Portable air compressor / tire inflator

[santacruzer]

After having had a number of the cheaper and much slower compressors, I went with the Master Flow Tsunami, MF-1050, one for each of my trucks. Have been pleased with them. They connect directly to the battery, draw 30 amps, and go to 120 psi.

[Fox hunt]

I have one but i have never used it.... I'm terrible at that type of thing!!!

[davidmurphy02]

I carry a small 12 volt Viair. We were on a road trip in our car a couple of years ago, not towing, and ran over something in the road and blew out a tire at 5AM on a dark interstate highway. The cheesy temporary-use spare was 8 years old and had never been out of the trunk but had gone flat. At that moment that little Viair was worth its weight in gold. It's also been handy to air up both truck and trailer tires when we've been on long trips.

[Mike Lewis]

I have a Ryobi air compressor that runs off of their 18V battery. It works okay and is easy to use. Since I normally carry 2-3 Ryobi tools with me when I travel, I have their battery charger that plugs into a 12V socket. So far, so good.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

I have a Ryobi air compressor that runs off of their 18V battery. It works okay and is easy to use. Since I normally carry 2-3 Ryobi tools with me when I travel, I have their battery charger that plugs into a 12V socket. So far, so good.

I need to buy something for this upcoming trip. Don't want to spend a ton of money and it needs to be cordless operation, for use on the truck as well as the trailer.


What about this one?

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

I need to buy something for this upcoming trip. Don't want to spend a ton of money and it needs to be cordless operation, for use on the truck as well as the trailer.


What about this one?

I haven’t used that one but have used the bigger inflator/deflator one extensively and like it (sorry, Tapatalk is being persnickety and won’t allow me to attach a pic).

A couple of nice things about the bigger one, it can do tires (we use it for truck, trailer and bikes) as well as air mattresses or the like. Also, it has a digital pressure gauge where you set your desired pressure and then it auto shuts off when it gets there! Tires are thus always equally inflated.

We also travel with several Ryobi gadgets, so it’s nice to have them all wrk off the same batteries, plus we use their 12V (auto) battery charger unit, so no need to find or make 120V AC.

One other note, best pricing on Ryobi always seems to be at Home Depot. Beware price gouging on the Amazon or via other resellers.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by sclifrickson

I haven’t used that one but have used the bigger inflator/deflator one extensively and like it (sorry, Tapatalk is being persnickety and won’t allow me to attach a pic).

Dang, I wish I could see it.


This one? And is it going to recharge while I'm traveling? Like if I'm hooked up and will use the inside trailer plugs. Yes, I know I'll need the 'recharging battery thingy,' but shouldn't I be buying something 12 volt? I'm so confused...

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

I need to buy something for this upcoming trip. Don't want to spend a ton of money and it needs to be cordless operation, for use on the truck as well as the trailer.


What about this one?

As much as I'm a Ryobi fan I'd be hesitant to use a cordless compressor. I know having to have a cord and plug in etc. is a nuisance but my experience using those small compressors is that it takes a while to inflate a really flat tire. I'd hate to kill the battery and not be able to finish inflating the tire.

For a small top up occasionally it'd be fine. Let us know what you end up with.

Ron

[Donna D.]

I'm really just looking for something to carry while traveling. So topping off. I have a real compressor at home. The spare on both the trailer and truck will be 'at pressure,' so I can't imagine ever needing to air up a completely flat tire. So while I don't need 'the best,' I don't want to waste my money on junk either. Ease of use, easy to recharge the battery(ies) inside the trailer. Fairly small footprint... it has to be stowed somewhere!

[fudge_brownie]

Black and Decker makes this Matrix model with an optional compressor attachment. It works great for topping off tires, functions very well to lower the jacks and I have used it for drilling holes.

After two years I have been very pleased with the low cost and functionality.

[cpaharley2008]

Donna, why not a small 120v compressor, you can fill the tank before leaving and you can always find a plug at most places...https://www.amazon.com/PowRyte-Oil-F...air+compressor

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Dang, I wish I could see it. [emoji20]


This one? And is it going to recharge while I'm traveling? Like if I'm hooked up and will use the inside trailer plugs. Yes, I know I'll need the 'recharging battery thingy,' but shouldn't I be buying something 12 volt? I'm so confused...

Yes, that’s the one! So the battery packs can be recharged either with the normal (House) 120V Charger. BUT, Ryobi also makes a 12V cigarette plug “car” charger, which is what we use while traveling.

