Installing the TireMinder TPMS

Having read a lot of reviews and understanding that there are several highly recommended tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS), I decided to buy a TireMinder A1A system from Minder Research.  You can read about this system on their web site and can buy it from one of their dealers (like Camping World) or on Amazon.

The TPMS consists mainly of a display monitor that is about the size of a cell phone, a signal booster, and a valve-mounted transmitter for each tire.  The monitor can operate on batteries, but it has a standard micro USB connector on the monitor side and a standard USB connector on the other so that you can plug it into any USB charging device.  It comes with a 12V car plug that has a USB port on the back, so you can charge the monitor with your regular cell phone charger or using a cigarette plug in the RV or tow vehicle.  You should also be able to charge it with a USB charge port on your PC.

A small battery-operated transmitter replaces the existing valve stem cover for each of the tires.  In my case, I needed 8 transmitters for the RV and another 4 for the truck I'm pulling.  The package I bought includes 6 sensors, so I had to buy another six that came in packs of two.

The signal booster that comes with the package is used to repeat weaker signals.  Minder Research recommends that it be placed somewhere at the rear of the coach, so I asked Lazy Days to install ours, which they did.  They put it in the rear engine area and attached it to the 12V cables coming from the chassis battery compartment.

When you open the transmitters, you have to unscrew their caps and insert the included batteries.  They are the disc-type batteries like the ones in watches, and Minder Research will replace them free if you register and then send them your old batteries when replacement is needed.

After installing all of the batteries, the next step was to install the transmitters and to program the monitor with the baseline tire pressures.  If you follow their simple instructions, doing this is surprisingly easy.  You press a couple of buttons on the monitor, then move (using the right/left keys on the monitor) to the tire you want to program.  Then you screw any transmitter on the tire you've selected.  The monitor beeps.  Done.  Move to the next tire.

After all of the transmitters are installed, you put the monitor into another mode where you cycle through each tire and enter its baseline pressure.  After you've done this, you're finished!

The day after I installed this TPMS, we drove from Orlando to Tampa.  About 45 minutes into our trip, the A1A sounded an alarm and NoS came up on the display.  Cycling through the tires showed pressures, except for one of the tires on our toad that had "NoS".  The manual indicated that it could be a loss of signal and reprogramming that transmitter may be required.  I decided that I'd handle it when we got to our site.  About 15 minutes later, the same alarm sounded for another tire on the truck.  And, like clock work, we got a third alarm about 15 minutes after that for still another (3rd) tire on the truck.  My conclusion was that the signal booster in the RV wasn't doing its job, but I thought I'd take a look later.

Overall, the installation was simple and easy to do.  During our first short trip to the Tampa RV Show (where we are now), it worked well for the coach and reported all pressures and temperatures as we cycled through them on the monitor during the drive.

Look for another short post after I investigate those "NoS" alerts.

Upcoming plans: a new rim, a tow bar, the Tampa Show, and a bit of Fort Wilderness

Having found a place to park the rig near the Orlando International Airport, which is only about 15 minutes from my soon-to-be-sold house, it's time to look ahead and make a few plans for the near future.

While we were at Stone Mountain, my neighbor suggested that I look at the Tyron Flat tire protection system.  This system consist of bands that are wrapped around the hub of your tire rim (there's a well inside that the band fills).  The bands prevent your tires from quickly being shredded by the rim in the event of a blowout, allowing increased stability and control.  They also allow you to continue driving a short distance.  Tyron bands seemed like a great safety feature to put in the front tires, so the day after leaving the campground, I asked our dealer to install them.  Tyron bands are not cheap:  it was a little over $1000 per tire.  But the peace of mind and the capabilities it provides will undoubtedly pay for itself.

While our dealer was installing the Tyron bands, they made two small scratches on the right front rim.  To their credit, they told me about it immediately and even made all of the arrangements to have a new one shipped to the closest dealer to my house (Independence RV in Winter Garden, FL) for installation at their expense.  Again, I can't say enough about National Indoor RV Centers and, in particular, Todd's staff at the dealership in Lilburn, GA. 

Next up will be a trip to Independence RV to have the new rim installed. 

During the last week of December, we're trying to line up a few things with Lazy Days in Tampa.  Ideally, we want to go over and spend two or three nights while they install a Blue Ox towing bar on our coach and a base plate and an Air Force One braking system on our Ram 1500.  We can also both attend their Driver Confidence Course while we are over there.  We're waiting on Lazy Days to call and let us know if they can put it all together.

