Constant, real time tire pressure monitoring: hopefully improved blowout protection

[RockyMtnRay]

One of my biggest worries when towing is having a blowout on a trailer tire. Not only do blowouts cause substantial delay but if the streetside tire is the one that blows, there's a real good chance the disintegrating tire will severely damage the drain pipes. And a blowout on either side can do substantial damage to the floor and even innards of the trailer. And worse yet, about 60% of my towing is over narrow secondary and even tertiary highways that usually have absolutely no shoulder to pull off on...and turnoffs/driveways are often miles apart!

So I glean everything I can about trailer tire blowouts. It seems the consensus among tire experts is that about 90% of all blowouts are due to underinflation. The underinflation can be just plain low pressure or insufficient inflation for the load being carried. The other 10% are often attributed to tire oxidation (aka dry rot), road damage to the tire structure, or sometimes just plain loss of strength due to high mileage. Good storage practices, avoiding road damage as much as possible and replacing the tires every 5 to 7 years, apparently go a long way to prevent the non-underinflation causes. And I do all this, including storing the trailer inside my garage and taking the trailer's weight off the tires during storage (so there won't be a sidewall bulge during storage).

And I keep my trailer tires inflated to exactly 50 psi and check that pressure at the start of every towing day. But so do a goodly number of other folks...and many, like our member/moderator Bill...have had blowouts nonetheless. And more importantly, apparently many of those blowouts occurred with a very hot, probably severely underinflated tire: the clue is the mention of substantial amounts of rubber that were very firmly stuck to the trailer from the blowout. IMO, the only way that rubber is going to stick to the trailer's skin that firmly is if it was nearly molten when the tire disintegrated.

My conclusion is a tire that blows from underinflation yet was properly inflated at the start of that day had to suffer some kind of damage that started a leak. And all it would take is to run over a sharp object...nail, piece of junk metal, etc. And I further concluded the way to prevent a underinflation caused blowout resulting from a leaking tire was to install a system that constantly monitors the pressure in both trailer tires and instantly reports a pressure drop, even small, to a monitor in my truck's cab.

So I invested in a tire pressure monitoring system from Doran Pressure Pro (http://www.doranmfg.com/rvtirepressuremonitors.htm). For $290, I got the system monitor and 2 sensors for my trailer's tires (the monitor can handle up to 16 sensors so I could add additional sensors for my truck's tires whenever I want to...additional sensors are $50 each). In a nutshell, the system works as follows:

Each sensor sends a coded signal; during setup of the system you correlate a given sensor with a tire position on your rig. If there's a pressure loss, the monitor will identify which tire has the problem.
When you screw the sensor on the valve stem, the pressure it records at that moment is its baseline pressure. As long as the pressure does not drop more than 12.5% below that baseline, the sensor sends out a pressure report about every 5 minutes. You can therefore get a reasonably current (within 5 minutes) display of each trailer tire's pressure at any time by pressing the up/down buttons on the monitor. Good for piece of mind...and pretty much precludes having to actually check the pressure of each trailer tire with a gauge every morning.:)
If any tire's pressure drops 12.5% or more below the baseline, the sensor on that tire starts sending out signals every second or so...and the monitor displays a warning light and emits a warning sound. If the pressure drops 25% or more below the baseline, the monitor emits more urgent warnings. Clearly the smart thing to do is to get pulled off the road ASAP after the first warning sounds.

After using the system for about 1200 towing miles, I'm very happy with it even though there have been no pressure losses from my trailer tires. It's quite interesting to monitor the tire pressure changes that come from both changes in air temperature during the day as well as the temperature changes from towing speed changes (e.g. going from 50 mph to 65 mph seems to cause about a 2 psi increase in pressure). Although the sensors weigh about 2/3 of an ounce...and I did not have the tires rebalanced to accommodate that weight...I've had no indications of imbalanced tires. About the only effect I'm seeing is that the sensors are slightly bending the rubber valve stems at speed...you can see rub marks from the sensors on the wheel rims in the photos below.

