place on the battery covers. This would occur on both the LD and CRV toad. The problem increased each year.
Last spring (2014) I learned about the Truck System Technology (TST) system from member entries to this LWLD group and decided to try it. I bought the entire 10-sensor w/repeater system directly from TST that came with a seasonal discount and a three year warranty. Delivery was quick. I know some LD owners that have the TST said they didn't need the repeater with the toad but I thought I would test both without and with using the repeater. It is not an internal battery unit but required external 12VDC power. I accessed the power from the light over the toilet, installing an inline power rocker switch and routing the line to the upper corner of the rear window where I mounted the repeater to the glass with double stick foam tape. The monitor has a red LED power on light which is helpful. Setting up the system with the monitor went well. I actually scribed each sensor cover with it's permanently assigned location. Example: LRI = Left Rear Inside. TRR = Toad Right Rear. The sensors require a special security wrench for installing/removing from the valve stems. I found it easy to use.
On my first two week spring excursion I tried not using the repeater for a couple of days and had two incidents of temporary loss of sensor signal from the left rear toad tire. That was it. Then I switched the repeater on and there was no loss of any sensor signals for the remainder of the 800 mile trip. If I drove the LD without the toad, all I had to do was push two buttons on the monitor to stop monitoring the toad position. Push the same two buttons to restore the toad monitoring. The windshield monitor mount worked very well. The monitor screen was also lighted for easier viewing.
We then left in June on our annual long trip from Florida up to Newfoundland, then down around the Quebec peninsula, west past Chicago, across to South Dakota, down through all the 4-corner states, back to North Carolina, then returning home in December. 11,507 miles. Whew! The TST system worked as advertised. I manually checked the tires on occasion and found the readings +/- 2-lbs of what the monitor showed. When staying in one location for an extended period I would switch off the repeater and occasionally forget to turn it back on. That is when I would be reminded when a toad sensor was dropped. No other problems. Before our next long trip this year I will replace all the sensor batteries. Thats it.
Mike

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #1 – January 25, 2015, 01:20:11 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 150558

Good first-hand "product use in real life" report; thanks. I don't tow, but I think this information will be very useful to those who do. ;-)

Joan

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #2 – January 25, 2015, 07:50:59 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 150563

What model do you have Mike?

Thanks

Ed

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #3 – January 25, 2015, 08:28:23 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 150564

Mike, excellent info. If I were not fully satisfied with my PressurePro system, your report would steer me to TST.

Ken F in NM

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #4 – January 26, 2015, 08:08:43 am

Yahoo Message Number: 150568

ED, I have the TST 507 RV kit with ten non-flow through sensors and the additional repeater.

Also to Joan: Even though you don't tow, having the sensors will act like an early warning device if there is a developing problem with a tire while driving (slow leak, over heated brakes/tires, low pressure on inside dual, and fast loss of air). I find having a monitoring system is like having good insurance.
Mike

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #5 – January 26, 2015, 08:16:14 am

Yahoo Message Number: 150569

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #6 – January 26, 2015, 11:50:47 am

Yahoo Message Number: 150571

Even though you don't tow, having the sensors will act like an early warning device if there is a developing problem with a tire while driving (slow leak, over heated brakes/tires, low pressure on inside dual, and fast loss of air). I find having a monitoring system is like having good insurance.

---

Thanks, Mike. Ken Fears pointed out the wisdom of installing sensors to me, too; definitely a safety/insurance feature to consider, towing or not. I will look into this! ;-)

Joan

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #7 – January 26, 2015, 01:10:05 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 150573

I forget which system I have but I love it. I take the monitors off the RV when it is stored and put them back on when I start preparing for a trip. It is my understanding that this proceedure saves the batteries inside the sending units. Before the trip I check and note the tire pressure in each tire with a handheld pressure gauge and then compare it to the reading on the monitor in the RV. It takes a few minutes for the sending unites on the tires to talk to the monitor in the van but that time is generally spent checking the other things getting ready for a trip.
While on the road I have gotten into the habit of looking at the pressure when the tires have warmed up (an hour or so into the trip and then every hour to couple of hours). Not to adjust the pressure but to understand what the normal running temp is. That way if one of the tires are getting hot (higher PSI than normal) I can see there is a problem before it becomes an issue. If it is raining or snowing or very cold out, the number will be different than if it is a bright sunny day. But all the tires on the same axle should be running about the same number of LBS over the cold temperature and the F/R ratio should be almost the same as cold.