On January 12th, we'll head over for five nights of camping on-site with the Newmar Kountry Klub at the Tampa RV SuperShow.  It's a buddy rally, and my brother-in-law is bringing along his new Fleetwood Expedition 38s.  It should be a great opportunity to learn a lot from all of the other Newmar Owners, see all of the things at the show, and buy some items at the exposition's.  If all goes well with Lazy Days, we can even tow our truck over and go out to some local restaurants for dinner!

It won't be over when we leave the fairgrounds on Sunday morning.  We'll be heading straight to Fort Wilderness Campground at Walt Disney World for a three night stay.  This time, two of my grandchildren will be joining us - and so will my sister, brother-in-law, and two of their grandkids.  

That'll take us through January.  Guess it's time to start thinking about the months to follow...

Viair RV Air Compressor

After reading so much about maintaining the RV's tires, I knew that it would be wise to get a portable air compressor.  It needed to be one that wouldn't take up too much space and had the ability to handle the higher pressures that larger RV tires need.

Looking at various sites and reading responses in forums like irv2, I decided to get a Viair Portable Air Compressor model 400PA-RV (P/N 40047).  It came yesterday afternoon!

This compressor connects to your 12V car or RV battery and includes two 30' long stretch hoses that can be connected together to reach all of the RV's tires no matter how large it is.  The package includes the compressor, a nozzle with a pressure gauge, hoses, a connector to fill "normal" (not the inside tires) tires, an extension so you can reach in and fill the inside tires (for dual wheels) and a kit of small adapters to fill things like rafts and balls. It uses no oil, will fill tires up to 150 PSI and has an automatic shut-off function so it turns itself on and off between tire fills.

I got ours on Amazon.

Here's Viair's Youtube video:

Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)

[Please see update information at the end of this article!]

Maintaining the correct tire pressure is good for your bike, important for your car, and extremely necessary for your motorhome.  There are dozens of articles and videos about this.

Many late model cars have Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) already installed.  These allow you to press a button or two and see the pressures in all four of the tires.  RVs don't typically have them, but you can get the systems from several manufacturers.

Motorhomes carry a lot of weight.  The eight tires on my motorhome will be supporting over 22 tons of fuel, steel beams, a large engine, tile, cabinets, water, and passengers while cruising down the highway at more than 60 miles per hour.  The last thing in the world I want is a blowout.  In a car, you can often tell if something's wrong with a tire and certainly know when there's a blowout.  In an RV, you won't necessarily be able to tell if a rear tire blows because there's another tire beside it.  And if you're pulling a toad, you won't feel anything when its tires have problems or blowouts.

One of your best chances of avoiding catastrophe with your tires is to install a TPMS.  A typical system consist of little transmitters that screw on your tire's valve stems in place of the cap, and a receiver that is located in view of the driver.  The TPMS display shows a small graphic that represents the locations of your wheels and, beside each of them, the tire pressure.  A good TPMS can also monitor the temperature of the tires, as an overheating tire is a sure indication of trouble.

When you get the TPMS, you are guided to put on each sensor and link it to the monitor (so you can match the sensor to the appropriate tire's graphic).  Then you set the device's limits for things like warning thresholds for pressure and temperature.  If those measures pass the threshold, you'll get an audible and visible alert.  

Like several of the things we'll be getting, I've never held one in my hand - but I think I know what I'm going to get based on reading reviews, watching videos and searching forums for information.  TireMinder, Pressure Pro, EEZ, and TireTracker are often mentioned and seem to be popular.  Honestly, it seemed almost a coin toss between them.  

I finally selected the TireMinder A1A because it had all of the necessary features, good reviews and its display looked better than any of them.  It was important to me that the unit be capable to also put sensors on the toad.  That's 12 total sensors.  You can also take the portable display with you when you take the toad out on trips without the motorhome and switch it to "car mode only" so you're just watching the toad's tires.  There is an optional signal booster that receives and repeats the toad's transmitter signals because of the long distance between them and the driver of the motorhome.  The TireMinder A1A isn't cheap:  12 sensors, the display and the booster will clock in at about $700.  If anyone knows where I can get a coupon or something, let me know.  And if you think I'm making a bad choice, let me know about it.

If interested in the TireMinder, check out my article called Installing the TireMinder TPMS.

UPDATE!  It's 2019 now, and I discovered some issues with my TireMinder monitor losing signals from the sensors - even with the repeater(s) installed.  I changed to the TST 507.  Please see my video about the TST 507 on my YouTube Channel.