Pictures:

Pic of the monitor sitting on my truck's console...it's about the size of a typical rear view mirror. When towing, I usually just put the monitor on the console; when not towing I stow it inside the console's bin.
Closeup pic of the monitor after I pushed a button to cause a pressure display of one tire's pressure. The tire being checked had a pressure of exactly 50 psi that morning (at a temperature of 70 degrees); after a few miles of towing (at ~45 mph) on a 90 degree day, the pressure rose to the displayed 54 psi.
Pic of one of the sensors relative to the whole wheel.
Closeup pic of the sensor. I put the label on the sensor so I know which tire it's associated with in the monitor. To increase sensor battery life, I plan to remove the sensors during winter storage...if they're not detecting any tire pressure, they stop transmitting.


Any questions???

[MikeD]

Ray,

I have come to the same conclusion as you did vis-a-vis probable cause for blow-outs, and so we also invested in a Doran Pressure Monitor. I have only been using it for about 100 miles, but my experience is like yours - easy to install, easy to use, and a great early warning system. I was very pleased that the monitor could be mounted cleanly in my cab, and still reliably receive the sensor signals. Apparently some other systems may need an external antenna. Since the tires are small and relatively light, I had my tires rebalanced after adding the sensor. Both wheels required a weight placed opposite of the sensor.

So far a happy customer.

MikeD

[bill s]

pleased to hear about the doran system... i've been using the pressure
tire caps (65psi) on my 3124kb trailer and they seem to work...i generally
check the indicators on the caps whenever i stop...however, your system
gives you a full time reading....i'm sure we are going to the full time system
soon...we are very concerned about blowouts ...sometime ago,i installed
truck tire mudflaps in hopes of protecting the plumbing etc....i even plan to
reenforce the street side mudflap with some steel....
thanks for your input on the doran system...
bill s

[tucsoncarol]

Two years ago my hubby and I took a trailerload of adoption bound greyhounds from Tucson to Coeur d'Alene in 24 hours. An exhausting trip and nerve wracking (the dogs are not well protected and suffer from changes in temperature). The trailer is very similar to a long TM in size. I was driving on the freeway in downtown Salt Lake City during rush hour at 75 mph when one of our tires blew. HOLY COW. My first concern, after limping off the freeway, was that none of the dogs were hurt by flying belts or chunks of rubber. We changed the tire easily enough, and were on our way. I learned two things. The people in Salt Lake City are generous to a fault, and I NEVER want to go through that again. Thank you Ray for the innovative ideas and the precision of your tutorials (plus great pics). I will be doing this upgrade.

[PopBeavers]

If I understand you correctly, if your tire pressure drops from 50 psi cold to 44 psi hot then this is considered normal, less than a 12.5 percent decrease.

It seems to me that the range is a little high to truly be helpful.

Now if it would detect the normal increase in pressure as the tire gets hot and establish this higher pressure as the baseline then a decrease of 12.5 percent might be worth knowing about.

But I look forward to subsequent reports.

[MikeD]

Your understanding is correct. The reason I feel that this is useful are:

1. A leaking tire will probably continue to leak, so you will be notified.

2. You can easily check the tire pressure from the cab. This makes it very simple to do before leaving from a stop. The pressure should be at the cold point or higher and both tires shold be at approximately the same pressure. This makes it easy to check pressure during the trip and detect a problem before the alarm goes off.

3. If you look at the load inflation tables for the ST215/75R14 (my tires) at http://www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/rv_inflation.pdf, you can see that the tire is down to a load of 1790 (loss of 80 lbs capacity) at 45 psi, and 1660 lbs (loss of 210 lbs) at 40 psi. I extrapolated that the load carrying capacity would still be about 1700lbs at 43 psi (I know it's not linear, but that's why I choose 43psi rather than 43.75psi). While not good for the tire, I assumed the tire would hold out for a while (at least until the lowering pressure triggered the alarm).

No perfect answers, but I believe that combining easy checking at each stop with the alarm function will give me a better chance at avoiding low pressure induced blow-outs.

MikeD

[Freedom]

Now if you could just pump them up from the driver's seat like the trucks I used to work on in the Air Force! That would be great! I like the idea of being able to monitor the pressure, too.

