I purchased an Oricom System with a repeater unit at back of tow vehicle which gives continuous coverage, As a truck based motorhome with trailer took a while to set alarm setting up, now working as required.
The wheels are approx 20 feet from the unit, but it has difficulty in picking them up.
I get the occasional connection, but its sporadic and inconsistent.
What did you do (if anything) to fix it?
Basically, you're stuffed.
The wheel transmitters are not producing sufficient RF energy for the receiver to pick them up.
I'm clutching at straws but you could try:
Moving the receiver to different locations over as great an area as possible, change locations about 150mm each time.
Tape a piece of aluminium foil to the base of the receiver covering the full area of the box.
Move the receiver to a location as high as possible.
Take a piece of thin electrical wire about 2m long and wrap about four closely spaced (adjacent) turns around the receiver box then place the remaining 1m or so of wire in a straight line across the car, along the dashboard maybe?
After the above, give up and have a beer :)
__________________
"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
A few questions about repeaters:
.How are they powered? Hard wired to a 12V source? Plugged to a 12V outlet if available? Own internal battery that needs recharging or replacement?
. I am assuming that the repeaters are not hard wired to the main TPMS display panel, is that correct?
. Estimate of size?
. Does repeater go in the vehicle or as a weather/water proof item that mounts under the vehicle somewhere?
I have tried some less expensive TPMS units that have been dash mounted only, and though the van's tyre pressure signals have transmitted ok while at rest or starting on journey, the van's signals are lost after a period of time, say after 30 minutes.
I have TPMS, saved us 4 tyres. We don't tow so can't help on the repeater.
Even though the batteries last a long time. It would be worthwhile checking their voltage as signal is reduced with tied batteries which I noticed on our car. Or cheap or old batteries that may have come with the unit to start with.
__________________
Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
Perhaps manufacturing an antenna(what you are suggesting) could be a simple fix.
If you're game to open the box, locate the internal antenna connection on the PCB and solder 1m of wire to that then lay the wire across the dashboard I'll almost guarantee it will work.
The existing antenna will probably be a loop of track about 25mm diameter on the PCB.
__________________
"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
Perhaps manufacturing an antenna(what you are suggesting) could be a simple fix.
If you're game to open the box, locate the internal antenna connection on the PCB and solder 1m of wire to that then lay the wire across the dashboard I'll almost guarantee it will work.
The existing antenna will probably be a loop of track about 25mm diameter on the PCB.
Perhaps manufacturing an antenna(what you are suggesting) could be a simple fix.
If you're game to open the box, locate the internal antenna connection on the PCB and solder 1m of wire to that then lay the wire across the dashboard I'll almost guarantee it will work.
The existing antenna will probably be a loop of track about 25mm diameter on the PCB.
Valkie said he was going to give Mike's suggestion a try and I think that I might have a go also. Nothing to loose for me.
Would there be any advantage in running some of the added antenna up along an A pillar near the windscreen?
I am still interested in receiving any comments regarding repeaters.
Would there be any advantage in running some of the added antenna up along an A pillar near the windscreen?
Probably not. The PCB loop antenna in these sorts of products is so inadequate, but cheap!, that almost anything is an improvement. I mentioned one metre of wire but it may be that 6" would do, try it and see.
Due to transmission lobes it is probably worthwhile to run the wire across the car rather than in-line with it?
__________________
"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
I have a Safety Dave unit, and like Valkie had difficulty in getting the caravan senders to register on the monitor (sitting on the dashboard). When I reported this to Safety Dave, he sent a transponder/repeater unit to me to put in the back of the tug. It worked well. I then made it a permanent home on the A-bar of the caravan connected to 12 volts from the car to the van. This also worked well for a year or three. It now does not work at all and I suspect that the repeater is faulty because the van senders work if I put them on the tug. I've never had a problem with the car senders, only the van senders because they are further away from the monitor.
I might give the "lengthen antenna" trick a go. Thanks for that tip, Mike.
Looking at the specs of some of the systems advertised I see that the receiver range can vary between systems. Some have only 5 meters while others have 20 meters. Or maybe it was 20 feet and I assumed it was meters. But their receiver sensitivity varies.
