CAWE Blimey

[Mad Manny]

There is no debate that a TPMS is a very useful addition to your 4x4.

What is a TPMS?
It's stands for Tyre Pressure Monitoring System.
Basically you are able to see what the pressure of each tyre is constantly.

Most TPMS systems also display tyre Temperature.

Wessel loves to mention Boyles law here.
What is Boyles law?
Well basically "the volume of a gas at constant temperature varies inversely with the pressure exerted on it".
But just know that "The hotter a tyre gets, the higher the pressure goes"...
Stuff Boyle!

Do I need a TPMS?
Yes.

What are the Pro's & Con's of having a TPMS?
See post #2...

[Mad Manny]

Manny's TPMS Journey:

I realised a TPMS would be helpful when the Bridgestone Duelers that Fearless came with kept failing (k@k tyres - weak sidewalls).
So I bought the old original TPMS - the Steelmate.
Steelmate TPMS
Steelmate is an internal system, you remove the tyres, pop out the OEM valve, fit the Steelmate vales.
Then there is a contraption you mount on the dash with an antenna & you wire it into the cars wiring to power it.
On the display are four receivers, one on each corner, look like discs, they speak to the corresponding wheel.

While driving you can see the temp & pressure of each tyre.

If you are OCD it can drive you batty as you'll have 3 tyres at, say, 2.5bar & one sat 2.3.

I did a long trip & it was interesting to watch Boyles law in action.
Left Gariep on day two, it was cool, temps were like, 18*C & pressures were 2.2bar,
As we drove & as the day warmed, both Temps & Pressures rose.
Eventually the tyres were at 54*C (well they were all at slightly different temps - the ones on the right side, facing north were a few degrees warmer than the tyres on the shade side).
Pressure rose with heat (Boyles Obvious law) and the tyres were up at around 2.9 bar.

We stopped for lunch, parked in the shade, 40mins later Temps were down to the 30's & pressure had dropped to around 2.4bar.

So it works well, irritates your OCD & is interesting.

Unfortunately after a while one tyre stopped giving readings & the guy who distributes Steelmate was an unhelpful twat.

By swopping the receiver discs out I found the fault was with the sender in the tyre.

He wouldn't sell me a sender, saying I needed to buy a sender & receiver as a set - it was pricey.

Then another failed, this time it was the receiver.

I called him - he wasn't interested.

So I eventually took it out (had to take the @$&?# tyres off to get the senders out).

The other issue was, I was doing Bridgestone challenge & the internal sender units drastically slow down inflating & deflating.

If anyone disagrees, they are wrong.

[Mad Manny]

Then TW&T (Tiger Wheel & Tyre - but TWAT is more fitting) sold a simple TPMS.
The TW&T TPMS I bought one, R2 200,00. There are only 3 parts to it:
The internal wheel monitors (sender units).
A Bluetooth device you plug into the Cigar lighter.
An App you download on your phone.

This one was MUCH better than the Steelmate - much simpler & the phone display is far better & colour.

After a year, one by one, they stopped working.

Went to the Twats at TW&T - they just told me they don't import them anymore, they were from China & they are not interested.

First & last time I'll do business with TW&T.

Being Internal, they also slowed inflation & deflation.

[Mad Manny]

Having bought the Cooper ST Maxx tyres, I no longer needed a TPMS, in over 70 000km I did not have a single flat - great tyres.

However, on the Bots trip I had a flat, didn't realise (I was running 1.2 bar & we were in thick sand) & I landed up shredding atyre.
Granted, it was 8 years old, had 92000km & only had 3mm tread left, it was 32*C, I was heavily laden & towing - so no fault of Coopers.

However, upon returning, I decided to get another TPMS.

Andreas had been singing the praises of the nGauge 4x4 system distributed by CAWE.

The CAWE TPMS: CAWE sell various sensors, tyres, fridge temp etc.

Check them out here: www.cawe.co.za

There system comes with 4 monitors.
You can buy an internal or external system.
I opted, this time, to go external due to inflating & deflating speed.

I ordered 2 sets (Fearless has 5 tyres, Gearless has 3, that's 8).
I also ordered a fridge temperature unit.
The external TPMS is about R1500 a set. Internal is about R1700.

Took 3 days to arrive on my doorstep.

Setting up the1st 4 on Fearless was a breeze - screw on the caps, download App, Run. Done. Set parameters.

A few days later I fitted the next 4 - major issues. Wouldn't work.
I called David at CAWE, he was super helpful & it was soon sorted.
They'd sent me the wrong scan card, he texted me a new code.
Really impressed.

What I like about CAWE is it;s very simple - just new bigger valve caps & an App.
That's it.

Also, as it is a phone APP, it only displays when you open the App - so no OCD issues.
You never have to see the readings, it will sound an alarm if your pressures or temps go outside of the parameters YOU set.
I used 1.2 to 2.8 as being the range - if it goes out it will sound the alarm
For temps I used 6*C to 54*C.