This was the only air compressor we used for a year on the road for truck, trailer and bikes, and while it is not nearly as robust or serious as other offerings out there, it worked well, plus used same batteries and charger as our other Ryobi gadgets, eg their cordless vacuum, drill & chainsaw, all of which we took on the road with us. And an LED lantern.

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

I'm really just looking for something to carry while traveling. So topping off. I have a real compressor at home. The spare on both the trailer and truck will be 'at pressure,' so I can't imagine ever needing to air up a completely flat tire. So while I don't need 'the best,' I don't want to waste my money on junk either. Ease of use, easy to recharge the battery(ies) inside the trailer. Fairly small footprint... it has to be stowed somewhere!

Donna,
Our solution was to buy a fairly cheap 12V DC one (ours is from harbor freight, so I should emphasize "cheap!"). We had ETI add a 12V outlet on the exterior rear passenger side, so the compressor is usable at a convenient location. The rationalle for the cheap one was that it's more for emergency than on-going use, so it really only has to work well once!


Edit: I also share Ron's opinion about battery-operated ones. I have Ryobi 18V tools, but would hesitate to have a battery-operated compressor due to battery drain. Our 12V DC-from-the-trailer solution has worked fine.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I carry a ViAir 88P compressor, this can inflate several 33" truck tires to 70PSI back to back without overheating, and runs on 12V from your engine battery via battery clips... I helped a young couple with a generic japanese compact inflate a completely flat (slow leak) car tire, it didn't take 3-4 minutes to hit 35 PSI.

[Hilola]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

I carry a ViAir 88P compressor, this can inflate several 33" truck tires to 70PSI back to back without overheating, and runs on 12V from your engine battery via battery clips... I helped a young couple with a generic japanese compact inflate a completely flat (slow leak) car tire, it didn't take 3-4 minutes to hit 35 PSI.

Ditto on the Viair.

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

I carry a ViAir 88P compressor, this can inflate several 33" truck tires to 70PSI back to back without overheating, and runs on 12V from your engine battery via battery clips... I helped a young couple with a generic japanese compact inflate a completely flat (slow leak) car tire, it didn't take 3-4 minutes to hit 35 PSI.

Looks like a reasonable price for a small but "real" compressor. I note that it is 20 Amp load, clips connect direct to the battery, and the engine must be running.
https://www.amazon.com/Viair-00088-8.../dp/B005ASY23I

[gbaglo]

I have two cheapo 12V air compressors. I'd replace with the Viair, but I want to be able to plug it into a 12V outlet, front or rear of the RAV, or from inside the trailer with an extension cord.

I don't want to have to position the vehicle so that I can clip to battery terminals. Sometimes that isn't possible.

[steve dunham]

We have a Slime 12VDC compressor . I made up a 20 ft power cord with a 7 pin trailer connector on one end . I can start my truck then plug the 7 pin compressor connector into the 7 pin receptacle on my truck . I have plenty of power to run the compressor and I don’t have to worry about running my trailer battery down

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I have two cheapo 12V air compressors. I'd replace with the Viair, but I want to be able to plug it into a 12V outlet, front or rear of the RAV, or from inside the trailer with an extension cord.

I don't want to have to position the vehicle so that I can clip to battery terminals. Sometimes that isn't possible.

cigar plugs are /max/ 15 amps, and even then I've had them melt down with 10-12 amp loads.

the reason the 88P and larger ViAir compressors use battery clips is they draw like 20 amps.

I often carry an aux 12V 20AH naked AGM battery with me, used for powering astronomy gear and stuff. it will run the via air for like 1/2 hour without going below 50%, this is what i use to air up the trailer tires when the viair's cable+hose don't reach from my hitched truck (a longbed diesel that is 21' long)... that, or heh, I like that 7-blade adapter idea...

[Mike G]

I have a ViAir 88P also (and love it), but reaching the trailer tires while the alligator clips are attached to the tow vehicle's battery is nearly impossible (my Hauley has no battery, unlike most travel trailers). But I found that I can use a little 12V lithium 'battery jumper' unit to power the 88P. It essentially makes the pump as portable as a 'cordless' one.

The nice thing about having separate pump and battery units is, if one goes bad I can just replace the one that went bad (less to go wrong on each). I expect the ViAir to greatly outlast the battery jumper. Plus the jumper has multiple uses (jumper, recharge a phone, provide light, etc).


Glenn, it does say to have the vehicle running but I think this is so the vehicle battery (if weak to begin with) doesn't run down so much that it won't start the vehicle afterward. Although I can tell that the ViAir pump doesn't run at optimal speed without the vehicle running; not sure if this would make it heat up faster or damage it somehow, but I have run the pump sans engine several times and so far, so good.