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #8 – January 26, 2015, 05:08:31 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 150577

John I was under the impression that as long as the wheels are not turning for some time the bat is not in use.
My system is TST.
Do you find that the tires build up high pressure after the tires get warm. Mine go more than +5#. Because of this I lowered the tire pressure to 75 PSI in both the front and rear.

George

Retired plumber.

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #9 – January 26, 2015, 05:37:58 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 150578

Thanks, Mike. Ken Fears pointed out the wisdom of installing sensors to me, too; definitely a safety/insurance feature to consider, towing or not. I will look into this! ;-)

Joan

It is a problem. I have 2 friends that lost a rear tire and the damage to the under carriage was high.
The first had 22' tires. They was no body damage because it was an inter duely. It still would have cost several thousands of $ in repair. He had the material needed to make the repairs so he said the cost was about $10 and a lot of labor. Do not know the cause.
The 2nd lost the exhaust system, very minor body damage. More to the storage compartment. A lot of labor. He was able to do all repairs himself but the material for the exhaust did run high. I was behind him when the tire exploded. We figured he ran over/hit something.
I lost a rear tire on a truck camper. Single tire not duely. Cost was over $5.000. Goodyear payed for the damage. The tread pealed off like a recap. After I stopped the first thing I did was check the air pressure. The pressure was still 5# over that when I lift the house.

Would TPM have helped? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

I did put them on the 24' LD though.

George

Retired plumber

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #10 – January 26, 2015, 05:47:05 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 150579

ED, I have the TST 507 RV kit with ten non-flow through sensors and the additional repeater.

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #11 – January 26, 2015, 06:43:52 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 150580

Two years ago, we bought a Doran 360 TPMS for our use in our 2003 LD and the Jeep toad, after hearing too many tales of woe and carnage.

I found the programing to be difficult at first but eventually figured it out.
The ten sensors are still working OK. I remove the sensors from the Jeep since it doesn't go with us all the time. The sensors are left on LD all the time since we use it often and I was under the impression that they turn off when the wheels are not rotating, saving the battery.
My complaint with the Doran 360 is the limited range on the low-pressure alarm. The Jeep has oversize tires and experiuences large changes in tire air pressure, depending on how hot or cold they are. On cold mornings, with the TPSM propelry set, on cold mornings, the low pressure alarm fromn the Jeep's sensors are common, continuing until the tires warm up in the first few miles.
I have heard this complain about other brands of TPMSs too, from other 4X4 owners..
The LD tire's too will increase in pressure as they get hot, sometime going up 10-psi or more, on hot summer days. Overpressure alarms have not been a problem.

The best part of a TPSM is being able to check all ten tire's pressures in just a few seconds, anytime you please. Knowing the pressure is monitored provide great peace of mind, no matter if we are towing or not..
I like having them,

Larry

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #12 – January 26, 2015, 06:47:15 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 150581

Mine are TST 507 but they are flow- through. I have 6 on MH but not on the trailer. I wonder it the repeater would be needed. My receiver will pick up all 6 tired even when it is in the house 35 feet from the camper.

George

The Doran TPMS can "see" the Jeep when it's parked in the garage, 40' away..
I would suggest not buying a repeater until the need for it is determined.

Larry

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #13 – January 26, 2015, 09:01:25 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 150582

Set the tires when they are "cold" (not driven on for at least an hour or more) for the pressure that is correct for the axle weights. Don't remove air when they get hot - they will increase in pressure, but that's normal. I see as much as a 10 psi increase from a the cold setting if it's a hot sunny day, and that's driving at 60-62 mph.
Only be concerned if the pressures rise/fall out the normal range you see while driving; most likely, a tire with a problem will have a pressure significantly different from the other tires.