[RockyMtnRay]

Your understanding is correct. The reason I feel that this is useful are:

1. A leaking tire will probably continue to leak, so you will be notified.

2. You can easily check the tire pressure from the cab. This makes it very simple to do before leaving from a stop. The pressure should be at the cold point or higher and both tires shold be at approximately the same pressure. This makes it easy to check pressure during the trip and detect a problem before the alarm goes off.

3. If you look at the load inflation tables for the ST215/75R14 (my tires) at http://www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/rv_inflation.pdf, you can see that the tire is down to a load of 1790 (loss of 80 lbs capacity) at 45 psi, and 1660 lbs (loss of 210 lbs) at 40 psi. I extrapolated that the load carrying capacity would still be about 1700lbs at 43 psi (I know it's not linear, but that's why I choose 43psi rather than 43.75psi). While not good for the tire, I assumed the tire would hold out for a while (at least until the lowering pressure triggered the alarm).

No perfect answers, but I believe that combining easy checking at each stop with the alarm function will give me a better chance at avoiding low pressure induced blow-outs.

MikeD

Only thing I'd add is that you don't have to wait until a stop to do a pressure check...you can check the tire pressures on trailer whenever you want to. I do it anytime I think something doesn't quite feel "right"...and sometimes if I just get bored. ;). As noted earlier, unless the tire has lost more than 12.5% of the baseline pressure, the "current" pressure shown won't be more than 5 minutes out of date. If any tire has dropped more than 12.5% below the baseline, the pressure shown is current to the nearest second of time.

But since the cold starting pressure is almost always going to be the lowest of the day, any pressure seen below that start pressure on a random check means a problem!

[mjlaupp]

re: RMR picture #4.
I have had at least 4 tires loose pressure due to a cracked valve stem over the last 15 years. 2 were on a minivan with extra long stems to extend past full wire wheel covers. The other 2 were on an Isuzu Trooper II. These had heavy chrome plated valve caps installed. All of the failures were at or just outboard of the valve stem hole in the wheel. I don't know if they failed due to age or constant flexing. Suggest adding a valve stem check on a regular basis.
Mike

[RockyMtnRay]

re: RMR picture #4.
I have had at least 4 tires loose pressure due to a cracked valve stem over the last 15 years. 2 were on a minivan with extra long stems to extend past full wire wheel covers. The other 2 were on an Isuzu Trooper II. These had heavy chrome plated valve caps installed. All of the failures were at or just outboard of the valve stem hole in the wheel. I don't know if they failed due to age or constant flexing. Suggest adding a valve stem check on a regular basis.
Mike
Ah...you've identified the achilles heel of this system...flexing/stress on the rubber valve stems from the extra weight on the end of the stems.

Although a visual/manual valve stem check is certainly a good idea, these pressure sensors will automatically detect (and warn if it gets large enough) any pressure loss due to cracked valve stems. So I'm not at all concerned that the kind of pressure loss you had will go undetected. Kind of a dual edged sword...the sensors may accelerate deterioration of the rubber stems but they'll also immediately send a warning if the deterioration results in a significant pressure loss.

That being said, if/when a rubber valve stem does crack and start leaking, it could be a serious problem. My stems are currently in excellent condition...zero weathering and the rubber is very supple. And I've got only 2 more trips this year...around 800 miles total...I'd be really surprised if these stems couldn't last at least that long. Nonetheless, I'm planning on replacing the rubber stems with metal ones at the beginning of next year's towing season.

[rickst29]

Ray, Mike:

You both have 2720s, about the same as my 2619. Did you need to install the optional 'remote antenna', or the in-the-RV signal booster, in order to get good reception at your TV dash?

Or were you able to just put 'em on the stems and get a strong signal WITHOUT any extra stuff?

Thanks in advance. I'm getting one, I think. DW and TM are both worth it.

[wbmiller3]

I have a 2619 and Expedition. I use the Doran system and it works just fine. I even got to test the system out, unfortunately. I had a dual blowout but the system alerted me in time to pull over before the tires came apart. For the whole story see the posting "My First Flat" in the thread called "Flat" under "Frame".

