Nutsplats

I have an 09 ES 350 that I decided to put some very nice subwoofers and amp in. When I found out that I needed more power, I took out my spare tire and mounted a second battery in where the tire is supposed to go.



We'll sure enough when I drove the car later the TPMS light came on and started flashing. The system has to be able to read all 5 TPMS sensors. 4 tires and the spare. So when I took the spare tire out, the system thought there was something wrong with that sensor and turned the light on.
So what I did was I took a piece of PVC pipe and 2 PVC caps, drilled a hole in one of the caps, inserted a new TPMS sensor into the cap, then glued everything together.




After it dried I pressurized it to 35 psi, mounted it in my trunk next to the jack, and reset the TPMS system so the light would go off.




Now the TPMS system thinks the spare tire is back and there are no more problems

nevernu

classic

12jimmyjam

I really do wish I was that smart. Do you keep an air pump in case you get a flat?

xanderES

iTrader: (8)

This tpms bomb is pretty common among people who get aftermarket wheels. You buy a new valve stem and just toss all 5 sensors into larger diameter PVC with an insulator and pressurize it. Some people don't like to have it laying around their car in case of a crash because it may rupture.

I find it odd that you would need an additional battery unless you planned to run the audio system for 45+ mins without the car on. I hope you also installed an isolator for it.
Unless you're running a sound system with an excess of 2000 RMS you should not need a 2nd battery. The stock 130 amp alternator should be fine as long as you do the big 3 upgrade.
I ran 2100RMS to my system and had to reinforce the roof before I had to get a 2nd battery. Never had the headlights even dim, though the dash clock would act wonky.

Nutsplats

Actually I run exactly 2000 RMS. When I started getting bigger amps and better subs I had to get bigger wire and fuses. My headlights started to dim also. So I did the big 3 and just figured what the hell let's add a battery too. And I definitely have a battery isolator between the two batteries. It's 150 Amp do you think that's enough ?

CQRT

Certainly- your car, your call . . .but I think I'd find another place to stick the extra battery and keep a spare tire in case of an emergency. I suppose if you have tire inflator and AAA you're all good.

Nutsplats

I certainly do. Plus I like that everything is hidden when I open my trunk.