Why do TPMS systems fail?

[Snomas]

I was wondering if anyone has had there tire pressure monitors not give PSI readings if there is another wireless device nearby? I sent back a TPMS system because the monitor would only read the PSI on one or 2 tires and the rest of them were blank.

[holstein13]

Mr.Mark wrote:
I had the same experience with my TST system on our previous coach. It became such a headache that I gave them all away. I could never get the repeater antenna to work on our toad (I was in contact with the manufacturer and they replaced a couple of sensors).

I never used my air compressor more than when I had my TST sensors. Now, my TST system was probably an early model but a pain in the butt nonetheless.

After several frustrating months, I removed the sensors and just checked my tires manually before every departure and that worked great for 5 or 6 yrs. Never any failures. And, I know that I could have run over a nail the minute I left a campground. What a waste of the $599 I spent on those darn sensors.

Our new coach has the built-in system and seems to work fine so far. I will never attach anything to my air stems again. The built-in systems on several cars that I have work fine. Even the Honda has a TPMS built-in and warned me once of a low tire due to picking up a screw. I had to have the tire patched.

And that is almost exactly the same experience I had. I couldn't agree more with you.

[Mr_Mark1]

bshpilot wrote:

holstein13 wrote:

bshpilot wrote:

two-niner wrote:
I gave mine away.
Yet on DW's 2006 Cadillac DTS,(145K miles)never a problem with factory TPMT's??
It seems for every success story there are multiple failures. Guess I fall into "The manufacturer said I was too stupid" category.
Kerry

ill disagree ! in fact you'll find that there are very few stories of failures.

This is exactly why I think it's best if we all spoke only about our own experiences. My experience was riddled with failures but I realize that others may have had a different experience.

look around even on this forum, you'll find far more folks that swear by the systems & who haven't had any problems than you will those who have had issues.

I had the same experience with my TST system on our previous coach. It became such a headache that I gave them all away. I could never get the repeater antenna to work on our toad (I was in contact with the manufacturer and they replaced a couple of sensors).

I never used my air compressor more than when I had my TST sensors. Now, my TST system was probably an early model but a pain in the butt nonetheless.

After several frustrating months, I removed the sensors and just checked my tires manually before every departure and that worked great for 5 or 6 yrs. Never any failures. And, I know that I could have run over a nail the minute I left a campground. What a waste of the $599 I spent on those darn sensors.

Our new coach has the built-in system and seems to work fine so far. I will never attach anything to my air stems again. The built-in systems on several cars that I have work fine. Even the Honda has a TPMS built-in and warned me once of a low tire due to picking up a screw. I had to have the tire patched.

MM.

[RCMAN46]

Rwake901 wrote:
Wow I have been looking online at these the last few days thinking about buying one. Glad I read this first. I think I will pass on buying one and take my chances. Sounds like they can be more trouble than what they are worth... :S

I would be willing to bet for each system you have read about that has had a problem there are over 1000 such as mine that have been trouble free and saved a tire failure and possible serious damage to a trailer or TV.

[Rwake901]

Wow I have been looking online at these the last few days thinking about buying one. Glad I read this first. I think I will pass on buying one and take my chances. Sounds like they can be more trouble than what they are worth... :S

[bshpilot]

holstein13 wrote:

bshpilot wrote:

two-niner wrote:
I gave mine away.
Yet on DW's 2006 Cadillac DTS,(145K miles)never a problem with factory TPMT's??
It seems for every success story there are multiple failures. Guess I fall into "The manufacturer said I was too stupid" category.
Kerry

ill disagree ! in fact you'll find that there are very few stories of failures.

This is exactly why I think it's best if we all spoke only about our own experiences. My experience was riddled with failures but I realize that others may have had a different experience.

look around even on this forum, you'll find far more folks that swear by the systems & who haven't had any problems than you will those who have had issues.

[holstein13]

bshpilot wrote:

two-niner wrote:
I gave mine away.
Yet on DW's 2006 Cadillac DTS,(145K miles)never a problem with factory TPMT's??
It seems for every success story there are multiple failures. Guess I fall into "The manufacturer said I was too stupid" category.
Kerry

ill disagree ! in fact you'll find that there are very few stories of failures.

This is exactly why I think it's best if we all spoke only about our own experiences. My experience was riddled with failures but I realize that others may have had a different experience.

[bshpilot]

two-niner wrote:
I gave mine away.
Yet on DW's 2006 Cadillac DTS,(145K miles)never a problem with factory TPMT's??
It seems for every success story there are multiple failures. Guess I fall into "The manufacturer said I was too stupid" category.
Kerry

ill disagree ! in fact you'll find that there are very few stories of failures.

[two-niner]

I gave mine away.
Yet on DW's 2006 Cadillac DTS,(145K miles)never a problem with factory TPMT's??
It seems for every success story there are multiple failures. Guess I fall into "The manufacturer said I was too stupid" category.
Kerry

[xctraveler]

We have had TireTraker system for a couple of years. No pass though inflation and user replaceable batteries. The only problems I've had was a failed monitor replaced under warranty and an occasional loss of signal, usually on one of the rear dual tires or on the Jeep tow'd. Once it was a battery failure. Not sure what caused the others, but I stop when convenient and remove/replace the sensor and problem fixed. Have not had to reprogram although I have had to do that after rotating tires on the Jeep. No big deal with TireTraker.

