Legal information
What is the warranty for the TraX sensors?
The product has a one-year warranty against manufacturing defects. Warranty after the initial one-year period must be part of a service agreement.
What would SKF’s liability be in the event of vehicle failure?
TraX is providing information related to Wheel End status in terms of vibration acquired value and detection of abnormal vibration. It is up to Fleet Manager to make decisions and take any actions based on information available from the vehicle. SKF is not responsible for actions taken by the Fleet Manager.
General information
What is TraX?
The SKF TraX system monitors the condition of wheel end bearings by measuring and analyzing wheel end vibration, usually on trucks, trailers, and buses. It provides warnings when bearing failures are detected and facilitates checks on the condition of wheel end bearings.
Are TraX sensors compatible with all trucks? How to determine if the sensor is compatible with a certain brand and model?
TraX sensor is designed in a way that allows its installation on the majority of trucks, trailers, buses, and other vehicles. There are three different sizes of TraX sensors, allowing you to find a suitable sensor for the specific vehicle. The type of the TraX sensor that needs to be used is determined by the size of the wheel studs of the vehicle.
Do I need additional equipment except TraX sensors to capture information?
There are two different options for TraX sensor use. The first option is the standalone use of TraX sensors. Such use doesn’t require anything than the sensors themselves, all the information from the sensor will be communicated using LED on the sensor itself. The second option is using the sensors together with Telemetric Service Providers. This option allows usage of the full potential of the sensors and to receive and analyze the information received from the sensors.
What information can be provided by TraX sensors?
Information that can be provided by the sensors depends on the use of the sensor. The main information provided by the sensor includes the temperature of the wheel end and information about the bearing failures.
What is TSP integration?
To get all information that can be captured by the sensor it’s necessary to create a few software and hardware solutions from the Telematric Services Provider side. The solutions include a gateway that is capable to capture Bluetooth transmission from the sensor and software solutions that allow decoding of the information sent by the sensor
What are the benefits of TSP integration?
TSP integration allows collecting all available information from the TraX sensors in an easy way as well as having full information about vehicles/fleets' health in one place (TSP dashboards)
What can be done in TraX mobile application?
Trax mobile application used for commissioning/decommissioning of the TraX sensors, update of sensors firmware, and reset of the sensors after bearing issues were detected.
Is it necessary to have specialized personnel for TraX sensor installation?
TraX sensors can be installed by any technician who works with vehicles after he/she gets short training about sensors installation.
When a vibration diagnostic event is triggered, what are the actions that the customer has to take?
There are multiple sources on a vehicle that can create abnormal vibration on a wheel end. Therefore, please refer to the user manual for answers.
If the driver is equipped with a phone with TraX mobile application, is it possible for the driver to get diagnostic messages while driving?
To safeguard battery lifetime, the wireless transmission between TraX and external devices (phone, gateway) is based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol having a limited transmission distance. In addition, truck, trailer, or bus structure and configuration can further negatively affect wireless signal intensity. Therefore, the wireless connection between the cabin driver and each TraX sensor is not forecasted. The driver will be able to see the last sensor status stored in the cloud (max last 30 mins. while driving).
Sensor-related information
Is the battery rechargeable?
No, the battery is not rechargeable to limit TraX cost (rechargeable battery, recharging circuitry) and recharging operation in the application as well.
What is the battery lifetime?
The forecasted battery lifetime is estimated to be up to 5 years, with an internal diagnostic function to monitor the battery status. Battery lifetime depends on the driving conditions of the use of the sensor.
What to do with decommissioned sensors/sensors with drained batteries/sensors with failures/damaged sensors?
Decommissioned sensors with good batteries can be used on different axles/vehicles. Sensors that detected bearing failure should be reset using the mobile application and they can be used again on the same wheel. Sensors with drained batteries, WEM failures, temperature sensor failures, or damaged sensors should be returned to SKF. Please contact SKF support for more information.
What is the range of sensor BLE broadcasting?
The max RF output power of the TraX sensor varies from -4.68 to -3.42 dBm at ambient temperature, which corresponds to 25 celsius. Distance depends on the type of vehicle and the type of load. Big amounts of liquids or other dense substances can interfere with the sensor signal.
What is the format of the data format transmitted by the sensor?
Data about wheel end status send in encoded format using BLE advertising frames.
What is the sensor data packet loss rate?
This can be determined by the TSPs checking the frame counter information received from the sensor. The TraX sensor has been designed optimizing the frequency of emission while saving the battery lifetime.
An increase of temperature can quickly become critical. In that case, the broadcasting will be more frequent to better follow the evolution. Vibration alerts are not as urgent to deal with so, the frequency of broadcasting will remain every 30min. An acceptable data packet loss is up to 5%.
TSP requirements questions
What systems should TSP have to be able to support TraX sensors?
Telemetic Services Provides should have certain hardware and software systems/solutions to support TraX sensors. Hardware solutions should include a gateway that is capable of capturing BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) advertising frames sent by the sensors. Software solutions should be able to store and share information about the vehicles in the fleet and be able to communicate with TraX integration solutions using TraX API and Queues and act based on the information got from the TraX integration solutions. More information about required TSP solutions will be provided during the onboarding process.
