Cat's Eye or Crossfire?

[SquareOne]

Hey JimT, how have the CAT's Eye systems been treating you so far? Any issues to report? I'll be picking up a handful soon and thought I'd see if you had any real world results after a year and a half.

[Waterloo]

I'm not Jim, but I have been running the crossfire units for a few years without issue. I would recommend getting a long handled 1/2" open end wrench for whichever you buy to more easily remove and install them at the valve between the tires. One reason I went with the Crossfire is that they are sold in many parts stores, along with being easy to fix. The only thing that could go wrong mechanically is a failed o-ring, which should not be difficult to find.

[JimT]

The Cat's Eye have been working flawlessly since install. No leaks and the visual indicator is pretty consistent. It goes from fulled closed at the manufactured setting (IE: 105psi or 110psi) all the way to fully open at 10 psi under the designed pressure. So even 1 psi difference can be noticed visually. I bought 105psi units though I keep my tires at or about 110psi cold. This way anything above 110 psi will show fully closed on the cats eye and only after the pressure drops below 110 does the cat's eye start to open. With 105psi units the cat's eye would be fully open at 95psi or lower. (Edit: The first 2 or so psi drop, while noticeable, only really show as a slight crack in the wall of yellow. So like 108psi at close inspection can show, but a few feet away doesn't stand out)

I also recently got a wireless TPMS with flow through sensors that I installed between the cats eye hose and the tire valve stem. Since then I've been able to watch the pressures rise and fall and outside and inside tires always stay within 1psi of each other as they heat and cool throughout the day.

As far as I can tell the 2 different systems are virtually identical in design and functionality with only the visual indicator looking different. Although I haven't compared the inner parts, so it's just speculation on my part.

The L brackets they give you allow for a few different mounting options. Either on the wheel studs or on the hub bolts. I chose to mount mine on a wheel stud between the rim and the lugnut with the main valve extended toward the axle. This keeps them tucked nicely into the wheel against the hub and unlikely to be disturbed by wind, debris or most anything else. But I don't have any lugnut or hub caps on my wheels which could get in the way.

Edit:
Guess I didn't need to describe the mounting as it's clearly visible in a picture I posted earlier in this thread.

[hookliftpete]

What tpms did you use?

[JimT]

(11-28-2022 )hookliftpete Wrote:  What tpms did you use?

TST
Truck Systems Tech

It's been decent, though not without some minor issues. Occasional false readings that cause an over pressure or over temp alarm. And once in a blue moon it won't get an update from a sensor (Sensors broadcast an update every 5 minutes or if an alarm condition exists) for a while. I didn't install the repeater as I figured that was mainly for the sensors on the trailer (which I don't have), but I might hook it up if the error frequency gets too annoying.

The false readings are not frequent and always happened while driving so it could be interference from something I drove by or someone else's system. Once you get used to the readings it's pretty easy to figure out which are false alarms. Like one tire suddenly reading 300F degrees while the air pressure remains normal or the pressure reading 20psi while the temp is normal and the other tire connected via the cat's eye is still at normal pressure. When I see these sudden changes I usually mute the alarm and wait for the next update at which point it always goes back to normal. I did stop and manually check the tires the first couple times it happened, but once I learned the normal pressure and temperature patterns for the tires I apply a little reasoning first.

If I had to buy the system again I might try one of the other ones that are cheaper first. Although I think this was the only one that offered flow through sensors. If I didn't have the cat's eye I'd use the cap style sensors (especially on the steer tires) because they are a little bulky, but in line with the cat's eye it's just fine. The display is OK, but too bright for my ultra dark cab interior when night driving. It does have a sensor to dim the display, but not enough for my tastes. Also the display is very simplistic and there's no real way to customize the layout. On the plus side the sensors take standard CR2032 batteries which my hat mounted flashlights and some remotes also use, so when they go I have plenty of spares. Only got the system in August so can't really say just how long the batteries actually last. The monitor charges via 12 volt plug and a usb plug (mirco usb i think). Supposed to last a week between charges but I average about 3-4 days before needing a recharge, which usually takes at least half a day to fully charge. They say not to keep it plugged in all the time and in fact the display will not shut off while charging so best to do it during the day if you have a free 12-volt outlet.

oh, one last thing. there's an on-off switch for the display. when the display is off i thin i will still receive and alert alarms, but the regular pressure/temp updates will not register until after the display is turned back on. Which means it could take up to 5 minutes after turning the display on before you get pressure/temp data for all tires.

All in all it's not a bad product. I think I left a 3 star review for it on amazon. For the price I feel like they could make some improvements to what's probably at least a decade old design.

[SquareOne]

(11-28-2022 )Waterloo Wrote:  I'm not Jim, but I have been running the crossfire units for a few years without issue. I would recommend getting a long handled 1/2" open end wrench for whichever you buy to more easily remove and install them at the valve between the tires. One reason I went with the Crossfire is that they are sold in many parts stores, along with being easy to fix. The only thing that could go wrong mechanically is a failed o-ring, which should not be difficult to find.

Whats goin on Loo! Been a lil bit man, hopefully all is going well for ya. I actually had read that same info you put up awhile back on another post about this. Glad you chimed in with some input, it's much appreciated. With so many BS reviews out there, it makes for a difficult time trying to make an informed decision on just about anything.

[SquareOne]

(11-28-2022 )JimT Wrote:  The Cat's Eye have been working flawlessly since install.

Good to hear...appreciate the update!

(11-28-2022 )JimT Wrote:  .... I bought 105psi units though I keep my tires at or about 110psi cold. This way anything above 105 psi will show fully closed on the cats eye and only after the pressure drops below 105 does the cat's eye start to open. With 105psi units the cat's eye would be fully open at 95psi or lower...

Thats a good idea. I also run 110psi in my tires. Tryna squeeze every tenth outta that damn fuel lol!
- Makes sense also considering down where we run the temp can literally change 30-40degrees from morn to night.

*BTW, the pic you put up last year was showing 110psi units. Did you end up replacing them with the 105's?

[Waterloo]

(11-29-2022 )SquareOne Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 )Waterloo Wrote:  I'm not Jim, but I have been running the crossfire units for a few years without issue. I would recommend getting a long handled 1/2" open end wrench for whichever you buy to more easily remove and install them at the valve between the tires. One reason I went with the Crossfire is that they are sold in many parts stores, along with being easy to fix. The only thing that could go wrong mechanically is a failed o-ring, which should not be difficult to find.

Whats goin on Loo! Been a lil bit man, hopefully all is going well for ya. I actually had read that same info you put up awhile back on another post about this. Glad you chimed in with some input, it's much appreciated. With so many BS reviews out there, it makes for a difficult time trying to make an informed decision on just about anything.

Still out here... Been slow... But, I must say that long handled open end 1/2" wrench is a must for these things. The longer the better, unless you have tiny hands. ;-)

[JimT]

(11-29-2022 )SquareOne Wrote:  *BTW, the pic you put up last year was showing 110psi units. Did you end up replacing them with the 105's?

Well, guess I messed that up. Picture is probably better then my memory! Not sure why I thought they were the 105's but they clearly are not. Maybe I had a few too many Whiteclaw's when I wrote that. Regardless they have performed flawlessly. Although If I had to buy them again I might follow the logic put forth before and get 105's, especially when used together with a tpms. I know a lot of fleets like to run the pressures at 105 instead of maxed out at 110 since it's rare that you are actually loading each tire right up to their max and there's some benefit from the slight drop in pressure. But somewhere along the way I was convinced that inflating to max cold pressure was the right thing to do, so I bought the 110psi model cat's eyes.