Eric Greenwell
[lifewithalazydazerv] wrote on 1/26/2015 3:08 PM:

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #14 – January 26, 2015, 09:31:33 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 150583

George, I will reply to the questions one at a time.

George asked, "John I was under the impression that as long as the wheels are not turning for some time the bat is not in use. My system is TST."
My reply. I have a Doran 360 RV TPMS. According to the owners manual, pg14, III installing the Sensors on the Vehicle, "... The dill valve at each tire position should checked to see if it is in the proper position to allow the sensores to be activated by the air pressure from the tires." and in the FAQs "1. sensors update with a signal every 6 minutes. 2. Sensors transmit any change of pressure recognized from the static pressure." So at least on this system the sensors are activated by the air pressure acting on them from the valve stem. If there is air acting on the sensor they are transmitting.
George said, "Do you find that the tires build up high pressure after the tires get warm. Mine go more than +5#. Because of this I lowered the tire pressure to 75 PSI in both the front and rear."
I may be misunderstanding the above statement. Forgive me is that is the case.
If I know my base line pressures are good, I am very hesitant to let air out of the tires when the tires are warm from running down the road. See the tire rack cite below) I set my tire pressure based on the Lazy Daze chart and the weight on each axle. To be safe I go to the next higher weight setting. Currently I am running 65F/75R. Going down the road at 55mph for a half hour in the summer the tires will no longer be cold and mostly at or near the pressure they will be for the rest of the drive. I have noticed that rear axle pressures will be above 85 and sometimes 90 PSI depending on my starting point. The 360 RV has a high pressure alarm that sounds at 25% over the baseline pressure. Note, 80PSI + .25(80) is a 100 PSI so I feel safe. I never had the high pressure alarm sound.
One reason I took so long to reply is I was looking for real numbers from Michelin Tire stating the max pressure when hot. I sent them an e-mail when I could not find something. I had seen a number in the past so I know it is out on the web somewhere. I just can't find it to give a good cite. I do not consider Doran to be a good citation of fact, but the subject their business so I will go with the 25% over baseline as compared to information off the internet.

Finally I was going to add the Michelin table for air pressure

Below is some good information John DaCrema 07 MB http://www.michelinman.com/tires-101/tire-care/tire-maintenance/how-to-check-pressure.page

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=147&
http://www.michelintruck.com/assets/pdf/Truck_Tire_Data_Book_Sept2011.pdf#page=25&zoom=auto,-129,792

Page 22 is has the tables

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #15 – January 27, 2015, 09:22:45 am

Yahoo Message Number: 150589

George asked, "John I was under the impression that as long as the wheels are not turning for some time the bat is not in use. My system is TST."

Previously I had a TireTraker system and the sensors definitely went to sleep when you were not moving. The system would not show pressure and temperature until the coach had been moving for a bit. Then each of the sensors would "activate" at a different time. I believe that the manual does say that the sensors sleep.
I now have a TST 507 system with non-flow-through sensors. I have seen nothing in my manual about the sensors going to sleep. Based on what I see, I don't think that they do sleep. When I turn on the monitor the sensors start providing pressure and temperature data long before I ever put the coach into motion.
I have the set points for my duals at 80 psi and for the front tires at 70 psi with the +20% and -10% alarm limits. My tires pressures were set at my home in CA when the temperature (air and tires) was about 65 degrees. We recently made a trip to the east coast where the temperature at night was 20 degrees or a little below. Several mornings when I turned on the monitor the front tire pressures were a little less than 73 degrees and I got "low pressure" alarms. Similar situation on the duals, but not as often. Once the coach had been moving a bit, the tires warmed up and the pressures were at the set points and above. Typically with an outdoor temperature of about 40 degrees the pressure in the duals would be 85 psi or above and the temperatures were on the order of 75 to 80 degrees. This would take several miles of driving at 65 mph on the interstate. After observing this situation for a few days, I no longer bothered to look at tire pressures until the tire temperatures were at least 65 degrees. At this temperature the pressures were always close to the set points.
In past years, in addition to the TPMS, I often used an infra-red thermometer to measure tire tread temperature. During the summer on the interstate highways in AZ & NM, it was not uncommon to see a tread temperature of up to 150 degrees and tire pressures above 90 psi. As I recall these values were well within the tire's operating range for the conditions present.