What architecture TSP should develop to support TraX systems in full?
The complete requirements for the architecture that should be developed by the TSP will be provided by the SKF during the onboarding process.
How to add a new TSP?
If the TSP is willing to add support for TraX sensors in their systems it’s necessary to contact SKF sales for further information about the process.
How to add a new fleet?
TSP that supports TraX sensors and developed all necessary solutions can add any number of fleets. To add support of the fleet please contact SKF technical support by filling in the form.
Integration solution questions
What support can SKF provide before during and after onboarding?
SKF can provide informational support and best practices for facilitating the creation and testing of software and hardware solutions that are needed on the TSP side to fully support TraX sensors.
Environments and why they are used?
There are two separate environments that TraX systems are using. One environment is used for TSP development purposes and the other environment is used for production usage only.
TraX applications?
TraX application can be found in both Google Play Market (Android version) and App Store (IOS). Besides these two versions, there are special versions for development purposes that can be used during the development of integration solutions from the TSP side. Links to the special applications will be shared during the onboarding of the TSP.
Types of the sensors/firmware for the development stage
There are a few different sensors that are designed specifically for the development of the TSP solutions stage. The sensors will help with calibrations and testing activities and will be provided during the onboarding stage. All special sensors or sensors with special firmware must only be used during the development stage.
How to test developed systems?
SKF developed a few protocols with best practices for testing the TSP’s integration solution. SKF will provide access to these protocols during the onboarding process.
Is it possible to move the vehicles with sensors between different fleets inside one TSP?
There is no possibility to move the vehicle with the sensors between fleets. The only option is to decommission the sensors, remove the vehicle from one fleet and recreate and commission the sensors in another fleet.
Is it possible for TSP to add/remove fleets/installers/admins?
It is possible to add or remove support of the particular fleets and add or remove admins from the TSP side. To do this it’s necessary to contact SKF technical support.
The addition/removal of installers can be done by TSP or the fleet itself.
TraX application questions
Where to download the TraX application?
Can I use TraX mobile application to get the data from the sensor?
The TraX application is designed to commission/decommission TraX sensors and is not capable to get the data from the sensors themselves. However, the TraX application shows the last status of the wheel-end which is stored on SKF’s servers/systems.
Who can have access to the TraX application?
Each installer, TSP, and Fleet manager(s) should have access to TraX mobile application.
My Android phone has a problem connecting with the sensor
Some Android mobiles with newer BLE versions cannot set up a stable BLE connection to the sensor. This is a firmware issue in the sensor. Firmware BSS8c and newer will fix this issue. A possible solution
is to use an iOS phone for updating the sensor with the old firmware.
Examples of devices with this problem: the Samsung A51, Xiaomi Mi 11i, OnePlus Nord, Huawei P30 Pro, and Pixel 6.
My Android phone does not find my sensor even if it’s activated.
If you have an older Android version you should also activate Location on you phone.
Why can't I commission/add my sensor again when it states “Sensor in use”?
If you get “Sensor in use” and you know the sensor is already decommissioned, what you need to do is send the sensor ID to SKF support and we will help you remove the sensor.
Installer questions
How to understand what sensor should be installed on a specific vehicle?
There are only three different sizes of the TraX sensors. Please look for WEM technical specs in order to understand how to select the suitable one.
How many sensors should be installed on each wheel?
Each wheel requires only one TraX sensor.
What are the recommendations regarding sensor installation?
It’s recommended to follow the standard procedures for wheel installation created for a specific vehicle. More information about sensor installation can be found in special video instructions. The maximum fixing torque of the TraX sensors is 725 Nm.
What to do if there is an obstacle that prevents sensor installation?
If the vehicle is equipped with wheel covers or other parts which prevent sensor installation it’s necessary to contact the fleet manager to understand if it’s possible to remove the obstacle.
Where to get credentials for TraX mobile application?
If you are qualified to do the installation of the sensors the invitation to create an account in SKF systems should be sent to your email. The e-mail will include detailed instructions about the account creation process. In case you don’t have the e-mail with the instructions contact your fleet manager or TSP manager.
How to find the vehicle in TraX mobile application where TraX sensors should be installed?
To be able to search for the vehicle in TraX mobile application TSP must develop an integration solution and share the information about the vehicles with SKF (full information on how to develop the solution and share the data will be provided during the onboarding process).
Only after that, it will be possible to search for the vehicles in TraX mobile application. There are two ways to search for the vehicle: using the vehicle ID or using the VIN of the vehicle. Enter full or partial VIN/vehicle ID to the search box of the TraX application and the list of the matching vehicles will appear.
What to do if I see the message “Sensor in use” during the commissioning of the mounted sensor?
If there is a message “Sensor in use” that means that the sensor was previously unmounted from another vehicle but it is still commissioned on another wheel/vehicle/fleet. To resolve the issue it is necessary to decommission the sensor from its previous place.
Is it obligatory to do the firmware update of the sensors?
It is not obligatory but highly recommended to update the firmware of the sensor if the update is available.
How to understand that the sensor is properly commissioned?
Properly commissioned sensors should appear in the TraX mobile application on the vehicle, side, and axle where the sensor was installed.
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