Under Pressure

Not a boat related post this time, but still gadget related.

We have a modest and quite economical 4X4 car which we use to ferry us and all our kit backwards and forwards to the boat.

Very useful its been too, especially in all the wintry weather that we've seen just recently.

The first mate is always fooled by the balloon-like tyres fitted to the car and she often asks me if I think this tyre or another looks a bit on the flat side.

So, I've fitted this device to the car.

Its a wireless tyre sensor.

The dust caps on the valves are replaced by little barrel shaped wireless transmitters which lock on to the tyre valve with a special key.

The four of them independently transmit coded messages to the receiver/display at the driving position and as you can see from the photographs, these are continuously displayed.







This is the pressure display in PSI.




This is the tyre temperature display in Degrees Centigrade.

The display has an inbuilt alarm which will detect high tyre temperature, high tyre pressure, low tyre pressure and quickly failing tyre pressures, for all four wheels.




A few years ago, I had a Renault which had this as standard. Beautiful car - could cruise on the motorway all day and when you got out, you still felt as fresh as a daisy.
It had one of these devices fitted as factory standard fit.

Anyway, one day, driving down the M3, it told me that one tyre was slowly losing air - slow puncture ?
As I was doing 70mph, I was able to slow down to a safer speed, pull off the motorway at the first opportunity and top up the air.

By monitoring the loss of pressure and regularly topping up, I got to Southampton, just a few minutes late. The wheel was changed and all was fine (there was a nail in the leaking one).

Had I not had this, I could have run flat at speed.

Always left a lasting impression did that gadget.

Anyway, lets see how it works out on this car.