Hella TPMS

[Greg In Austin]

I have a hard time checking the pressure while I am driving,.... and I do not want to invest in one of those fancy thermal guns to measure the temp...

[Skywagon]

No, No,! I meant one of those thingys with the chrome tube and the little square plastic rod dealy coming out of the top with numbers on it. You remember?; with a pen clip on it so you could clip it in your shirt pocket and have it with you always? BTW they were wireless too! Course it made it sort of imperative that you stopped before checking your tire pressures, but they always worked and didn't cost $450.00 or whatever those ridiculous things cost now!
Bill

[yvrr]

Air pressure gauges work well when stopped. But one of my concerns is the tires overheating when airing down. Also, while you can check air pressure prior to a trip, you might pick up a nail or other puncture while on the road and not know of the problem. Remember all of the flap over SUV roll-overs a couple of years ago due to under inflation? That resulted in the requirement for on-board TMSs. A catastrophic tire failure might be easily handled with a light-weight automobile but could be extremely difficult to control with one of our vans. There have been posts on the yahoo list about tire blow-outs which resulted in serious accidents (and complete totaling of the SMB).

Yes, a TMS might not prevent every such accident but I'd rather spend the money and have the information...

[Skywagon]

OK, OK, UNCLE!!! Drat!, foiled by technology again!
Bill

[Greggd]

I just removed my Hella System as I was tired of the less than stellar accuracy . After owning numerous for wheel drive vehicles and using them with great frequency from Alaska ,Baja and the Yucutan Peninsula . I have never had a tire fail from airing down and most of these vehicles were equipped with bead locks ,I suppose that it would be possible to run a tire hot enough to separate a side wall or throw a tread . And I have a couple of massive BLOWOUTS and sensors could not have prevented either of them ! I am of the mind that physically monitoring ones tires with frequency is still the best policy and doesn't require you to rely on what might be fault or failed technology . I must also say that our PORSCHE and Navigator are still equipped with factory systems and we have never had any problems with either vehicle . When ever you air down you should be running at a Snails pace anyway !
Greggde

[Greg In Austin]

BUT it is not JUST about monitoring when aired down....

AND even if you have a TPMS you can still physically monitor them where the inverse is not true. If you don't have a TPMS you have to physically monitor and you cannot monitor when rolling.

Given the loads that some of the SMBs carry, I think it is also important to monitor tire pressure and temp when on the hiway. Looking at the occurances of blow outs, I would say the majority have been on the hiway.

Monitoring while aired down may not show you the problems that was creted while aired down. The problem could easily manifest when you are aired back up (more pressure) and spinning faser and getting hot again.

I think this is a belt and suspenders situation. If you physically monitor then the TPMS can only help. THus far (only 6 weeks into ownership) our Hella TPMS has been very accurate on tire pressure. We do not have the equipment to manually monitor temp so I cannot speak to that.

.

[John and Dana]

Our system was installed by SMB West and I have not tracked down where any of the components are located yet. Since we are all having a problem with the same tire it has most likely ruled out a sensor problem. I guess what we need to figure out is are we out of range of the sensor or is there something else interfering and if so can we mount the antenal in a more central location. Greg, I know from the pictures that your SMB is an EB. Jack I don't remeber if yours is an EB or and RB.

Are there any '08 RB owner experiencing the same problem?


John

[Greggd]

John ,
The Hella sensors that I just removed and gave away were on a new 2007 EB-50 that we picked up at Sportsmobile . We had to many inconsistency's with this unit to ever feel that we could rely on the information being given by this system .
This vehicle weighs in at 10,590 pounds with one person and I felt that this option would benefit the safety and function as it does on our PORSCHE and Navigator , this has not been the case and after contact with the factory twice and three visits to an authorized Hella Dealer/Tire Specialist I removed
and gave to one of my friends friends .
Greggde

[Greggd]

Please note that in my earlier post I was refering to to the Hella factory and not Sportsmobile .
Greggde

[yvrr]

John...

We have an EB but the wheelbase is the same on the RB and EB so that would not be a factor.