TST 507 REPEATER REGUIREMENT

[kirbybear]

Just had a blowout on the 5th. I installed the TST 507 in June of 2011. During the blowout the 507 reported all tire pressures were A OK even when I was standing looking at the tire remains.

Mike at TST indicated the problem is when the 5th is over 33 feet and after driving over one and a half hours the tire pressure signal may not be received by the monitor if a repeater is not installed. If signal interrupt occurs the monitor will beep and a red lite occurs.

I do not have a repeater and in 4 years and 30,000 miles, I have never had a beep or red lite occur while underway.

Mike is sending me a repeater to resolve the issue. Mike suggested that after 1 1/2 hour to stop and remove a sensor to simulate a blowout.

I will verify after I receive the repeater but it will be a few months.

[kirbybear]

I did a few tests sitting at my current site and the TST did beep/red lite within two seconds of removing the sensor. The removed sensor did show on the monitor until after cycling thru all four tires.

The truck was not hooked up the the 5th, so not a real down the road set up.

I am moving Monday and will try removing a sensor after 1 1/2 hours on the road.

[fcooper]

GMandJM wrote:
Yep. That's what bothers me, as well: That for 45 minutes to an hour I have no idea that my monitor is not picking up my sensors. I'd estimate that could be enough time for a tow'd wheel to lock up and heat things to the point of combustion.

Apparently it was enough time for the OP's tire to blow and him not know about it. Who knows if he would have gotten a warning had there been repeater. (No, I don't fault him for not having one.)

According to Mike at TST, having a working repeater makes it more likely that the monitor will not lose touch with the sensors due to distance/interference/whatever. But there is still that possibility, I suppose, that the repeater could fail/come unplugged/become unwired.

I'd sure like to know the system's not doing what it's supposed to be doing alot sooner.

Still and all, I feel safer traveling WITH a TPMS than without one. Just not as safe as I used to. 😉

I agree with all of the above. I do have the TST507 with the repeater mounted just inside the motorhome rear cap, and have not had any dropped signal issues. I have verified the problem by moving the monitor to the toad, driving away from the motorhome, and seeing the motorhome tire pressures/temps for 1 hour on the monitor before being notified of the loss of signal.

While on the road, I periodically review the tire temps/pressures to be sure they are changing. I also just turn off the monitor, turn it back on, and watch to see if it acquires all 10 sensors.

The TST 507 is not perfect, but it's a darn good system. It's far better than the Tire Sentry system that I ran for several years.
Fred

[GMandJM]

I agree. It's nice to have the auto-scrolling through the tires. Both Tire Minder and TST have that.

Was looking at the Tire Minder manual earlier and it looks like they now have the lock-on sensors. That's new since last time I looked at them. They also have a low battery icon and alert, which my TST doesn't.

(EDIT: Wyoming3310 brought to my attention that my TST DOES have a low battery icon for the sensors. I've just never seen it because I change my batteries and o-rings yearly whether they need it or not. Thank you, Wyoming3310. END EDIT)

A signal strenth indicator, as you mentioned previously, would be useful.

None of the TPMS systems makes us bulletproof...but I still feel safer driving with one than without one. Ya know?

[RCMAN46]

Here is some interesting information from the Pressure Pro manual.

"HIGH TEMPERATURE ALERT – When the temperature at the Sensor hits approximately 210F, an alert is sounded. The Monitor Display will flash “2.1.0” and provide an audible alert (like the 25% low alert). When alert sounds, pull over and check for problems with the tire, brakes, bearings and such."

"Note: PressurePro Sensors take a sample of your tire pressure every 7 seconds, and report new Update Pressure readings to your Monitor every 5 minutes. Sensors send Update signals through short bursts. If at any time your pressure hits a low or high pressure alert level, it will override the 5 minute Update alert and timing, and send a reading immediately to your Monitor. A Low Pressure Alert Transmission differs from regular update alerts in that it sends a longer, stronger RF transmission that emits continuously while the wheel rotates a number of times. This stronger and longer transmission helps assure that an Alert Signal will be received, even through most interference."

As I have indicated before if I had it to do over I would have kept my Pressure Pro system and had purchased new sensors on their battery replacement program.

One feature I really like about the TST system is that it continuously scrolls the tire pressures. The Pressure Pro requires you to operate buttons on the display to scroll through the tires.
More of a distraction while driving.

I watch my pressures while driving looking for any significant pressure difference on each axle or like tires such as the 4 on the 5th wheel.

The Pressure Pro does monitor temperature and alarms on high temperature. Just it does not display temperatures.

[GMandJM]

duplipost. sorry.

[GMandJM]

Interesting. Got this reply from L&S Safety re Pressure Pro:

Thank you for your inquiry about the PressurePro system.

The PressurePro will alert you within a maximum time of about 5 minutes if you lose a sensor signal. You will receive an alert with three dashed lines in the display indicating that the sensor signal has been lost. This can happen in real world situations just through external interference so the sensor may be picked up on the next scroll by the monitor through all sensor locations in which case you will see the pressure reading as normal.

The sensors are sending a signal every 7 seconds to the monitor which updates the display every 5 minutes. During those five minutes, if there is an alert situation, you will be instantly notified on the display(within 7 seconds)

There should never be a case where you are not updated for any significant length of time to a lost sensor signal.