[RockyMtnRay]

Ray, Mike:

You both have 2720s, about the same as my 2619. Did you need to install the optional 'remote antenna', or the in-the-RV signal booster, in order to get good reception at your TV dash?

Or were you able to just put 'em on the stems and get a strong signal WITHOUT any extra stuff?

Thanks in advance. I'm getting one, I think. DW and TM are both worth it.

The answer is "B"...you should not need the extra stuff. I'm able to get plenty of signal strength while towing with just the little stub antenna that came with the monitor. That's with the monitor lying in the tray at the front of my truck's console (i.e. not up near a window). Somewhat amazingly, I've found I can even get a reliable readout when my TV (Tundra truck) is parked along the street in front of my house and the trailer is still in the garage...about 60~70 feet away.

If I were you I'd just get the regular kit and see it how it works...my suspicion is that will be all you need.

P.S. If you don't already have them, the one thing I'd definitely recommend is retrofitting your trailer wheels with metal valve stems. As discussed previously in this thread (and in other recent threads), the rubber valve stems are a weak point. I managed to make it through all of last year's towing season without a failure in either stem but I'm getting metal valve stems installed (in 15 inch rims) before I start towing this year.

[rickst29]

Thank you both for your reports. I will be changing the three valve stems (including spare) to high-pressure-rated metal, per your advice and the valve stem failure threads.

(I'll wait until after the Doran arrives, so that the wheels can be balanced with the monitors in place. :) )

[moodyja]

I can't remember which thread I read where a couple of people asked about the sensor locks for the Pressure Pro sensors. In that thread they stated they could not find them on the Doran site. While I was doing research on the Pressure Pro I found this website that sells the locks. Enjoy

http://www.rvcams.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RBCARVS&Product_Code=PressurePro7050

EDIT: Excuse the above post. I just found the sensor locks on the Doran site as well. I thought I was going to really help. I tried anyway.

[rickst29]

someone without a Doran RECEIVER would want to steal the Sensors off of my tires. So until I get burned, I'm just gonna continue leaving 'em on, naked and unprotected.

Anyway, after shipping, it'll cost almost $20 to protect Sensors which only cost $100 to begin with. The odds of them getting ripped off aren't anywhere near 1:5, I think, and I live in a gambling town-- the SMART MONEY play is to pass on this. But thanks for the post!

BTW, I *love* the Doran, it inspires great confidence. It was amusing to see the tires loose about 4 PSI (when already warmed up to freeway speeds in 70 degree temps), just from the altitude change of going where I live (6000 ft.) down to Sea Level. BTW the difference between cold PSI and warmed up at 70 degrees was from 50 to about 58.5. In upcoming summer heat, it would probably have a larger rise.

Per Goodyear's instructions for the 15" tires on my not-very-heavy 2619, I REALLY ought to drop my 'cold' inflation down to no more than 40 PSI (at 50 PSI cold, the trailer's running way too firm, shaking the h$^#% out of it). Their recommended inflation at my typical weight loaded weight is only 35 PSI! (Going out, we run HEAVY, about 1700 on each TM tire. We always load it up with many gallons of R/O drinking water from home.)

But until now, I haven't had the GUTS to inflate any less than 50 PSI. Now that I'm gonna get an alarm almost instantly for any significant drop, I'm gonna do it. :D

[moodyja]

How are the sensors reprogrammed if you move them to different tires with a lower base line pressure?

[rtcassel]

How are the sensors reprogrammed if you move them to different tires with a lower base line pressure?

The sensor broadcasts the pressure of the tire to the monitor, which displays the pressure on demand. Removing the sensor from the valve stem for 60 seconds will blank out the old pressure. When the sensor is installed, the initial pressure is the base pressure from which the alerting pressures are calculated: 12.5% loss and 25% loss.

[cali camping]

Hey all,
I just installed this system...

http://www.tiresafeguard.com/

It is the Tire-SafeGuard system and it monitors Tire pressure and Temperature. I chose this system because it monitors both pressure and temperature. I used the internal valve stem mounts with the single vehicle configuration and just left one sensor out when I programmed the system. I also installed a sensor on the spare. I did not need any sensors for the TV as Cadillac has them built in. The whole set-up appears to be of very good quality and we take it on the first road trip on Monday...I'll let you know how it works when I return!

