Tyrepal TPMS (retrofit) - opinions?
 

Earlier this year we attended a C&CC THS at Sandringham flower show and on the way there I had a tyre blowout on the caravan.

I was on the A1(M) at the time and the hard shoulder was coned off for quite a distance so I couldn't stop to investigate.

I put the flashers on and crawled in lane 1 at about 10mph until I could stop but I must have done several miles like that.

When I did stop the tyre was totally shredded and the hard shoulder was too narrow to do a wheel change safely so I continued to the next services which we had seen signposted a little earlier.

At the services I put my spare on then continued about 90 more miles to Sandringham.

During our time at Sandringham I had two new tyres fitted to the caravan.

The shredded tyre caused damage to the wheel spat which I found difficult to find a replacement for.

With that sequence of events in mind I'm thinking of buying a Tyrepal TPMS to monitor the caravan's tyres.

Is there anyone here uses such a system and if so what is your opinion of it.

Tyrepal's range is claimed to be about 7 metres and, wouldn't you know it, I measured the distance from the caravan's axle to my dasboard and it is just about 7 metres - will it cope?

I know you can get a repeater to extend the range but that is at extra cost.

Anyone here use Tyrepal?

Coln

Hi Colin , we have the TyrePal TC215/B which is fitted just above radio unit on our S60, this reads the 2 already fitted Internal sensors on our Bailey Unicorn and also 4 external sensors on the car works flawlessly without the need for a signal repeater. This I bought 2nd hand from EBay.
We also bought another one for our XC70 this also works flawlessly with the caravan and again the 4 external sensors on the car, this one Is just sitting inside the arm rest and connected to the rear 12volt socket located behind. When we are towing we get get it out and rest in front of the auto leaver centre console. Even if it still inside the arm rest and if anything went wrong the alarm will notify us as we have set the high & low warning pressures. Reason for this I just don't like gazgets bits and bobs showing for me it spoils the interior look.
We paid around £50 this included 4 sensors on EBay.
This is a great piece of mind when towing as you never know what going on behind the back of the car.

Forgot to add our caravan is over 6mtrs this does not include the Aframe.

Thanks Stephen - that's really helpful esp regarding your caravan length and no communication difficulties encountered over that distance ( axle wise ).


The thing about my blowout is that it might not, strictly speaking, have been a blowout.

It took a passing motorist to make me aware of the flat tyre on my caravan's offside - I hadn't noticed it in the driver's seat, must have been recent.

The tyres were date coded 2012 so I was going to change them next year anyway and they were inspected ( as I witnessed ) at service earlier in the year and had no tyrewall cracks etc.

I checked the tyre pressures before departure too.

However, when I had them changed in Kings Lynn the tyre fitter said they were standard car tyres and not really suitable for the caravan even though the combined load index was slightly higher than the MTPLM of my caravan.

They were the tyres fitted when I bought the caravan.

The combined load index on my new tyres are much greater.


It wasn't a good day that day towing to Sandringham.

When I loaded the shredded caravan wheel in the car the following morning to take to the tyre fitters I noticed I had a flat OSR tyre on the car too - the same side as the caravan flat.

I presume they each suffered trauma at the same time with the car tyre only having a slow puncture.


When I first thought of getting a Tyrepal ( 4 sensors ) they were £175 - they have dropped their price recently to £140 so I think that is the way to go.

The recommended dealer price for a new wheel spat for my aged Swift ( if you can find one ) is ( IIRC ) £135 ( unbelievable ), when you also add what I paid for 1 new tyre ( 1 side ), £80 - the price of the Tyrepal doesn't seem too bad to avoid a similar occurrence.

Luckily I picked a spat up for £17 but had to travel to Derby to collect it.
I doubt I'd find another anywhere near that price should the need arise.

Colin

I bought this kit back in September for my twin axle Buccaneer Clipper. Monitor sits in the 12v socket in the front of the console when the van's on the hook, not obtrusive and has alarms set for under/over pressure and over temperature. Works very well and hopefully will give me warning of a slow puncture as well as a complete blowout, which may not be immediately obvious on a twin axle. Cost was about £50.00

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...i_detailpage_o

I decided to buy the TC215/B with 4 sensors and we used it on the caravan during a short break in York this week.

It performed flawlessly even though the distance from my caravan axle to the V70 dashboard is just 7 metres which is the approximate maximum range quoted.

I was able to fit the monitor it to the front of my glovebox by using the metal stand included in the kit which was held securely between the glovebox door and the dash above it - I didn't drill holes etc, it was held in place by friction only.

I found the metal U shaped stand easily slipped out of the holes on the back of of the unit so I opened the legs of the stand a little and put some heat shrink rubber tubing over the ends to give the stand additional friction in the holes of the unit.

It's interesting to see the way that the pressure and temperature of the tyres rise over time, especially when towing at 60 MPH on the motorway.



Colin