steve l
Member
Most current BMW motorcycles are equipped with a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System to monitor the air pressure and temperature in the tyres. After 4 years service both the TPMS sensors on my 2017 C650GT started to fail. The symptoms of this were, slow to start up and intermittent ---- on the display instead of pressure readings. After being charged £200 by a BMW dealer to change one sensor on my R1200RT some years ago I looked for an alternative solution and found the tyre sensors available on Ebay for £18.
New tyre pressure sensors can be taught in on BMW motorcycles using the UniCarScan UCSI-2000 (£50), MotoScan app in the ultimate version (£50) installed on an Android smartphone and a TPMS activation device EL-50448 (£8). The MotoScan app will also reset the service indicator on our bikes.
When the vehicle is stationary for around 20 minutes, the TPMS sensors go into stand-by mode and do not send any data in order to save the battery. Leave the bike stationary for half an hour before starting the learn process. It is essential that only the sensor you wish to learn is active and its ID number is only visible in the MotoScan app after the learn process. The ID is not printed on the sensor case or packaging.
Establish a connection to the bikes RDC control unit in the MotoScan app. Go to “Service Functions” and select “Teach-in TPMS sensor”. Make a note of the fitted sensor IDs before starting the learn process.
Press the “Front” or “Back” buttons in the app to start teaching. So that the TPMS sensor can be taught in, it must be activated. The EL-50448 activation devices have a short range and should be placed with the transmitter near the sensor. Activate the new sensor away from the bike, preferably behind a brick wall. You do not want to activate and relearn an existing sensor.
Move the new activated sensor close to the bike. When it is recognized by the bike, the RDC control unit will read the ID and you can save it using the MotoScan app. Label the sensors so they can be correctly fitted during your next tyre change.
Back out of the phone app. Turn off the bike, wait half an hour, then recheck the new tyre sensor ID numbers in the MotoScan app. I activated my new sensors under pressure inside an old plastic drinks flask fitted with a tyre valve, this provided some functional testing before final fitting.
The MotoScan website help section states that the battery status of the TPMS sensors, tyre pressure and air temperature can be displayed using the app, this information was not available for my C650GT. Being able to check the TPMS battery voltage in a years time would have been useful.
I did look into replacing the batteries (CR2050HR) in the sensors but after spending one hour carefully digging out the hard potting compound and looking at the tagged batteries available I decided the possibility of a poor connection was high and not worth the trouble. Some sensors are date stamped during manufacture, the Lithium batteries fitted have a shelf life of 10 years and only lose about 1% of their capacity per year of storage. Do not to be too concerned if the sensors purchased are a few years old.
My currant plan is to routinely replace the sensors every 4 years during a planned tyre change. They are fitted with a 6mm Torx Screw at 9Nm and Loctite 243 (Blue).
New tyre pressure sensors can be taught in on BMW motorcycles using the UniCarScan UCSI-2000 (£50), MotoScan app in the ultimate version (£50) installed on an Android smartphone and a TPMS activation device EL-50448 (£8). The MotoScan app will also reset the service indicator on our bikes.
When the vehicle is stationary for around 20 minutes, the TPMS sensors go into stand-by mode and do not send any data in order to save the battery. Leave the bike stationary for half an hour before starting the learn process. It is essential that only the sensor you wish to learn is active and its ID number is only visible in the MotoScan app after the learn process. The ID is not printed on the sensor case or packaging.
Establish a connection to the bikes RDC control unit in the MotoScan app. Go to “Service Functions” and select “Teach-in TPMS sensor”. Make a note of the fitted sensor IDs before starting the learn process.
Press the “Front” or “Back” buttons in the app to start teaching. So that the TPMS sensor can be taught in, it must be activated. The EL-50448 activation devices have a short range and should be placed with the transmitter near the sensor. Activate the new sensor away from the bike, preferably behind a brick wall. You do not want to activate and relearn an existing sensor.
Move the new activated sensor close to the bike. When it is recognized by the bike, the RDC control unit will read the ID and you can save it using the MotoScan app. Label the sensors so they can be correctly fitted during your next tyre change.
Back out of the phone app. Turn off the bike, wait half an hour, then recheck the new tyre sensor ID numbers in the MotoScan app. I activated my new sensors under pressure inside an old plastic drinks flask fitted with a tyre valve, this provided some functional testing before final fitting.
The MotoScan website help section states that the battery status of the TPMS sensors, tyre pressure and air temperature can be displayed using the app, this information was not available for my C650GT. Being able to check the TPMS battery voltage in a years time would have been useful.
I did look into replacing the batteries (CR2050HR) in the sensors but after spending one hour carefully digging out the hard potting compound and looking at the tagged batteries available I decided the possibility of a poor connection was high and not worth the trouble. Some sensors are date stamped during manufacture, the Lithium batteries fitted have a shelf life of 10 years and only lose about 1% of their capacity per year of storage. Do not to be too concerned if the sensors purchased are a few years old.
My currant plan is to routinely replace the sensors every 4 years during a planned tyre change. They are fitted with a 6mm Torx Screw at 9Nm and Loctite 243 (Blue).