Cheers...

[rickst29]

I went with the Doran because I didn't want to take the tires completely off the rims to mount an internal Sensor (of EITHER type capable of measuring interior temperature: either on the inside of the valve stem, or strapped around the wheel). I bet you're gonna love it!

[moodyja]

How much was the Tire-SafeGaurd system? It looks like in some of the promotional pictures one picture of the unit it's silver in other pictures it's black. What color is your unit?

[wbmiller3]

Just got my wheels back from the tire shop after having metal stems installed for the pressure sensors. I decided to check the dates on the tires since they were off anyway. I was glad to see the two I bought in Beaumont last December after my dual blowout were made in June of 2006. But the other one...which I had been running on since the same incident in December...was from late 2000 :eek: It must have been the original factory spare. I am not exactly sure how that all worked out since I changed a tire in July 2005 pre-emptively (I gouged a chunk out of the sidewall on a sharp curb in Memphis). But, looks like I am definitely on borrowed time on that one. I put it on as the spare until I can get a new one. I'll check the date on the one I buy!

[bill s]

i'm about to purchase tires...i need help...what are the trade offs of lt versus st ..and why not buy light truck tires for my 3124kb...(15" wheels)..regardless of what i buy, i intend to purchase a pressure monitor system!!!
someone on this forum must have looked into the light truck versus st tires!!!
thanks....
bill s

[cali camping]

Hey all,
I just installed this system...

http://www.tiresafeguard.com/

It is the Tire-SafeGuard system and it monitors Tire pressure and Temperature. I chose this system because it monitors both pressure and temperature. I used the internal valve stem mounts with the single vehicle configuration and just left one sensor out when I programmed the system. I also installed a sensor on the spare. I did not need any sensors for the TV as Cadillac has them built in. The whole set-up appears to be of very good quality and we take it on the first road trip on Monday...I'll let you know how it works when I return!

Cheers...

Well it appears I was misinformed as to the capabilities of the system. It will not work without an external antenna due to the distance from the wheels to receiver (which I mounted below my TV steering wheel). I now have the external antenna, but have not yet installed it. I will let you all know more as it happens.

[mtnguy]

After PMn RockMtnRay over the last month or so, and asking a bunch of questions, I purchased the Pressure Pro TPMS. It seems to work great, even though I have only traveled about 200 miles since installation.

I am wondering if a slow leak (below the 12.5%) detected by Pressure Pro could save you from a blow-out later. As a tire leaks down.....unbeknownst (is that a word?:confused: ) to the driver due to the isolation of the trailer.....the intregrity of the tire is probably comprimised due to the lessening pressure. I have wondered if some of the blow-outs experienced have been due to this type of situation.

The Pressure Pro system responds within ~5 secs. or so to a total loss of pressure (I tested this by pulling the sensor off). So even if a tire blows, you can rely on the system, instead of eventially feeling the towing difference, seeing the tilt of the TM, or having someone motioning at the TM before you discover the problem. I figure the quicker you slow down or pull off of the road the less chance of damage.


Chap

[rickst29]

If you loose 20-30 PSI "slowly" during a single day, then the PressurePro would definitely save you. In fact, the 20% below "cold initial reading" PSI wouldn't even happen on my Trailer; I punch the "on" and "arrow " buttons every hour or so to see where it is. After going down even 5 PSI, for no obvious reason such as cool-down, I'd have noticed.

But for a REALLY slow leak, everyone checks their tires each morning anyway, right? ;)

I love mine. :D

[cali camping]

Now that I've installed the complete system, it works great. I did have to wire in an additional antenna to reach the TM wheels. The small display that is installed in the TV cabin is black in color. I will try and take pictures next time I install it for travel. It is nice to be able to instantly check each tires pressure and temperature. From what I can tell the temperatures go up approximately 50 degrees during flatland towing and the pressures come up approximately 5 psi. I have not done any mountain towing or extended braking to see how that changes things.

