So, I got the Ather TPMS for a month as of today. Quite a relief, because I do not have to bend my back twice every week with my portable compressor nor have a ticking in the back of my head to visit that fuel pump on the way. A worthy addition to the connected experience.
Upgrade Operation
Since mine was one of the first scooters to get the TPMS fitted in the Kochi EC, our rockstars (shoutout to the team!) took a while to experiment and get it ironed in. The EC was understaffed during these days too, and I did not want to pressure them. It took them two days to reach to my scooter and another two to complete the operation. During this period, our phones (my wife and me have the app installed) were receiving low pressure warnings occasionally, keeping us excited.
The beginning
I got my TPMS-fitted scooter back on 10th May 2022, and the first thing I did after playing around in the app was to overfill the tyres as a test. A few of us at Kochi were trying to solve the obnoxious tyre leak problem for a handful of scooters here and some found an overfilled tyre had lesser loss. So I went ahead and pushed 35 psi on both tyres. The readings were quite accurate to the inflator in the premium tyre shop I went to. I did not monitor much for the first few days because of life in general.
Settling time
There was a weird few hours with the system that showed a huge list of readings within the range of 28 psi to 35 psi. This settled quite fast and normalized at 34 and 35 psi, front and rear respectively. The readings were consistently decreasing in sane levels thereafter, and did not find any loss of sync to the TPMS readings anytime.
Passing of time
The readings of tyre pressure varied over the day in idle conditions. Nights would show a drop of 2-4 psi depending on weather. Rides of 1 km or more increased the pressure by 2 psi at least. the readings after 20 days was 31 and 32 psi front and rear respectively. The pressure was dropping more after this, apparently. Day 30, and it has been 2 days since I have been receiving warnings that my rear tyre is at 27 at nights, while the front is 28.
Notifications and Warnings
Since June 8th night, I have been receiving warnings about the rear tyre having low pressure. I went out to verify on the dashboard, and lo! there is a new icon on the scooter!
The warnings come by at night, when the temperature gets low. Jacques Charles, who has a law named after him about this. Mornings show a normal temperature and no notifications or warning lights.
Buggies
No much bugs found found yet, except that if you click the low pressure notification on your phone, it takes you to the TPMS page, but with 0 psi on the readings. The readings show normal values if accessed directly through the app. I am yet to report this one.
Verdict
It is worth the price. No more tension on when to fill air. Since my test at the tyre shop, I can firmly say it is much more accurate than your average fuel pump meters. Also, the readings are internal to the system and not from a valve; what experimenters call in situ; and is more reliable. I can now stretch my back and strike out one thing from my weekly chores and a nagging thought on peaceful rides. Thanks to technology and Ather!
Warp mode.
