Derek Uzzell Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 I notice from earlier TPMS-related discussions that some forum members have a TyrePal Solar system. I bought one of these systems at the NEC Show in February. According to the system’s instruction leaflet “When the vehicle starts to move, the (tyre-valve) sensors will wake up in a few yards and refresh the data on the monitor”. That’s never been the case with my system, where a considerable distance (ie. several miles) has needed to be driven before all four sensors would (if I was lucky!) ‘pair’ to the on-dashboard monitor. Moving the position of the monitor has not seemed to improve matters and there’s been no obvious consistency regarding which tyre-valve sensors will ‘pair’ and which will refuse to. More recently a sensor low-battery alert has appeared. I’ve spoken to TyrePal about this and we’ve agreed that I should return the complete system to them for investigation, so I’m not seeking trouble-shooting suggestions. However, what I would like to know is how realistic the “When the vehicle starts to move, the (tyre-valve) sensors will wake up in a few yards and refresh the data on the monitor” advice is. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave C Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Mine works as intended, as does the earlier version on the van. When the car is in Tode mode I have a repeater at the back of the van and take the solar powered receiver into the van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceM Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 I have the non-solar version of TyrePal. The sensors kick in within a few turns of the wheel much as TyrePal claim. Trundling forward on the drive way is usually enough to set them all transmitting. Are the batteries in the transmitters up to snuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 We now use the new Solar system, replacing the TB99, on our new van and find that the system comes on and the sensors register very quickly, by the time I have reversed down our drive they are registering. However, the one thing that does bother me is if you remove a sensor to top up the air in the tyre it seems to take a long while before the unit inside starts to beep and show a zero pressure! I wonder how well it would respond to a deflation due to puncture! The previous TB99 version seemed to react much more quickly. For any of you using this system it may be worthwhile removing one of your sensors to see how long yours takes to respond and if you feel that the time span is reasonable! Basically ours doesn't seem as responsive to pressure changes as our old version in my opinion. Bas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 6, 2017 Author Share Posted May 6, 2017 You’d need to discuss with TyrePal the apparent slow reaction when you remove a tyre-valve sensor. As you’ll be aware the TyrePal Solar system includes a ‘fast leakage’ feature intended to alert if an immediate loss of pressure is identified (which will obviously be the case if a sensor is removed). But there is no information in the system’s user-leaflet regarding how quickly one should expect the system to react to a ‘fast leakage’ situation nor, for that matter, to any other scenario (low or high ptressure or high temperature) that should cause an alert. It would not surprise me if the performance of a “Solar” system were inferior to that of a TB99 as the latter will have more transmission ‘power’, different sensors/batteries, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave C Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 Derek Uzzell - 2017-05-06 7:11 AM It would not surprise me if the performance of a “Solar” system were inferior to that of a TB99 as the latter will have more transmission ‘power’, different sensors/batteries, etc. Why do you say that Derek? The solar bit is only the receiver, not the transmitter. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 6, 2017 Author Share Posted May 6, 2017 The tyre-valve ’transmitters' (and the batteries used in them) and the dashboard monitor of a TR99 system differ from those of a “Solar” system. As the components of a TR99 system are different (and on-paper superior) to those of a Solar system, why should it surprise if a TR99 system’s performance is better in certain areas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave C Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 Derek Uzzell - 2017-05-06 9:39 AM The tyre-valve ’transmitters' (and the batteries used in them) and the dashboard monitor of a TR99 system differ from those of a “Solar” system. As the components of a TR99 system are different (and on-paper superior) to those of a Solar system, why should it surprise if a TR99 system’s performance is better in certain areas? Well I have the TR99 system on my van and the solar panel jobbie in my car. Both work as intended and in the case of the solar powered one I have a repeater unit at the back of the van and take the solar powered receiver into the van cab. This enable me to keep an eye on the car pressures when towing the car with the van. Never had any problems with either unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 I believe you are right there Derek! I haven't bothered Tyre Pal with regard the reaction time as after consulting them regarding another snag they were less than helpful so was not going to put myself through that again!! Another thing I forgot to mention is that our Solar system sensors already require new batteries, after one year of use whereas the TB99 ones are still going strong on my car after three years now! Just a thought that couldn't be the cause of your slow waking up could it Derek, just wonder if the batteries being low, though possibly not low enough to register on the monitor, could make the whole system slow! Only just thought that because the original TPMS system I had installed before replacing with the TB99, these had internal tyre sensors, reacted slowly on pick up and pressure change as their batteries failed. This was the reason I bought the TB99 set up as it was cheaper than changing one sensor let alone the whole four that I eventually required. I had grave reservations about using 'Dustcap' type sensors which was why I went for the original system but recognise that at least you can easily change the batteries in the Tyre Pal system at a fairly reasonable cost, albeit the batteries can be hard to source locally, three cheers for the internet! Basil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 8, 2017 Author Share Posted May 8, 2017 Basil - 2017-05-06 6:54 PM ...Another thing I forgot to mention is that our Solar system sensors already require new batteries, after one year of use whereas the TB99 ones are still going strong on my car after three years now!... Basil The leaflet for the TyrePal “Solar” system states a battery life for the TCSU sensors used with the 4-sensor version as just 1 year, whereas the larger/heavier TCSN sensors (with twice the transmission power) are said to have a 2-year lifespan. My understanding is that the TCSN sensors are equivalent to those used with the TR99 system. As the sensors are triggered by motion and their batteries are pre-fitted, there will always be the potential that the batteries’ charge will be significantly depleted if the boxed system is moved around a lot before sale to the end-user even if the batteries were in fully-charged state when they were originally fitted. Before I returned the system to TyrePal, purely as an experiment I switched on the monitor and placed a tyre-valve sensor next to it. As you’ve mentioned, it did take a considerable time before the monitor alerted to warn that there was zero pressure, but I’m not sure if this type of experiment equates to a real-world ‘fast leakage’ scenario. In my original posting I said that I was not seeking trouble-shooting suggestions for the problems I mentioned there. All I wanted to confirm was whether the advice in the TyrePal “Solar” leaflet that “When the vehicle starts to move, the sensors will wake up in a few yards and refresh the data on the monitor” was accurate, and you and Dave C have confirmed that this should happen. