Toll road transponder woes

Have the service center put it under the nose cone, or even do it yourself with double sided tape. Looks better, obviously, and it won't get stolen.

Weird that folks with different toll road transponders have different luck with them working on the windshield.

I put it under the nosecone in this location but it does not seem to be working all of the time here... perhaps there is a better location.

robert774 said:

Yes it is. I hear this is a bigger problem with the autopilot cars. It probably also depends on the battery strength in the transponder.

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I have a P85 (no autopilot) with a Florida SunPass Unit that looks physically the same as your transponder. I mounted it dead center on the front of the black steel bumper behind the nose cone.

Use a plastic pry bar to pop off the nose cone starting from near a headlight and working around the nose cone. The clips are strong and won't break. The nosecone easily snaps back in place by hand.

The on-line reports from Sunpass show whether the transponder worked or if the tag number had to be transcribed (ETOL vs ITOL). Mine has always showed ETOL in trips up the entire state of FL, and in GA and NC (which accept SunPass).

Bill D said:

The on-line reports from Sunpass show whether the transponder worked or if the tag number had to be transcribed (ETOL vs ITOL). Mine has always showed ETOL in trips up the entire state of FL, and in GA and NC (which accept SunPass).

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I must say I am surprised at this latter part. I did not know the SunPass my SunPass could work in GA and NC. I live in NC now and only take the SunPass out of my desk when I drive to South Florida to visit family. I may have to make this a more permanent fixture in my car!

I picked up my 85D on Thursday and had the service center mount that exact same tag (HCTRA) under the nosecone. It seems to read properly judging by the account activity -- all the tolls I know about have registered and appeared there. I do not know exactly where under the nosecone they put it.

When I get my plates I'm going to have them move it to be mounted with the plate (TX requires a front plate). The service center said that when the plate is mounted, it doesn't read as reliably if it's under the nosecone due to reflections from the metal of the plate. If it's mounted on the plate as intended then it reads fine.

Cyclone said:

I must say I am surprised at this latter part. I did not know the SunPass my SunPass could work in GA and NC. I live in NC now and only take the SunPass out of my desk when I drive to South Florida to visit family. I may have to make this a more permanent fixture in my car!

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I believe the arrangement is two-way, in other words your NC Quick Pass will work in Florida, so no need for you to even have a SunPass. I think this page explains it. NC Quick Pass

Bill D said:

I believe the arrangement is two-way, in other words your NC Quick Pass will work in Florida, so no need for you to even have a SunPass. I think this page explains it. NC Quick Pass

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I was born and raised in SoFlo, so I already have a SunPass and never got a NC Quick Pass since there are no tolls roads near me. But I will check it out. Thanks!

I put mine in the nose cone and actually have no idea if it actually works. My sister's both beeps and a sign says all is OK. Not for for me. But I still get billed in CA. I did start with the license plate registration and then moved to the Fast Pass, and I wonder if that is how they are capturing me because my bill always refers to the plate. At least there are no fines, so it must be doing something right.

CHG-ON said:

I put mine in the nose cone and actually have no idea if it actually works. My sister's both beeps and a sign says all is OK. Not for for me. But I still get billed in CA. I did start with the license plate registration and then moved to the Fast Pass, and I wonder if that is how they are capturing me because my bill always refers to the plate. At least there are no fines, so it must be doing something right.

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The FasTrak statement will refer to the license plate number if they weren't able to read the transponder and used the photo of your plate instead. When the transponder registers, the statement will show the transponder number.

Bill D said:

I have a P85 (no autopilot) with a Florida SunPass Unit that looks physically the same as your transponder. I mounted it dead center on the front of the black steel bumper behind the nose cone.

Use a plastic pry bar to pop off the nose cone starting from near a headlight and working around the nose cone. The clips are strong and won't break. The nosecone easily snaps back in place by hand.

The on-line reports from Sunpass show whether the transponder worked or if the tag number had to be transcribed (ETOL vs ITOL). Mine has always showed ETOL in trips up the entire state of FL, and in GA and NC (which accept SunPass).

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I mounted mine in exactly the same way and I get successful reads all the time in VA, MD, DE, NJ and NY.

I mounted my SF Bay Area FasTrak transponder (exterior license plate version) on the black bumper under/behind the nose cone, in the trough/groove, by using heavy duty Velcro reinforced by a heavy duty zip tie. Did not attach to the plastic nose cone itself. Also, if you choose to remove your nose cone yourself, be careful with the PDC sensor wiring.

mspohr said:

The FasTrak statement will refer to the license plate number if they weren't able to read the transponder and used the photo of your plate instead. When the transponder registers, the statement will show the transponder number.

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With SunPass they charge you the cash price if they read-by-tag-number, but give a discount (25%?) if they read the transponder.

The charge also shows on the on-line statement immediately if the transponder is read (ETOL), but up to several days later if they read-by-tag-number (ITOL) - (photo is probably transcribed by off-shore contractors).

I would love to see pictures of a transponder behind the nose cone. Ours was initially installed in the P85D by the SC, I have moved the black transponder around a few times and so far have not been able to make it work on I90 south of Chicago. The transponder works fine by holding it on the roof by hand. Not ideal of course.....

robert774 said:

I am having a difficult time consistently registering my tag at toll road facilities. I have an 85D with autopilot and the solar coating over the windshields would not work with a sticker tag. I was given a plate-mounted tag but I have no front plate (yet). Currently I hold this device up at the top of my windshield when passing a toll location and about 15% of the time it does not register.

I was considering mounting it to my grill under the nose cone as you see in the picture. I have some black zip ties that can do the job without making it look too obvious. Does anyone see any concern with this? I don't think it would prevent temperature venting and it is not covering the radar. Anyone here have an opinion on this before I do it?

thanks!

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Our Servicenter installed ours through the mess under the nose cone. They used lag bolts, however, instead of zip ties. We hadn't thought about the risk of theft but lag bolts are probably way more secure.

reuted said:

I would love to see pictures of a transponder behind the nose cone. Ours was initially installed in the P85D by the SC, I have moved the black transponder around a few times and so far have not been able to make it work on I90 south of Chicago. The transponder works fine by holding it on the roof by hand. Not ideal of course.....

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I drilled two small holes and used screws:

Just want to add that pre-Tesla a year ago, I had a NJ E-ZPass mounted to my front license plate. It works perfectly in NJ and most surrounding states (NY/PA/DE), but once you're west of Pennsylvania--to my surprise--many of the readers are only set up to handle reading windshield mounted ones. We drove to Minnesota via I-80/I-90. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois had trouble reading at more than 50% of the tolls. To the point they actually had me back up and go to another lane (which luckily worked). Yes, dangerously back up on a highway toll because their system was unable to read a license plate mounted EZ-Pass. They dismissed the license plate version and said "Oh, those aren't designed to work on our system." The E-ZPass site clearly says it's supposed to work in OH, IN, and IL, but failed to mention only the windshield versions work reliably.

You may also want to keep one of the windshield mount versions in your glove compartment because a couple booths offered to try scanning that... or you can try holding it out the window as a backup. Alternatively, take a photo (i.e on your phone) of the barcode/number on your plate-mounted transponder so they can manually enter it when you push the button for assistance when the gate doesn't go up. A couple offered to do that but I didn't have it handy, thinking my plate-mounted pass would work (as it had for years in the NJ/NY area).

Just wanted to share some possible issues/solutions, especially once a more convenient Supercharger route makes an NYC to Chicago trip more direct.