[wallynm]

Like us old age is bad, other sources of electromagnetic signal,water, vibration, other traffic and etc. We use a repeater in the back to pick up FROG and inside duals psi. Open road signal propagation better than city. Same with low traffic volume vs heavy traffic. Nearby air ports always bad

[holstein13]

RCMAN46 wrote:
Recommend you do an inventory of what is in the coach. I suspect there is something that operates on the same frequency as the TPMS system. IF I remember correct the TPMS operates in the 400 meg band the same as many remote temperature devices.

As a matter of fact, I do have a remote thermometer. If replacing the antenna and junction box doesn't work, I'll reposition the remote temperature sensor to the back of the coach.

Wish me luck.

[bshpilot]

holstein13 wrote:
I had the TST tire sensors for three years on my old coach and struggled with them on almost every trip until I finally had enough and just gave them away. My coach was only 31 feet long, yet virtually every sensor would stop working occasionally. Sometimes it would spontaneously come back and other times I'd switch out the batteries and re-program the thing (which wasn't fun). A couple of times I had to return them to the manufacturer who sent me new ones.

Originally, I had to unscrew them to add air to the tires until I switched to the pass-through model. But the pass-through model was too close to the rim on the front tires so I ended up having to unscrew those as well to fill.

My main concern was the "lost signal" alarms I'd get while driving somewhere. I found it overly stressful to worry about something that might be going wrong even though I was fairly certain that it was fine.

After I gave them all away, I simply checked my pressures manually on a regular basis and had much more stress free trips.

Now, I've got the "in the tire" models built in that came factory installed and integrated with the trip-tek system and, would you believe it, I'm still having problems with the lost signals. They are replacing the antennas and junctions in a couple of weeks and hopefully that will fix the problem for good.

strange - were you running a repeater ?

I've got the TST 507 system with the user serviceable battery sensors in our coach. I can get about 15-18 months out of a set of batteries (using the repeater helps when the batteries get weak).

Ive never had to REPROGRAM my TST sensors after i replace the batteries.

Given the fact that your having failures with a 2nd I'd have to say that you've got some environmental / interference issue.

For me nothing could be less stressful than having the TST system....the only time i have to add air to any tires is when the weather changes.....its a pain in the butt to drag hose out and start a compressor or the coach (if I'm at a RV park) & the valve stem on my inner duels are tough to get to....if it weren't for the temperature change in the winter id probably never have to add air to a tire.

I have a small 10lb Co2 bottle & 175psi regulator on the bottle that i can throw in one of my storage bays to take withe me for adding air to tires or running an air tool (to avoid hauling a 120vac compressor or running our coach at camp).

[RCMAN46]

holstein13 wrote:
I had the TST tire sensors for three years on my old coach and struggled with them on almost every trip until I finally had enough and just gave them away. My coach was only 31 feet long, yet virtually every sensor would stop working occasionally. Sometimes it would spontaneously come back and other times I'd switch out the batteries and re-program the thing (which wasn't fun). A couple of times I had to return them to the manufacturer who sent me new ones.

Originally, I had to unscrew them to add air to the tires until I switched to the pass-through model. But the pass-through model was too close to the rim on the front tires so I ended up having to unscrew those as well to fill.

My main concern was the "lost signal" alarms I'd get while driving somewhere. I found it overly stressful to worry about something that might be going wrong even though I was fairly certain that it was fine.

After I gave them all away, I simply checked my pressures manually on a regular basis and had much more stress free trips.

Now, I've got the "in the tire" models built in that came factory installed and integrated with the trip-tek system and, would you believe it, I'm still having problems with the lost signals. They are replacing the antennas and junctions in a couple of weeks and hopefully that will fix the problem for good.

Your TST system was not working most of the time. When the receiver losses contact with a transmitter the signal has to be lost continuously for about 1 hour before an alarm is generated. So you probably was never getting reliable data.

Recommend you do an inventory of what is in the coach. I suspect there is something that operates on the same frequency as the TPMS system. IF I remember correct the TPMS operates in the 400 meg band the same as many remote temperature devices.

[bshpilot]

67Cutlass wrote:
For those of you that have sensors dropping out while driving.

Are you using any wireless digital thermometers? Typically these wireless thermometers operate at the 433Mhz frequency the same a most TPMS systems. They do cause interference.

I have a wireless thermometer with three remote transmitters. I was having a lot of sensor dropouts until I found out about the wireless thermometers causing interference. I have the TST 507 system and called TST about this problem. I talked to the owner and he acknowledged there is an issue with these wireless thermometers. The fix was to install a repeater. Once I did that no more problems with sensors dropping out.

Ive got the 507 system and I also have a wireless digital thermometer (i keep the remote sensor in my outside entertainment bay & the display receiver in the master suite) and don't have an issue.

our coach is full of metal (all the basement bays are metal boxes w/ aluminum doors), the floor has a metal sheet and theres quite a bit of steel framing)....initially i had trouble w/ ONE sensor periodically dropping out (on our jeep), i thought it was because of the 40+ feet length from display to the sensor so i added the repeater....later i wound up talking to TST & replaced the battery and I've never had another problem.