Will it last?
I dunno, but Andreas has had his for over a year - no issues.
And the back up is outstanding.

[Bugjuic]

Interesting you mention this. I just ordered two external TPMS from them last week. Same story, good service, at my doorstep in 3 working days. Only let down was, if you order only two sensors they do not give you a spanner with them. The website states that you do not get a spanner with a REPLACEMENT sensor(single).

Contacted them, said they will send me a spanner, or add additional ones with my next order. They have to fix this on their website, as they only send a spanner with a ‘Full set’ or if asked, so keep that in mind.

Anyway, this is to be used on my Caravan as n trial run. Have you had a chance to test them with Gearless? Any problem with sensors far away?

Also with them beeing bulky on Fearless? Will you remove them when seriously off-roading? On my Sussiebussie they stick out a fair amount, which worries me on thick sand and rocks?

But my OCD cannot handle the displays fluctuating when driving on other TPMS. And why have another gadget making the car look like a Christmas tree when your phone is with you always? Like the idea

[Mad Manny]

I fitted the lock nuts but then took them off.
Too much of a schlepp to loosen them when you want to remove the valve.

Besides, if someone wants to steal them they will try hard and damage the unit.
Rather remove them if you are parking in a dodgy place - like anywhere in the Eat Rand...

I have a spare spanner as I bought two sets, so you are welcome to it.

BTW I find a proper size 13 works better...

[AndreasR]

As far as running these units on a trailer, I don’t have any issues receiving signal. I actually get the signal sitting in my house so the signal must be quite strong. I also have no problem receiving the signal from my fridge in the trailer so the senders must be quite strong.

I have never put the lock nuts on. Never lost one.

[iandvl]

RE: TPMS. Nothing against CAWE, or anything else. But just my personal opinion.

I hate smart-phones. Nowadays, we expect them to be GPS, cameras, app-platforms, etc. There are so many trade-offs that they end up being shyte at everything - even at making calls - which is actually their primary function as far as I am concerned.

As such, I prefer having dedicated things for specific purposes. I have a TPMS - but it has a dedicated receiver unit thingy in the cab. I don't want to use my phone for it. Similarly, I could probably link my auxiliary battery system to my phone and monitor it's state from my phone, but I don't want to and I have a separate battery monitor in the cab. Heck, I could probably even monitor my fridge from my phone. But I don't...

Before anybody starts the "pot-calling-the-kettle-type" counter argument, I do have a smart phone. I do use it. But I'd prefer not delegating a fairly critical (in my opinion) function to it too.

As I said, just my personal opinion on the matter. Different strokes for different folks. Y'all can carry on now.

[Mad Manny]

Ian, I'm more adverse to this new tangled technology than you are.

So I am sympathetic to your feelings.

I dont have any social media on my phone, no FakeBook, no Tweeter, no Instantgran, nothing.

In fact I'm not on most of those platforms.

As far as I'm concerned, these Social.Media founders like Zuckerfucker are Cultural Sodomites.

But the CAWE system is far better than a dash mounted display.
I dunno how you Patrol guys fit all the displays on you dash tops, you guys mos need to watch EGR and other 'Mad Man' type info to monitor the ETF (Expected Time of Failure).

However, perhaps an I-pad device with a Sim card is the answer.
Then your Smart Phone is a phone for communication (calls, SMS's, WhatsApps etc) & you use the tablet thing for info, like:
• The CAWE nGauge4x4 data
• Eskom Se Push
• Weather
• News Feed.
• Google
• PornHub *
• Tappitalk
Etc.
To me this will be a 'cleaner' system.

* Ricoffy is waiting for them to launch Pornhub II, he has watched everything on Pornhub I...

[iandvl]

I've got a petrol - not a diesel. So I don't have to watch EGR's and things. But guys that do the EGR thing normally mount it in a pod on the driver's side A-pillar, not on the dash... Sort of like the picture...

But you also need to consider that a Patrol is not a Fortuner - there is enough room on the dash... That said, I don't even keep my TPMS monitor on the dash - I keep it in the centre console.

I'm not interested in blow-by-blow readings of tyre pressures and similar, so having it on the dash is pointless. I can hear the alarm should tyre pressure or temperature thresholds be reached.

[Ricof4e]

My Ford has a built-in TPMS as standard, so too the Mahindra.

Just sayin'...

[Mad Manny]

A Ford would do better with a Turbo monitor.
#justsayin'

[Mad Manny]

How does the Ford monitor the trailer tyres?

[jakeslouw]

After the last Carnage video, I'd hesitate to have an external TPMS. Luckily JK and JL Wranglers don't have that type of stone age tech.

[Ricof4e]

How does the Ford monitor the trailer tyres?

Easy, it removes the TPMS from the Toyota it is carrying.