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CTIS bench test harness

Ronmar

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Ron..
I know you've posted it before, and I see it in your youtube video.. Do you have the pic handy with the pin outs labeled? Search is eluding me.
I will have to look for it when I get home. the one where I am holding the connector with the arrows to the pins?

And What General said about the sound under the dash at shutdown, fan control solenoid...
 

LCA078

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Reviving an old thread here as I have one the dreaded 5 solid light CTIS controllers. What was the final verdict on these- are they officially bricked?
 

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LCA078

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Sigh....

I thought so.

Well, it's a 'new to me' truck that needs a lot of other work done before I throw good money at a 'fun to have' system. I read a lot on troubleshooting the CTIS so I should probably manually verify all the components are working before I buy a new controller. Or just build the manual controller and be done with it.

Thanks for the quick reply.


BTW, did I say 'sigh' yet?
 

LCA078

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I remember reading the jumper method but need to go back and look for that post. From what I can tell by looking (haven't measured them yet) I have the 24v powered H, Z, and M wiring harness which I think is the 60psi program. If I decided to buy another controller, I'll have to come back and figure out which ones can be used 'as is' and which ones need a few pins pulled.

Again, lots of other things to worry about before I worry about CTIS. All tires are holding air so at least that's in my favor.
 

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aw113sgte

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Sigh....

I thought so.

Well, it's a 'new to me' truck that needs a lot of other work done before I throw good money at a 'fun to have' system. I read a lot on troubleshooting the CTIS so I should probably manually verify all the components are working before I buy a new controller. Or just build the manual controller and be done with it.

Thanks for the quick reply.


BTW, did I say 'sigh' yet?
While it fits the "fun to have", I love it in the practical sense. Get in, let it run and equalize/adjust, then know I'm good to go. No checking if all 6 tires are correct all the time.
 

Ronmar

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The post/picture right above yours first post this afternoon shows the pinout. Make a V jumper(2 jumpers connected at one end). Put the point of the V in pin H(24V). With wet tank full(after dryer purge), shutdown engine(ign off). Put the other end of one jumper into pin R(control solenoid). Turn on ignition to apply 24v H to R to close the control solenoid and seal the system. Briefly connect the end of the other jumper to pin B for half a sec, to give a shot of air from the wet tank to pressurize the system and open the wheel valves…

now in a perfect world the system should set all day at tire pressure until you turn off the ign or pull the H-R jumper to open the control solenoid and vent the system. But what usually happens is a leak starts to lower pressure and the dump/QR valves acting as remote pressure regulators vent tire pressure to try and match the loss from the leak. So after I give the shot of air I quickly go look at the dump valves for air coming out of the air horn vent port. The front axle dump is on the right side of the transmission. The rear axle dumps are over the rear axle on the rear side of the brake component crossmember and over the rearmost axle on a 6X(One for each axle) Any air leaking there means there is leakage somewhere in the system. A bad leak will shift the dumps into high dump mode (loud woosh from the vent horns)… first step is finding and fixing the leaks so no air comes out the vents during system pressurize/pressure check…

This is the basis of my manual control seen here. Don’t feel the need to have it automated, but it is nice to have it manually under my finger so to speak, when I want it… 3 switches, a relay and a pressure gauge, pretty straight forward, ~$75 in parts depending on how fancy a gauge you want to use… there is another video on my prototype with the guts scooped out of my bricked controller and a cheap mechanical pressure gauge.

 
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ckouba

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I'll pile on the praise for the Ronmar system. I had an issue and burnt many calories (and wasted a lot of time!) to not find the issue. As a last ditch effort, I got the minimal components required and had the system up and running in an afternoon. Best decision ever. Select whatever pressure you want and you are good to go.

It is also nice to watch the cycling pressures of your compressor on the dual readout gauge. Very handy to keep tabs on the system!

Long story short, just do it and you won't regret it- and you'll never worry about a bricked controller again.
 

LCA078

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Okay, y'all convinced me get the CTIS set up right. Ronmar's system is really slick and adds a bit of class to the dash. My FMTV is actually in pretty good shape but like most de-mil trucks, it was sitting in a motor pool slowly deteriorating for a couple decades before purchase. Thus I have a bit of work and $$ to get her road-worthy.

Quick question since the tires are currently holding air: If I start manually playing with the CTIS like Ronmar says, do I risk causing a leak or a stuck valve in an old, potentially dirty, system? My next two months will be busy with other work projects so I wouldn't be able to spend time rebuilding the CTIS if I start having tires drain down.
 

Ronmar

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The main thing that will cause a tire leak is a CTIS wheel valve. If you start cycling them they may start to leak, but if they are holding air now they will probably work OK. Picked up my truck from auction with a flat tire. Had to inflate it to get it on the truck. It was the wheel valve. Put a jack-stand under the axle, drained the air and Pulled it apart right on the wheel, cleaned some crap off of the center hole(passage into wheel) and it has been holding air just fine ever since. If the screws come out of the case, it is a 5 minute job to clean and inspect the valve. Takes longer to put air back in the tire:)
 

Ronmar

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Oh and if you have a problem with getting the wheel valve apart to service(screws can fuse in case and break), your bail out is to pull the small line between wheel valve and wheel stem pipe, remove the elbow from the end of the stem pipe and you can insert a Schrader valve core just like on any other automotive wheel to keep the air in the tire till you can fix/replace the CTIS wheel valve...
 

ckouba

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Oh and if you have a problem with getting the wheel valve apart to service (screws can fuse in case and break)...
Yeah, be very (VERY) careful here. If there is any resistance, use penetrating oil or some sort of magic to assist. Do not brute force it. The dissimilar metals seem to lock well to each other. Heat may work but be careful with how much as the diaphragm is rubber (and old).
 
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