[ShrimpBurrito]

Chip - How has the Tire Safeguard TPMS been working for you? I'm tossing around getting a system, and am exploring what products are out there......Doran, Hella, Safeguard, etc.

Thanks,
Dave

[wbmiller3]

Doran just came out with a new system called 360RV or somesuch. Pressure Pro is still supported, but by a different bunch of folks. The new Doran looks nice, but I'll hang with Pressure Pro for now.

[cali camping]

Chip - How has the Tire Safeguard TPMS been working for you? I'm tossing around getting a system, and am exploring what products are out there......Doran, Hella, Safeguard, etc.

Thanks,
Dave

Dave,
Working as advertised. Using the display for the unit, I constantly cycle through the wheels checking temps and pressures as we cruise down the road. The associated manuals that came with the unit are kind of weak as far as technical information is concerned though.
I would buy another one if something happened to this one...I like having temperature and pressure readings and warnings.

[wmtire]

Just FYI, I read today in one of my trade journals that Costco was now selling a TPMS system for trailers/rv's. It was also called PressurePro, but I don't know if is the same one made by Doran. Maybe our members who have one can look at the link below and tell if it is.

I don't have a Costco anywhere near me (nor ever been in one), but just know they are a warehouse club. Just passing along the info. I did a search on their site and found this.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Productgroup.aspx?Prodid=11307270&search=pressure&Mo=15&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=pressure&Ntt=pressure&No=13&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

[nonichris]

The monitor looks different from what we bought recently from Doran...but the description is similar enough to think they might be made by the same people.

[mtnguy]

The monitor looks different from what we bought recently from Doran...but the description is similar enough to think they might be made by the same people.

Chris & Noni,

Y'all might have the 360 series by Doran that is now available. I have the older system, and it looks exactly like what Bobby posted from Costco. You can check it out at: http://www.tirepressuremonitor.com/index.htm.
They don't list the 360 series on that website, but the Doran site has it at: http://www.doranmfg.com/rvtirepressuremonitors.htm

I paid $190 for the 16 wheel (just in case of a MH and toad in the future :))dash unit, and $50 ea. ($100) for the sensors for the Trailmanor. The Costco price seems good, although I don't think you have the flexibility to buy a mega tire unit with just 2 sensors as I did.

Chap

[mtnguy]

In checking out my dash unit, and the instructions, I don't see the word "Doran" anywhere. RockyMtnRay posted it as a Doran in his orginal post on this thread, with a link to the Doran website. At the time he posted that, I think it referred to the units that we have. I have the exact setup as in his pictures. He was very helpful in a couple of PMs back and forth when I was considering the setup. Doran probably made the "Pressure Pro" system before the "360" system. Both systems seem very similar in their specs. The system that I have (and in Bobby's link) works well for me without a repeater. I do appreciate the technical support that I needed 1 time from the seller where I bought mine.

Chap

[Joseph]

Looks like the model before the 360. Doran had them on sale a while back when they introduced the 360.

[wbmiller3]

I agree with all of the above. The Costco unit looks like the Pressure Pro that I have, which I bought from Doran, but is now serviced by Pressure Pro. Doran now sells a newer model.

[nonichris]

Our Doran 360RV has the Doran name on the monitor just below the screen in rather large letters.

[mcgyver210]

Anyone tried the ones available on eBay I looked last night & there are quite a few available. I just ordered 3 new new Alloy wheels for ours & will be switching the tires over anyway so I may try one of the ones that use internal sensors instead of external sensors.

Also the ones on Costco look just like the ones on Dorans site in the clearance section.

[Civil_War_Buff]

Now that several folks have had a couple of years experience using these TPMS I was wondering what the consensus is on them now? I purchased the Hopkins system a couple years ago, but I have yet to install them. I hope that the batteries for the sensors last a few more years. But I will definitely put them on before our trip back east next year.

