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Tyre pressure monitoring for forklifts and electric in-plant vehicles Warehouse, yard and cold store: battery forklifts, pallet trucks, tow tractors and flatbed carts. The same sensor then reads the other pressures on the site — air lines and gas lines — where the working pressure is inside its range.
Describe the fleet See the sensorWhat a soft tyre costs on an electric forklift
On a battery forklift the tyre is the last part of the drivetrain and the easiest part to ignore. It is also the only part of that drivetrain that can be a little bit wrong for months without anybody noticing, because the machine still lifts, still drives and still finishes the shift.
A tyre that runs slightly soft has a higher rolling resistance, and on a machine that runs on a battery that cost is not paid at the fuel pump — it is paid in the charge cycle. Fewer working hours per charge, more charging in the day, and more cycles on a battery that will eventually be the most expensive thing on the truck. Nobody attributes that to a tyre, which is exactly why nobody fixes it.
The tyre itself pays twice. Run soft and it wears on the shoulders; run hard and it wears in the centre and makes the machine skittish when it is loaded. Either way it is replaced before the tread is used up, and on a yard with twenty machines the tyre bill is a line item nobody tracks by wheel. A reading per wheel turns that line item into one machine and one wheel with a name.
There is a safety side that matters more than the money. Wash-down floors, cold-store floors and a wet yard are slippery, and a loaded forklift on a soft tyre brakes and steers worse than the same machine on a correct one. A soft tyre with a load high on the forks is also a stability question, not only a wear question. A superintendent who can walk the row at shift change with a phone and see the pressure on each wheel is catching both things at the same time.
Which tyres this applies to — and the range limit
| Pneumatic-tyre forklifts and yard trucks | Fits: one sensor per wheel, read by phone from the walkway. |
|---|---|
| Electric carts, tow tractors, flatbed carriers | Fits: low running hours, a fixed route, and a supervisor who can check the row before the shift. |
| Solid or cushion tyres | Nothing to measure. Those tyres have no air pressure, and we will say so rather than sell a sensor that reads nothing. |
| Alarms in the cab, or data into a fleet system | Not with the phone-only setup. That needs a receiver built to order, which is a different configuration, and the integration is a project of its own. |
| Tyres inflated above about 5 bar | Out of range for the standard part. Check the figure on the tyre sidewall before you order. |
The range question decides the project, so it is the first question we ask. The standard sensor covers 0–500 kPa gauge (0–600 kPa absolute), which is about 5 bar. A car tyre sits far inside that; an industrial pneumatic tyre can sit above it. If the sidewall says a pressure the sensor cannot reach, the honest answer is to measure at a point inside the range or to specify a different pressure sensor — not to sell the standard part and let it read saturated. Send us the sidewall figure and the measurement point and that conversation is over in one message.
No wiring, a coin cell, and a cold store
The sensor is a battery-powered unit on the valve, so there is no power tap into the traction battery and no cable along the mast or the chassis. On an electric truck that matters: the places where an installer would normally find a supply are exactly the places nobody wants to open, and a monitoring project that needs an electrician is a monitoring project that stalls in the approval stage.
The cell is a replaceable CR1632 with an average service life of about 1.5 years, and changing it does not disturb the pairing — so a fleet can keep a stock of cells and change them on the same visit as a tyre check. The unit is sealed to IP67 and rated from −20 to +80 °C. A cold store held at −18 to −20 °C sits at the edge of that range: readings at that temperature are what the part is rated for, and if the store runs colder than −20 °C tell us before ordering, because a different configuration is the honest answer.
Beyond the tyres: the other pressure points on the same site
The part is a pressure sensor, not a tyre sensor. That is the useful extension here: the same sensor and the same phone can cover the pressures on the site that are not tyres at all, and the only question that decides it is the working pressure.
- Air lines feeding pneumatic tools. A workshop drop set at 4 bar is inside the range; a main line running at 6–8 bar is not, and needs a measuring point downstream of a regulator or a different sensor. See pneumatic tools.
- Air receivers and accumulators. Useful where a plant air system already exists; the same range limit applies. See air tanks and receivers and pneumatic cylinders.
- Pneumatic shafts on converting and printing machines. A shaft that leaks slowly cannot be seen while it is inside a roll, and the failure shows up as a wound roll that is wrong. See pneumatic shafts.
- Gas bottles and gas lines. Some are inside the range and some are not — an LPG bottle in summer is above the standard part, while a low-pressure gas line may be inside it. Ask with the working pressure and we will answer for that specific gas, rather than for gas in general.
One reader, one app, several pressure points and no new cabling is the reason this matters commercially: the second and third measurement add cost, but not a second platform to learn or a second installation team to bring in.
What the sensor is, in full
| Wireless | Bluetooth 5.1, 2.4 GHz — no receiver required; the phone is the reader |
|---|---|
| Pressure range | 0–500 kPa gauge (0–600 kPa absolute), about 5 bar |
| Accuracy | ±2 kPa |
| Battery | Replaceable CR1632, average service life about 1.5 years; no re-pairing after a change |
| Operating temperature | −20…+80 °C |
| Sealing | IP67 |
| Size | Ø21 × 16 mm |
A receiver can be built to order when the data has to reach a controller or a display instead of a phone — serial (UART) or CAN output. That is a different configuration, not a different sensor. Specifications are subject to change; laser marking follows the wheel positions and branding agreed for your programme.
What it does not do
- It does not read while nobody is looking in the phone-only configuration. You check when you choose to check; a leak that develops between checks is seen at the next walk-around.
- It does not replace the tyre inspector. Damage, cuts and a worn bead are things a person sees and a pressure reading does not.
- It does not integrate itself into your fleet system. That is the receiver configuration, and it is specified per project rather than assumed.
What we need from you
- The machine types and how many of each — forklift, pallet truck, tow tractor, cart.
- Whether the tyres are pneumatic or solid, and the inflation pressure on the sidewall.
- Where the reading should end up: a phone on the walkway, or a system.
- Whether any of the pressure points that are not tyres should be included, and at what working pressure.
Four answers, one reply — and if the honest answer is that a different sensor or a different platform is the right one, we will say that in the first reply. Related applications are collected below.
Want samples or a specification for your programme?
Tell us the vehicle, wheel count, where the data should go, and the label language for your market. We answer in writing.