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 Recently purchased TyrePal solar 4 but not installed yet. Just done Derek's test as described above and it took 4 minutes to register zero pressure. Probably not simulating real life conditions, as Derek mentioned, so just treat this as "information only". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 8, 2017 Author Share Posted May 8, 2017 Before installation I suggest you remove the batteries from the tyre-valve sensors and check their voltage. A CR1225 battery has a 3V ‘nominal’ voltage, but there’s nothing in the TyrePal leaflet to indicate what the voltage has to fall to before the system sends an alert to the monitor, nor whether the performance of the system may degrade significantly as the batteries’ voltage diminishes. If the voltage of all the batteries in your system's sensors is at least 3V, if there were performance problems you should then be able to discount low-battery voltage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 23, 2017 Author Share Posted May 23, 2017 An update… As I said in my original posting, it had been agreed with TyrePal that I should return my complete “Solar 4” system to them for investigation. Before doing this I checked the voltage of the CR1225 batteries that had been fitted to the tyre-valve sensors when I purchased the system in February 2017. One of the batteries had a voltage of just over 3V, two had a voltage of just under 3V and the 4th battery was so ‘flat’ that its voltage was hardly measurable. A fully-charged CR1225 battery should be expected to have a voltage of 3.2V or a bit higher, so the voltage of the first three batteries was well down. If all four batteries had had a similarly low voltage it would have been reasonable to assume that the problems I had been having were just due to the batteries being ‘old’ when I bought the system, but the completely discharged battery suggested that there might be a fault with the tyre-valve sensor the battery had been fitted to. I received the system back from TyrePal by return of post, with a note indicating that all four sensors batteries had been replaced free of charge. I removed the batteries from the sensors (none of which had been replaced) and checked the battery voltage which was around 3.2V for all four. I noticed that the batteries were differently marked from the originals, but there was nothing to indicate their manufacturer or country of origin. For testing purposes I decided to fit the system to our car as this is used much more regularly than our motorhome. I ‘recoded’ the sensors and set high and low alerts appropriate to the car’s tyre pressures. Unlike previously, the dashboard monitor displayed data from all four sensors rapidly, with the car needing to be driven just a very short distance. I then loosened off each sensor in turn, reducing the pressure ‘read’ by the sensor to zero. In each case the monitor produced an alert within seconds (unlike what Basil mentioned above) and this experiment also confirmed that the sensor ‘recoding’ I had carried out had worked properly (ie. the loss-of-pressure alert related to the correct wheel). The system still seems to be working exactly as it should, but before I put it back on the motorhome I’ll check the battery voltage to confirm that nothing odd is going on. In my posting of 8 May 2017 8:58 AM I said that it’s probably worthwhile confirming the voltage of the sensor batteries before fitting a new system to the vehicle, as my experience suggests that, if the voltage of any (or all) of the batteries is well down, the system may well play up. When I spoke to TyrePal originally they seemed quite happy to send me a free set of batteries, so the presence of low-voltage batteries in brand-new systems may not be that unusual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted May 28, 2017 Share Posted May 28, 2017 Thanks for the update Derek, interesting information. I have changed the batteries in all of my senders now and they do now respond to a pressure loss instantly, as when you remove a sender to add or reduce pressure, with the temperature changes over the last few weeks I have had to do this. It seems your findings are correct and I will make a point of changing the batteries annually from now on! Goes to show that you cannot compare the earlier system performance, which has definitely a superior sender battery life, to this new system. Seems a bit of a retrograde step to me as I would have though improving battery life would have been important. The fact that they have solar powered the main unit to improve battery life is following this line don't you think? basil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 29, 2017 Author Share Posted May 29, 2017 As will be seen from the results of a Google search shown in the following link http://tinyurl.com/ycj2gw77 there is no shortage of TPMS systems marketed for retrofitting that use small sensor-transmitters screwed on to the tyre-valves. (It should also be apparent from the pictures that there seems to be a lot of ‘incest’ going on between the systems as far as component-sharing is concerned.) Logic suggests that the larger physically a battery is in a tyre-valve sensor-transmitter the longer it should last before replacement is required, but that assumes that all the systems function similarly and that their sensors all transmit for the same length of time in a given duration. There’s no direct ‘design’ link between the sensors and the monitor - a solar-powered monitor is neat and convenient and avoids having to connect the monitor to an electrical power-source via a cable, but there’s no real incentive for the TPMS system’s manufacturer to ‘improve’ the sensors to match. I don’t know what the expected working-lifespan is of the replaceable batteries used in the various TPMS systems that are currently available, and whether some systems employing the same CR1225 batteries as TyrePal’s Solar product have a greater sensor-battery endurance than the 1-year that TyrePal advises. The following advert for the Fit2Go TPMS system https://www.roadpro.co.uk/product/01f-tyre-pressure-monitoring-systems-tpms/fit2go-tyre-pressure-monitoring-system-d8132 https://www.roadpro.co.uk/userfiles/PDFs/product%20information/Fit2Go%20Operating%20Manual.pdf quotes "a lifetime of between 3 and 6 years” for the tyre-valve sensors, but the sensors are sealed and their internal batteries cannot be replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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