| Author |
Message |
Norm Edlebeck (66.60.214.77)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 06, 2004 - 1:47 am: | |
I purchased the Doran Tire Pressure Monitoring System the end of March and posted here what I, personally, would think of this system after about a 3,000 mile trip from Minnesota to Hilton Head SC and back. Personally, I had many problems with it. I do believe that the idea is great and will probably work under the right conditions, with possibly some fine tuning. However, that was not the case for me. I was also told that most of the problems come from not having good valve stems to screw on the transmitters. For me, that may have been part of the problem. If you're thinking of getting this system, I would suggest you first put all new valve stems on every tire. Although that may have been my problem to some extent, I found that some of the transmitters just DID NOT TRANSMIT. I had many false alarms, which scared me half to death, and when I checked the pressure of the tire that was supposedly low, found it to be exactly at the correct pressure. I was told that sometimes the contacts inside the screwed on transmitters may stick and to use a magnet close to it and it would work. I did not find that to be the case. The magnet I used was one that a veternary puts down a cows throat when they suspect metal in the stomach, so it was quite strong. Now this is only my personal experience, but I felt that the unit was not worth the hassel, or price, ($575 for the monitor with 8 transmitters). However, I had no problem with returning it for a full refund and was even re-imbersed for the shipping costs when I bought it. |
bruce king (24.19.37.145)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 06, 2004 - 5:02 am: | |
Summary:
I bought a smarttire system, and am happy with it
I have one monitoring 8 wheels on the bus
I have another monitor 4 wheels on the toad
cost was around $800 installed
It has detected low tire pressures and a the inside drive tire going flat on a trip
It does report stuff that I don't think it should, but that's a minor annoyance.
Details:
I purchased two of the SmartTire systems, one for my bus, and one for my toad. I've had them installed for a year or so now, with two transcontinental trips on them.
The basic unit is an LCD display with a red LED that lights if there is a problem you should look at, and an audible alarm if you really should look at it.
The control panels aren't really good in my opinion. I have mine velcroed onto my mci-9 dash, but i'd prefer a flat panel version, or something that I can screw in or permanently attach, but this works ok.
The tire sensors are mounted on the wheel via a pipe clamp around the center of the wheel, with the sensor lump positioned opposite the valve stem to allow the tires to be mounted/dismounted without hitting the sensor package.
The sensors report temperature and air pressure, and the base unit contains some programming that takes into account a pressure rise due to temperature rise.
The warnings are: Tire +- preset pressure, tire pressure low, tire temperature high, tire temperature change too fast.
http://www.truckworld.com/How-To-Tech/smarttire/smarttire.html
They have two versions of their system. version 1 will report tire pressures up to 120 psi, version 2 only up to 80. So I have version 1 in the bus tires, and version 2 in the toad.
The system is great for quickly responding to low tire pressure, or a check of tires on the road. It does not report the tire pressures when standing, only when rolling, so you don't get a pre-trip tire report, but the tires typically check in in the first 1/4 mile or so of your trip.
It detected a flat in the inside drive tire on the road, and I was able to get it fixed without ruining the tire, which probably saved me the cost of a new tire.
There have been several times when the temperature stuff reported stuff that I chose to ignore, and while I'm happy with the bus installation, I'm thrilled bout the toad installation.
The version 2 comes iwth an optional 40' antenna, which i ran from the front of the bus to the back, and can monitor the tire pressure of the toad from the driver seat. A rearview camera only shows you so much -- and you can't see the tires. This reports the tire pressures, and if one goes flat, it beats having folks flag you down.
I had it installed by the les schwab dealer in junction, oregon. The toad was installed by another les schwab dealer in seattle, but only after a long conversation 'cause he was terrified of squishing the sensors when re-mounting the tire. I had him call the guys in junction and after he talked to them he charged me $30 dismount and remount the tires after attachign the sensors. |
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