Doug

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #16 – January 27, 2015, 06:39:02 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 150607

We started out in 2008 with a Doran RV360 TPMS with sensors on the LD and toad. What I didn't like about the Doran was the lack of user replaceable batteries for the sensors and what I thought was too frequent episodes of the monitor temporarily losing a sensor. However, I did not purchase the range extending device so don't know how that would have worked.

January 2014, while we were in Quartzsite at the RV event I purchased a new TPMS. It is branded EezeTire T515. There were several vendors selling a variety of these systems and I looked at TST. What I didn't like about the TST system and the others was what I felt was a monitor with a screen that was too small and the lack of a user replaceable battery for the monitor.

What I liked about the EezeTire system was a monitor with a large screen and rechargeable and replaceable batterys and replaceable batteries for the sensors. I should also add that the sensors both flow through and the smaller button type appeared to be identical to those found on the TST. Don't know if there is a connection there or not.

A year later and I am still very happy with this system. I have had very few lost sensor warnings and when that has happened it has been for a short duration. I got the extended range device but haven't hooked it up. I plan to do that given Mike's experience and see if that eliminates the issue altogether. So far no sensor or monitor issues.

I have posted a photo of the monitor with a tape measure below to give perspective in a folder marked TPMS.

Here is a link to the Eeze site. http://www.eezrvproducts.com/

I don't have any interest in this or get referral fees. I just like stuff that works.
Jim C

Re: Tire pressure monitors - My 1-year use summary

Reply #17 – February 02, 2015, 01:40:24 am

Yahoo Message Number: 150726

We bought the TST 507 10 flow-thru sensor set last year for our '13 31 IB & '11 CRV before our 10K shakedown cruise thru 33 States and 2 Provinces. The repeater is still in its shrink wrap and hasn't been needed. It initially seemed to read 4-5 lbs low compared with electronic gauge - now it seems to be w/in 1-2 lbs. The only problem we had was when the MH was resting after the trip. The right inner dually dropped from #80 to #40 at a time the MH was parked. The sensors were were working when parked. The problem turned out to be that someone had improperly reseated the sensor and created a very slow leak- one that was caught in a periodic test (turning the monitor on).
Front are set to 75 psi and rear 80 psi cold (Tested in 48 deg F weather). Temps rise 5-10 deg in use with daytime highs in 90's. Base weight of the unit (full fuel, full propane, empty water, 2 adults, 2 dogs and nothing else) was about 12,600 so I believe the pressures are reasonable.

The sensors are removed from the CRV when we aren't traveling.
I am satisfied with the investment.

joel

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January 25, 2015, 12:31:08 pm

Reply #1 – January 25, 2015, 01:20:11 pm

Reply #2 – January 25, 2015, 07:50:59 pm

Reply #3 – January 25, 2015, 08:28:23 pm

Reply #4 – January 26, 2015, 08:08:43 am

Reply #5 – January 26, 2015, 08:16:14 am

Reply #6 – January 26, 2015, 11:50:47 am

Reply #7 – January 26, 2015, 01:10:05 pm

Reply #8 – January 26, 2015, 05:08:31 pm

Reply #9 – January 26, 2015, 05:37:58 pm

Reply #10 – January 26, 2015, 05:47:05 pm

Reply #11 – January 26, 2015, 06:43:52 pm

Reply #12 – January 26, 2015, 06:47:15 pm

Reply #13 – January 26, 2015, 09:01:25 pm

Reply #14 – January 26, 2015, 09:31:33 pm

Reply #15 – January 27, 2015, 09:22:45 am

Reply #16 – January 27, 2015, 06:39:02 pm

Reply #17 – February 02, 2015, 01:40:24 am

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