I know of 1 member that has the same system, but I was wondering if anyone else has the Hopkins? And what do you think?

http://tinyurl.com/44qx4yg

[Barb&Tim]

We have been using the TST 510 system since Feb. On our last camping trip, got a low pressure alarm on one of the TV front tires before i even felt the difference in handling. Had enough time to find a safe place to pull off the two lane road that we were on to change to the spare. Changing a flat is never convenient but i felt better that i was able to get off the highway to do it.

Tim

[countrygirl]

I am curious. Do lights flash when you are getting a flat or do these things just beep?

[Joseph]

On mine three things happend...;)

1. Green "OK" indicator goes to a large bright red light...:new_evil:

2. An obnoxious beeping starts....:new_Eyecr

3. A flat tire symbol appears on the LCD....:eek:

and while this is not part of the package....

I have a heart attack.....

[rumbleweed]

I have been using the TST 501 system this year ( had the earlier version in previous years) and I love it. Have only had one tire issue since I have had them and the system gave me plenty of warning to get it fixed before any major issues arose. The 501 has replaceable batteries which is nice as they permanent batteries did not last as long as advertised and the new system cost just as much as replacement sensors for the old system. The biggest thing for me is knowing what is going on with the tires from inside the TV and the comfort that I can catch and correct most problems before they can cause further damage. One word of caution, if you use TPMS , you should use metal valve stems.

[wbmiller3]

On the Doran an extremely loud beeping alarm goes off and the tire pressure of the affected tire is displayed on the digital readout.

And, as Joseph said, you have a cardiac event.

Mine has gone off once when I had a dual tire failure due to road debris. I credit the system with allowing me to get off the road before catastrophic failure of the tire. When the alarm went off I had not noticed any difference in handling (note: the 2nd tire did not alarm until I had finished changing the first one...it had a much smaller leak).

[Barb&Tim]

I am curious. Do lights flash when you are getting a flat or do these things just beep?

On our TST 510, Blinking red light, beeping and display of the tire pressure and temperature of the tire. An alarm can be triggered by pressure or temperature with this system.

Tim

[Civil_War_Buff]

One word of caution, if you use TPMS , you should use metal valve stems.

Why is that?

[Barb&Tim]

The extra weight of the sensors tend to stress the rubber valve stem more than normal which might cause the rubber valve stems to fail.

I got metal valve stems at NAPA but see my caution note here:

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showpost.php?p=81544&postcount=37

Tim

[rumbleweed]

When I swapped out the rubber for metal stems on my old wheels, I got the stems at a local trailer supply shop for $2.50 each. Took them and the wheels to my local tire ship where they replaced the stems on all three wheels and balanced for $15.00

[Scottie Dogs]

When I swapped out the rubber for metal stems on my old wheels, I got the stems at a local trailer supply shop for $2.50 each. Took them and the wheels to my local tire ship where they replaced the stems on all three wheels and balanced for $15.00

Good information, after my mud flaps that is next on my list.

[Civil_War_Buff]

The extra weight of the sensors tend to stress the rubber valve stem more than normal which might cause the rubber valve stems to fail.

I got metal valve stems at NAPA but see my caution note here:

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showpost.php?p=81544&postcount=37

Tim

Thanks Tim, I was able to find them on ebay for $1.00 / 4.

Did you have the tires balanced with the sensors on? I think that makes good sense, but do they weigh enough to throw the balance off enough to be concerned??????

[rumbleweed]

They claim you don`t need rebalancig, but with metal stems and sensors, I had tires balanced with sensors in place.

[countrygirl]

Thanks for the information.

[Mkilmurry]

When you say street side, what do you mean?

[rickst29]

When you park a TM along the highway (and open it, for some reason) the entry door is along the curb. So that's 'curb side' The 'Street Side' is the side which is closer to traffic, and the center line of the road.

Or, here's another way to explain: 'street side' = Port side (for land-lubbers :p); 'curb side' is Starboard side.

[Mkilmurry]

When you park a TM along the highway (and open it, for some reason) the entry door is along the curb. So that's 'curb side' The 'Street Side' is the side which is closer to traffic, and the center line of the road.

Or, here's another way to explain: 'street side' = Port side (for land-lubbers :p); 'curb side' is Starboard side.

Thanks!