Tire Pressure Monitoring

[daviduphoff]

Anyone out there have a Tire Pressure Monitoring System on their trailer? I was at the tire store today and asked about them. The salesman recommended a Dill System ( http://dillaircontrols.com/dill/ ). Any feedback would be appreciated as I fear a trailer purchase is coming in the next couple days.

 

[Levitation]

Infrared Temperature gun and a good pressure gauge meant for truckers.

Having a digital number in the truck means we will start ignoring the walk around at every stop. No gadget replaces paying attention.

 

[Todd]

Walking around at every stop means you could have driven 300 miles with a flat tire. If you drive with a flat the tire will eventually come apart possibly damaging your trailer, (ask me how I know) or boat. It may also leave a large piece of tire in the roadway causing someone else to have an accident.

Real Time Trailer Tire Pressure Monitoring is GREAT.

Forgot what brand is on my trailer, I will try to find out.

 

[bymiller]

I had a Tire Smart system on a two different travel trailers. On two occasions it saved me from a potential catastrophe. First time I was driving and received a low pressure alarm. Stopped and the tire looked OK. Checked pressure and it was low. Changed tire and found a square headed roofing nail in the tire. Tire was repairable. Second time I got ready to start one morning and one tire showed low. Again it looked OK but a check showed it low, Changed the tire.

The unit I had is no longer made so I can't recommend a particular system.

By Miller

 

[LADYBUG TOO]

I'll argue both sides. We lost a tire on our EZ Loader for our R-29. There was no noticeable vibration or drag. We just happened to see smoke. I also believe that the walk around is important. Also know the true load of boat and trailer with everything we put aboard. We had "D" range tires and have changed to "E" range since the blow out. So I like the gadget for underway and the walk around and tire loading before starting out.

Pat & Carolyn, Ladybug, Too.

 

[daviduphoff]

The model I was looking at monitored Pressure and temperature. It is $260 installed. The sending units are inside the tire (valve stems) in order to monitor temperature. The salesman said there were much cheaper ones available but they did not have inside the tire temperature monitoring. It also came with an external antenna that was run to the rear bumper from inside the cab to pick up the signal from the sending units in the tires. It's unit is mounted to the dash with velcro according to the salesman. I think it's a lot of peace of mind for $260.

 

[SGIDAVE]

Do the TPMS tolerate dunking into water?

/david

 

[knotflying]

I believe the TPMS is inside the tire, so if you have air in a sealed tire I doubt water is an issue.

 

[SGIDAVE]

I believe the TPMS is inside the tire, so if you have air in a sealed tire I doubt water is an issue.

I've just been to the Dill website (http://dillaircontrols.com/dill/). Their TPMS product looks top-notch. You are correct, the entire sensor is INSIDE the tire. I mistakenly thought it was IN the valvestem like other RV type TPMS's. Although they show a promotional vid with famous bass fishermen...no where does it explicitly state that submersion of the tires is OK.

My trailer has just one axle but I have another cargo trailer with a single axle. I"m wondering if I can buy the "tandem" axle set up (with 4 sensors) and use 2 sensors on each of the two trailers. I will have to call them...

While the "walk around" is STILL MANDATORY, a system like this can still be very useful to provide an early warning of low-level pressure loss as well as letting you know a tire has entirely failed in those set ups where some/all of the trailer tires are NOT VISIBLE to the driver. I've heard stories from multi-axle (2-3 axles) trailer tire failures where SMOKE was the first hint of a problem because the involved tire was not visible in the driver's mirrors.

Denny is spot on about the infrared temperature gun. Mine is from Harbor Freight so it's cheap but still very functional. Want to know what your wheel bearing temp is...no problem. And this is MUCH better than putting your hand on it to see if it's "hot."

/david

 

[daviduphoff]

My trailer has just one axle but I have another cargo trailer with a single axle. I"m wondering if I can buy the "tandem" axle set up (with 4 sensors) and use 2 sensors on each of the two trailers. I will have to call them...
/david

I asked the same question at the tire store. I thought I would get the triple axle one and use it on multiple trailers. The salesman suggested I call Dill and make sure it will work then just buy more sensors. Now both of us can call...

 

[Todd]

Most TPMS will monitor two units, A - Truck and B - Trailer. You can select to monitor each individualy or both. This alows you to drop the trailer or by putting the controler in a diferent truck you could tow and monitor the trailer.

Theirfore if you do not want to monitor the truck you could set it up as two trailers and monitor one at a time.

There is one other option I discovered and use. Excluding expensive fleet systems, there is a system made by (NVision.com) that has four diferent program configurations alowing for diferent truck trailer configurations. It uses sensors that screw on the like valve caps but they are sealed units that last about 4 years, longer if you unscrew them for storage.

Was not my favorite unit but works Ok and is the only one I know of with the multiple unit set up.

 

[Brian B]

I came across this system today that's made by Hopkins. Sell for $250.00
http://www.trailerpartsdepot.com/itemde ... VA&eq=&Tp=

 

[Todd]

Hopkins unit is made by NVision and is the system that can monitor 4 different configurations.