I hope this helps. Although, TST seems to have a decent product, over the years we have sold lots of PressurePro systems to previous TST owners.

I've attached a manual for you to look through which answers common questions and explains the operation of the system. Please feel free to contact me further if you have other questions.

Regards,
Steve Berry
CEO
L&S Safety Solutions
North American PressurePro Distributor

[GMandJM]

RCMAN46 wrote:
First the Pressure Pro system does not operate like most of the others.

The pressure Pro has a loss of signal alarm in about 15 minutes. It is a flashing red led on the tire that has lost communication. The flash is continuous and not a single beep that the TST has.

I prefer the external antenna.



I use this antenna with my TST system and it works good.

Nice! I'm liking your external antenna idea.

And thanks for the heads up on Pressure Pro. I'm going to check into that system.

[GMandJM]

fj12ryder wrote:
Knowing that your TPMS could basically be non-functional for hours on every use is pretty disheartening...(*snip*) and the worst part is you'd never know.

Exactly! Prior to this I had no idea that when I got a beep from my monitor (and I HAVE gotten them) that I had already been without a signal FOR AN HOUR. I thought, "Oh well...in five minutes it'll sync up again" and I'd hit the silence button and drive on.

Ignorance is bliss, as the saying goes.

I also learned something else interesting from Chuck at MinderResearch: He said that glass is one of the most difficult substances for a signal to transmit through. So, putting my booster/repeater on the dash of the tow'd and hooking it into the jump box I use for the brake wasn't the best method.

He recommended that I put it mid-coach...where there just happens to be a DC outlet.

I like the way the Minder people were so willing to share information with us...even though I told them up front that we own a competitor's system.

[RCMAN46]

First the Pressure Pro system does not operate like most of the others.

The pressure Pro has a loss of signal alarm in about 15 minutes. It is a flashing red led on the tire that has lost communication. The flash is continuous and not a single beep that the TST has.

I prefer the external antenna.

External antenna

I tried the repeater when I first got my Pressure Pro system.

Two problems. First where to mount the repeater which requires a source of 12 volt power. Second it was not water proof thus has to be in a weather protected area.

I tow a small untility trailer behind my 5th wheel. When I checked signal strength with the Pressure Pro the sensors on the utility trailer were still marginal with the repeater which was installed under the bed in the front of the 5th wheel.

With the external antenna located on the receiver hitch of the truck all signals were strong and the antenna is weather proof and requires no external power.



I use this antenna with my TST system and it works good.

[fj12ryder]

Knowing that your TPMS could basically be non-functional for hours on every use is pretty disheartening. I mean it could lose a signal for 45 minutes, pick it up again, and then lose it again immediately for another 45 minutes. This could continue all day and you'd never know it. And your TPMS would actually only be doing it's job for maybe an hour out of 6 hours traveling. Seems unlikely but could be happening, and the worst part is you'd never know.

[GMandJM]

First of all, I gotta put in a disclaimer here to happy up the Mods: I am not an agent or employee of any TPMS company and this is in no way a solicitation. This is for information only.

That said, I talked to Chuck and Deb who own MinderResearch (Tire Minder TPMS). They confirmed that the one-hour span of time before there is an indication of a dropped sensor signal is, as Mike at TST said, industry wide. Chuck noted that in his own testing another brand (not Tire Minder) never EVER gave an indication of a lost signal and the monitor continued to have a phantom reading off the memory in the monitor.

Many everyday things can cause signal interference, such as the GPS noted by a poster previously in this thread. Chuck and Deb said they take signal loss and interference issues seriously and they now include a repeater/booster with every TPMS system they sell. (TST sells them separately.)

One suggestion we made was that there be some kind of alarm or indication that there has been a lost signal much sooner than an hour. Perhaps even an adjustable setting where the user could set the limit for the monitor to be in "looking for it" mode (5 minutes, 10 minutes, whatever) before the system alarms.

Granted it would mean much more frequent alarming, but, yeah, I'd buy a system like that!

[GMandJM]

Thanks, kirbybear. I was just curious. Hard to believe anyone has a manual older than mine. Wow!

[MARKW8]

I have the TST 507 with flow thru monitors. My receiver is mounted top center of the dash. The truck is a long bed CC, the trailer a 36' 5er. I don't have a repeater and have never noticed a dropped reading. The pressures and temps seem to always be changing, up or down as we drive or make stops. I have noticed that the reading are still there when we leave the trailer. The reading however never changes before it's gone.

Mark

[LScamper]

TireMinder Manual

Some info on TireMinder.

I think most pressure monitors work about the same way. The monitor does not read the tire pressure all the time. Each wheel transmitter send information to the monitor at some update time. TireMinder is about 20 min.(?) between sending information. The updates from each wheel are random. If they were updating all the time the batteries would not last long. The monitor keeps track of the updates. If for some reason it does not get an update it will wait for 2 or 3 cycles before it notifies you of a lost signal. This reduces false warnings. It also means that you will not know that you lost signal for that time. Seems like all brands do the same thing.

If there is a sudden change in tire pressure the monitor will send information as soon as that happens. If I remove a transmitter I will get a tire lost pressure warning at that time. It does not wait for the 20 min update time if that happens.

[kirbybear]

The valve stems are the regular vanilla variety. My manual is a older version with out that verbiage.