Hella TPMS

[charlie56]

Anyone roated your tires yet with the HELLA TPMS? How do you reprogram for rotation? On Page 47 of the manual it states "please follow the Tire Rotation procedure to change wheel locations on your display." Maybe I'm blind but I don't see that procedure in the manual. Page 48 starts the Re-programming procedure but not a simple tire rotation. What am I missing?

[yvrr]

As far as I can determine, you have to redo the initial procedure, the same as the original startup. Hold the Check button, turn on the ignition, start with the LF tire and let out at least 3 psi, etc. The only difference is that the percentages originally programmed are still in the system. This is what I had to do when I had to replace one of the transmitters.

BTW, I got my replacement transmitter installed for the one that would stop broadcasting, reprogrammed everything, and on the first trip out, the new transmitter stopped transmitting after about 20 minutes, just like the previous one. UGH! Since everything worked fine for 6 months, I'm not sure what the problem is now....I've e-mailed Hella and will share the solution once I get it working again.

[John and Dana]

Jack,

Did you find any resolution to this problem? My right rear tire sensor keeps dropping out causing the system alarms to go off.

Thanks John

[Greg In Austin]

Very interesting...... our right rear also drops out very frequently. It works most of the time it seems, but will frequently the system will lose communication with the right rear and set an alarm. It seems to be a special communication alarm with an antenna symbol. After a couple of minutes it will be communicating fine again.

Much much less frequently we will see the spare lose communication.

This is annoying since that tire is the one that seems to carry the most weight and is the one that needs the closest monitoring.

Do we know anything about what is going on? or how to correct?

I will be talking to SMB TX about it this week.

[yvrr]

Interestingly, I've been e-mailing Hella tech support and trying some things. When I originally installed the Hella TMS, I mounted the receiver on the side of the doghouse and just coiled the antenna up and used a wire tie to keep it out of the way. As I recall, I had a good signal and decided that the installation was acceptable. After 6-8 months, I started getting the "dropped communication" alert from the right rear tire about 20 minutes after it was turned on. I turn off the system but it usually takes a while for the communications to be restored.

Replacing the right rear transmitter didn't solve the problem and Hella offered the following suggestions:

"Some vehicles have accessories that will interfere with the monitoring system. This can be fixed by simply relocating the antenna. Some will run the antenna under the dash. We have found that if you extend the antenna it's full length this drastically changes reception for the better. This may be the case with you. If this problem persist, then I would advise you to do a warranty claim with the retailer of purchase."

The other day, I clipped the wire tire and used duct tape to stretch the antenna across the firewall. During a drive following this change, the system didn't drop out after 20 minutes and I thought that I had solved the problem. However, an hour later, I loss communication with the same right rear tire. But when I checked things later, I found that the duct tape had slipped and the antenna was just hanging down. So, that might have been the cause of the failure after the hour and a half.

I'm assuming that SMB installations haven't had problems so I e-mailed Alan Feld at SMB West about their installations. He got back to me and said:

"We mount the antenna by taping it to the back of the knee protector in front of the drivers seat. The more you can have the anti stretched out, the better for reception. The receiver is mounted in this same area by the factory Ford fuse panel."

I'm assuming that the knee protector is the pull-out panel under and on both sides of the steering wheel column.

So, my next attempt will be to move the receiver and antenna. I don't think that I can get it up to the top of the dash but that might be a good spot for the antenna. It would seem that taping it to the steel knee protector would interfere with reception so if I can't get the antenna to the dash I might try getting it away from metal objects. I will then reboot the system so that I can get to the signal strength screen. I asked Hella how to do this and they responded:

"I believe the auxiliary power has to be disconnected. This is the power source that holds the memory when the system is shut down. Basically, disconnect all power and start over. This should start all programs again. I'm afraid you may have to program sensors again."

If the signal is as strong as possible in the new configuration, I'll reprogam the system and then turn it on for a couple of hours and see if that solves the problem. I'll let everyone know.

Greg and John...did you install your own system or did SMB do it. If you did it yourself, where is the antenna and receiver. If SMB did the install, does Alan's description of their installation match your installation?

Man, I sure hate tracking down such problems...I don't mind doing the install but once it is working, having something start failing is very frustrating!

[Greg In Austin]

Jack,

Thanks for all the info.

Ours was installed by SMB TX.



...and here is where it is located...

I will have to find our where the antenna is located. I suppose it could either go across the cab roof or it could go down the pillar to be stretched out.

Has Hella said anything about the distance that these should be able to communcate over?

.

[Greg In Austin]

....and additional question....

Is the antenna part of the power wiring or is it seperate?

.

[yvrr]

Hella says that transmitters can be up to 32' away from the receiver and that they have been tested to 249 mph. There are two main components....the receiver which is a black box about the size of a pack of cigs (how long before we no longer use that size reference!) It will have three wires coming into it...engine battery power, ground, and ignition power. (The battery power keeps the settings saved.) The antenna comes out of this black box and three wires from the display unit plug into it.

[Greg In Austin]

Ahhh... so all I am seeing is the display. I need to find out where the black box is to have any idea where the antenna might be....

[Skywagon]

Has anyone tried just pitching the whole TPMS and checking tire pressures with a gauge like we used to do back when the Earth was cooling?
Bill