Display to read TPMS data from factory-style sensors?

TWX

New member
Hey all,

I drive a '15 Nissan Frontier SV, which has TPMS that provides only the most basic warning-light notification to the driver. This is enough to realize there's a small leak in a tire but does not display what the tire pressures actually are anywhere. When I recently replaced the aluminum 16" wheels with steel 17" wheels I bought ACDelco rubber-stem TPMS sensors that successfully integrated into the vehicle's monitoring system at 315MHz. This stands in contrast to my wife's '15 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk, which has a toggleable on screen display that can provide pressure information with actual numbers for each wheel.

Recently I saw one of Andrew St. Pierre White's upfitting videos where he's talking about the interior of his latest build, and briefly touches on a third-party TPMS display that he's trying out. He doesn't go into details (mostly he complains about his own poor choice of placement of the display itself) but that got me wondering, are there any aftermarket TPMS displays that can receive input from these 315MHz OE-style TPMS sensors in the wheels to give me a semi-real-time display of tire pressure and possibly of temperature?

I've done some catalog searching but haven't found anything conclusive. Most of what I find use those valve-cap-replacement type sensors, some use the internal sensors, no one talks about frequency, and no one talks about if their units an receive a generic signal or if they have to have their own sensors. I would hope they'd use off-the-shelf sensors, but the sellers aren't particularly forthcoming about anything.

Ideally I'd like a simple display that can be wired into the vehicle that either itself directly reads the transmissions from the sensors, or has a receiver unit that plugs in to receive that information. Barring that if there's a CANBUS unit that can take the vehicle's own reading of TPMS data and display it more comprehensively than just an idiot light that would be acceptable too, but the former is better if it supports possible transmissions from sensors in trailer tires. Would really rather not use those valve-cap type sensor-transmitters when the truck already has sensors.
 

TWX

New member
Might be worth reaching out to the makers of Scangauge to see if that could do it. This link on their site gives me some hope:

Interesting, I'll have to look more into Scangauge and other similar products. If they are simply reading CANBUS information then that's probably the simplest solution depending on how the display formats the results.
 

TWX

New member
I found another possible option.

ID1000 TPMS Display

Now, per their ad on Amazon, this is technically for Ford TPMS protocols. That said, the sensors I put into my steel wheels are ACDelco TPMS175K, which were listed on Rockauto as being for my Nissan, but when I do a reverse search, I find that they're for basically every 315MHz TPMS application for basically every brand since the beginning of the protocol. I had the tire shop install them, but I did the TPMS learn procedure on the truck myself, and there was nothing to do to the sensors themselves beyond setting the pressures to what Nissan wanted at each corner before triggering the vehicle to relearn.

So, my sensors are theoretically transmitting all protocols, including Ford protocols. This should mean that if I follow the directions in this review, I should be able to get this display to learn these ACDelco sensors and thus to display whever it is they're transmitting. Ideally I would want temperature in addition to pressure but even just pressure would be quite helpful.

It also may mean that other display products that come with in-wheel sensors might be able to learn the sensors that I used if they just picked some random manufacturer's protocol for their communications, so long as it's at 315MHz.

I think some more research is in order. This tool might end up being the right one, but its design to hang on a USB-A port is not as convenient in my truck unless I hack one into the dash somewhere convenient. I may do that, but I want to see what other options exist including ones that may run natively at 12V.
 

TWX

New member
@TWX any updates on the TPMS options?
Nothing specifically positive.

Long story short, I started looking into the frequencies of the transmitters/sensors used by most of those third-party displays. Many such displays are available with either the cap-replacement sensors or else with the valvestem sensors. Unfortunately for me, they basically all operate at 433MHz, not at 315MHz like my Frontier's OE ones. I had also looked at more complex systems that could monitor six wheels or more such that a trailer could be monitored, or had color displays or bigger displays, all seem to be 433MHz.

So that ID1000 TPMS display technically for Fords but using 315MHz right now is my only option, but given where the 12V/cigarette lighters are positioned it won't be particularly useful. In order to use it I would need to modify my dash to add either a 12V socket or a USB socket somewhere in the driver's view.

Ultimately if I do build-up the truck to be more expedition-ready I might buy the ID1000 despite it not being ideal, but for now I'm going to save my hundred bucks until I have a real need.
 

outback97

Adventurer
Thanks for the reply, that's too bad that they're different frequencies.

I just reached out to Scangauge to see what they have to say about the link I posted earlier. I have an '09 Xterra and it would be cool to be able to view PSI numbers using the SG. I already use it for AT fluid temperatures and many other things too. I'll post here if I come up with anything.
 
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TWX

New member
Thanks for the reply, that's too bad that they're different frequencies.

I just reached out to Scangauge to see what they have to say about the link I posted earlier. I have an '09 Xterra and it would be cool to be able to view PSI numbers using the SG. I already use it for AT fluid temperatures and many other things too. I'll post here if I come up with anything.
Well, if you don't mind hacking up your dash and if you've got aftermarket 315 MHz sensors that are basically all-makes like the ACDelcos I went with, you could well drill a hole and mount this:
ID1000.jpg

It's small, which is annoying to read it, but is good when it comes to how much dash real estate it would require.
 

outback97

Adventurer
Have you looked into a Scangauge? Sorry if this sounds like I'm shilling, but I really like their product and have been impressed with the company. I would much rather pay a bit more for something with multiple functions than a device solely for tire pressure.

They got back to me quickly and they are pretty sure that the TPMS gauge function will work with my '09 Xterra. It's $25 for me to send mine in for a firmware update, and they offered to refund that if it doesn't work.

I think I'll take them up on that, would be cool to have the TPMS option in addition to the speedo, voltage, water temp and AT temp gauges I normally run.
 

drrobinson

Member
Might be worth reaching out to the makers of Scangauge to see if that could do it. This link on their site gives me some hope:


It’s a model by model issue, but if the manufacture is pushing TPMS data (including pressures) into the CANBUS data, ScanGuage has been creating X-Gauges to display it. They did this for my Xterra, and I appreciate the ability to see more information than the TPMS warning light the factory provides.

Interestingly, I use that screen a lot less than I thought I would. I typically am more concerned with trans temp, water temp, battery voltage, and rpm.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

drrobinson

Member
Have you looked into a Scangauge? Sorry if this sounds like I'm shilling, but I really like their product and have been impressed with the company. I would much rather pay a bit more for something with multiple functions than a device solely for tire pressure.

They got back to me quickly and they are pretty sure that the TPMS gauge function will work with my '09 Xterra. It's $25 for me to send mine in for a firmware update, and they offered to refund that if it doesn't work.

I think I'll take them up on that, would be cool to have the TPMS option in addition to the speedo, voltage, water temp and AT temp gauges I normally run.

Works on my 2011 Xterra


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

outback97

Adventurer
I figured I should follow up on this. I have a few Scangauges and to my surprise, one of them had the 4.5+ firmware required to report TPMS. I entered the codes and we tried it out on a recent day trip in our '09. Works great! It does report lower numbers than my tire gauge, but it's entirely possible the tire gauge reads high.

IMG_1906-scangauge-tpms.jpg

I decided to send in one of my older ones to get that updated. I received it exactly one week after I shipped it off... really quick turnaround time.

For my purposes, I definitely prefer this to a dedicated unit that only reports one thing. Like @drrobinson mentioned, I doubt I'll use it a lot, but it could come in handy sometimes.
 

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