What is some of your Pet Peeve's

[drssg]

Never even thought of this, as I haven't ever had a TPMS fail, short of corrosion causing the stem to literally snap off. Are failing batteries in TPMS sensors a normal thing? I have had cars with TPMS for up to 12 years, and have never seen a low battery warning. I presently have one truck 10 years old and another car at 9 years, still on original TPMS's.

I think it's normal that they fail after a period of time. My truck and motorcycle sensors failed at around ten years. The sensors have a standard coin-style battery that can't possibly hold a charge indefinitely.

Some people get extra frugal and do some soldering work to just replace the battery in the sensor.

 

[WinterDeere]

I think it's normal that they fail after a period of time. My truck and motorcycle sensors failed at around ten years. The sensors have a standard coin-style battery that can't possibly hold a charge indefinitely.

Some people get extra frugal and do some soldering work to just replace the battery in the sensor.

Makes sense. But given all the energy going into a wheel (making it spin!), you'd think some simple transducer could be arranged to just keep the damn things charged. Replace battery with supercapacitor, and voila... Never-die TPMS sensors!

Either that, or just make the damn things passive, like RFID. The transmit distance is only a few feet, shouldn't be that hard to harvest sufficient energy from the transmitter in the car, at that range.

 

[drssg]

Makes sense. But given all the energy going into a wheel (making it spin!), you'd think some simple transducer could be arranged to just keep the damn things charged. Replace battery with supercapacitor, and voila... Never-die TPMS sensors!

Either that, or just make the damn things passive, like RFID. The transmit distance is only a few feet, shouldn't be that hard to harvest sufficient energy from the transmitter in the car, at that range.

If you can design it, that sounds like it would make you filthy rich!

It's definitely beyond my skills. I'm happy just to be able to change my own oil.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I have a Tissot auto-quartz watch that is self-winding, as it somehow charges a capacitor by the movement of my wrist ... Similar to this Tissot PRX Titanium 38mm | Model T1378074406100 | Tissot® United States

Maybe the tire rotation could do that too?

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Apparently one sensor is bad on my new Kia. I should have it checked under warranty. All tires exact same pressure and the spare, but light came on dash. I left car battery disconnected 24 hours and turned headlights on to bleed off any charge...but light still on.
Finally went off after about 50 miles.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Or maybe they could come up with a tiny solar panel chip for the cap of the tpms ?

 

[alexpops]

mini alternator in the "spinner" hub caps? give them a practical purpose

 

[WinterDeere]

Or maybe they could come up with a tiny solar panel chip for the cap of the tpms ?

No need. If RFID style TPMS's can't handle the application by harvesting energy off the transmission signal from an RFID transmit module in the vehicle to re-transmit their data, it you could harvest energy just off the rotation of the wheel itself, the way electric self-winding wrist watches have been recharging themselves since the 1970's.

These problems are not insurmountable, really not even new or difficult, so we can probably assume the reason comes down to cost or reliability. When a $1 LiIon battery solves the problem pretty well for the duration of the warranty period, there might not be justification for other solutions costing 10x more. I suspect that if batteries didn't outlast the warranty, then we might be seeing more of these solutions.

mini alternator in the "spinner" hub caps? give them a practical purpose

lol...

 

[drssg]

Apparently one sensor is bad on my new Kia. I should have it checked under warranty. All tires exact same pressure and the spare, but light came on dash. I left car battery disconnected 24 hours and turned headlights on to bleed off any charge...but light still on.
Finally went off after about 50 miles.

I have also seen where the sensor will occasionally start working again for a bit. I suspect that the heat from the tire can warm the battery enough to make it temporarily work again.

 

[gstrom99]

Ok, since we're on the subject of grammar, mine is by no means perfect, but I was taught to use adverbs when modifying action words. I constantly here advertisements that use adjectives instead of adverbs. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me every time. It happens so often that I'm starting to question whether or not it's poor English.

Ironic, in this post. Here vs hear.

 

[lman]

Ok, since we're on the subject of grammar, mine is by no means perfect, but I was taught to use adverbs when modifying action words. I constantly here advertisements that use adjectives instead of adverbs. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me every time. It happens so often that I'm starting to question whether or not it's poor English.

