Tire pressure guages

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by Raz

I bought new tires and they replaced the plastic caps with metal. Unfortunately the caps reacted with the aluminum valve stems. Three of the 4 came off, but the fourth wouldn't budge. Liquid wrench, wd 40, nothing would loosen it. Ended up having to replace the stem and the pressure sensor attached to it.

I had that happen also. TST sensors have brass threads IIRC, and when placed on aluminum valve stems there's a galvanic reaction. They'll weld together. I always ask for steel or brass stems now.

[Meadowlark]

I didn't know one could ask for different material valve stems. THis is good information.

[jerrybob]

Originally Posted by Meadowlark

I didn't know one could ask for different material valve stems. THis is good information.

Mine are wooden.....LOL!

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by Meadowlark

Okay, I'm about to open a can of opinionated worms, which is what I want..

I had a digital tire guage, called a Slime.

While airing up tires yesterday, it started giving me wonky readings...the more air I put in the tire, the lower the air pressure shown!
The guage wouldn't make a good seal on the valve stem. But I can't believe the amount of air it allowed to lose was responsible for the decreasing PSI shown.

I figured, the batteries must be bad. How hard would it be to replace what I thought would be a single pancake battery?

Well, it was not as simple as I hoped.

The housing had six small screws holding it together.

I opened it up and two little round batteries FELL out. I realized I had to remove more screws that held a circuit board in place to access MORE batteries. When I did, those fell out, too, again, I have no idea how they were placed. In addition, two pieces of formed aluminum foil fell out of the wells the batteries were in.

Crisscrossed wires on one side of the circuit board had symbols, one had +3v the other +6v. But the batteries were all the same, 1.5 volts. No indication again if the batts were supposed to be in series.
ARRGH.

No indication whatsoever of which way should the batteries be placed. One + up and one - down? Both + up? or both - up? And how in the world did four batteries make contact through the circuit board? I didn't want to have to insert batteries, screw the plastic sides back together, hope the cheapo switch would work, only to find that the batts were put in wrong, over and over again until it stopped being broke.

It was just so weirdly designed. It was as if some microsoft programmer must have designed the whole thing. "make it so stupidly designed that the average user will just say oh to hell with this, I'll just buy another."
Kind of like dealing with Windows 11..........

I did some research and some videos showed my steps in opening the Slime unit, but none of them indicated precisely which way the 4 batts should be placed.

THe batteries were 1154F, how much they cost, I have no idea but amazon had the entire unit for sale for ten bucks. I bet my lunch four of the 1154s will cost twice that much.


So I did some more research and learned there are digital tire pressure guages that use..duh? triple A batteries.

Thus I am in the market for another digital tire pressure guage that one, is reliable, makes a nice tight fit on the valve stem, uses triple A's and doesn't need me to have three hands to handle.

Opinions -and experiences welcome!

I got one I think I got a harbor freight and it works pretty well. I'm not sure what's going on here I think your seal thing is the problem. You be surprised how little of a leak makes a big difference.

Frankly if the batteries are bad it just doesn't work or you can't see the display. It really isn't going to give you a wrong reading.

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

A simple stick gauge has worked better and lasted longer than anything else I've used. Every time I cross-check it with a fancy gauge or the tire shop, it's right on the money. I know that goes against conventional wisdom, but that is my experience. Best thing is I can afford to have one in every vehicle so it's always handy.

Well I have a about four of the stick gauges. I'm lucky if I can find one at any given moment. ;-). I have one of those gauges that's filled into the inflation hose that you put on the end of your compressor. And then I got a couple of the dial gauges. And I do have two of the digital.

I've already replaced the batteries in one of my digitals. It started going where you had to really really really really work to see the numbers. That's generally the mode they fail in when the battery is getting weak.

I think Meadowlark indicated that she tried to change her batteries and some foil came out and she's not sure how they go back in. That could be a challenge. I've had a few, not pressure gauge things, which did that to me and every time I've had that problem I'll pretty much tossed it and got another one because they were also dang cheap units.

The one I use the most that I ran the batteries down on it's not really very hard to change the batteries. The big secret is like most things when you're changing those little bitty batteries, you need to have a nice flat table that doesn't have anything on it to work on because it gets a little complicated with the small parts.

[JPM]

I bought a few of these for my vehicles and the kids too. They work pretty well - I use rechargeable AAA's in them and they last a good long time.
Cheers
jp

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07Y9HS7GT?...sin_title&th=1

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by computerspook

Well I have a about four of the stick gauges. I'm lucky if I can find one at any given moment. ;-)

I keep a zippered pencil case with a clear window in the glovebox of every vehicle (four at the moment). Along with vehicle documents, it holds a pen, some spare valve stem caps, a few bandaids, and a tire pressure gauge. My personal daily driver has a few more goodies, including a small 6' measuring tape, a small adjustable wrench, a small screwdriver with reversible tip, a tube of graphite powder, and a set of spare trailer keys (since it is also our tow vehicle).

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

I keep a zippered pencil case with a clear window in the glovebox of every vehicle (four at the moment). Along with vehicle documents, it holds a pen, some spare valve stem caps, a few bandaids, and a tire pressure gauge. My personal daily driver has a few more goodies, including a small 6' measuring tape, a small adjustable wrench, a small screwdriver with reversible tip, a tube of graphite powder, and a set of spare trailer keys (since it is also our tow vehicle).

I try to keep one in the glove compartment, but frankly they also do regularly fail.


My main vehicle has a lot of stuff in it. I kind of have them hidden around the vehicle. The digital tire gauge is in the gove compartment. The documents for all of my vehicles including copies for all of my trailers are in the area that the sun glasses go.



My back inside the hatch I have the normal stuff that jeep thought would go there. It also has a traffic wand and electric flares. I have two traffic vests. I have a bag in the back with some rubber gloves and an emergency blanket. I also have some extra tools there. I also carry a tire impact wrench. Help a lot of people with that. I have a window hammer and seat belt cutter in a holder under my seat. I HAVE NEVER USED IT, but have ended up handing it to the cops firemen a few times.



Since mostly I have to have a lot of tools with me for work I usually have those and if I am actually emptying the jeep for work I usually leave my main tool backpack.



In the summer I also carry a bunch of bottled water stored in various small places in my jeep.

[ChuckS]

If anyone wishes to watch this, it's a fairly in-depth discussion of gauges.
I hope it helps the discussion a bit. I can't look at them quite the same anymore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHfv9FoPQnY

[Robert Bolleter]

I have tried different gauges, digital and analog, and have settled on a manual JACO ElitePro Tire Pressure Gauge, which has a large, easy-to-read gauge. It is accurate and high quality.

[RonHalvorson]

If you are interested in a comprehensive tire pressure gauge test, you may like the one found at the Project Farm Youtube site. I think the Etenwolf brand was the top choice of that test. Search engine "Project Farm Tire Pressure Gauge Test" and it should take you right there