Don't correct grammar if you can't spell.

 

[kenmbz]

Never even thought of this, as I haven't ever had a TPMS fail, short of corrosion causing the stem to literally snap off. Are failing batteries in TPMS sensors a normal thing? I have had cars with TPMS for up to 12 years, and have never seen a low battery warning. I presently have one truck 10 years old and another car at 9 years, still on original TPMS's.

All four of my 2011 TPMS sensors have died, many many years ago.
Over 140,000 miles. They died years ago,

 

[WinterDeere]

Ironic, in this post. Here vs hear.

In defense of the typo's, I routinely find the wrong "their, there, they're" or "its, it's" in my own posts, despite knowing very well which (witch) to use! My excuse is that I'm just blasting out a post as quickly as possible, often on a tiny screen, this is hardly a forum for peer-reviewed and edited papers.

 

[gstrom99]

In defense of the typo's, I routinely find the wrong "their, there, they're" or "its, it's" in my own posts, despite knowing very well which (witch) to use! My excuse is that I'm just blasting out a post as quickly as possible, often on a tiny screen, this is hardly a forum for peer-reviewed and edited papers.

Ha. Me too. Fat finger syndrome here. I often go back, read my post and edit it.

 

[WinterDeere]

All four of my 2011 TPMS sensors have died, many many years ago.
Over 140,000 miles. They died years ago,

I suspect it's the time, more than the mileage. I've kept one or two cars past 140k miles, we used to have long commutes that would really rack up a lot of miles fast. But I don't think I've ever owned a vehicle as old as 14 years, since they started coming with TPMS's, which might explain why I've never seen this.

We usually start "thinking about" a vehicle replacement around 10 years, with a goal to move them out before their 12th birthday. Especially my trucks, which generally sit outdoors and get driven most in snow and salt, they tend to start rusting pretty quick around year 12.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Ironic, in this post. Here vs hear.

HAHAHA! I stand corrected!

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Makes sense. But given all the energy going into a wheel (making it spin!), you'd think some simple transducer could be arranged to just keep the damn things charged. Replace battery with supercapacitor, and voila... Never-die TPMS sensors!

Either that, or just make the damn things passive, like RFID. The transmit distance is only a few feet, shouldn't be that hard to harvest sufficient energy from the transmitter in the car, at that range.

Actually a good idea and free power. For many years small gas motors have used induction for charging and ignition via magnet(s) in the flywheel and magneto coil outside for spark and coil inside for battery charging. Totally free power that could be utilized.

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

Actually a good idea and free power. For many years small gas motors have used induction for charging and ignition via magnet(s) in the flywheel and magneto coil outside for spark and coil inside for battery charging. Totally free power that could be utilized.

It wasn't free power. The engine had to work harder to produce that spark. It was miniscule, but it wasn't free. It's no more free than electricity created by an alternator turned by a belt on the engine. It reminds me of when I worked at a subsidiary of GM and was sitting in on a patent review meeting. An engineer suggested putting a mini windmill on the hood to generate "free" electricity. An engineer who presumably passed at least one thermodynamics class in college. I thought he should have been fired for incompetence.

 

[Oaktree]

Speaking of grammar police, the usage of "U" and "UR" to replace "You" and "Your" respectively has me wondering what happens to all the discarded "Yo"s.

I think they end up in rap songs.

 

[WinterDeere]

It wasn't free power. The engine had to work harder to produce that spark.

Yep... nothing is free, in science and theory. But in Fuddy's defense, when you start adding up the practical dollars and cents of competing solutions, then it can indeed be considered nearly "free" to the engineers and bean counters.

There's that old joke about a scientist and an engineer, each being placed 10 paces from a beautiful woman, and being told that each time they answer a question correctly, they can move half their current distance closer to the woman. The scientist lashes out in frustration, "it's pointless, I will never reach her!"

Then he looks at the engineer who's smiling, and asks "what are you so happy about?" The engineer just says, "I'll get close enough for practical purposes."