Portable 12v tire compressor recommendations......

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by alanmalk

The alligator clips are so you can bypass the typical light wire and small fuses of the average cigarette lighter. The ViAir 88P amp draw is double digits if I recall.

yeah, ok, I said 30A above, but in fact, I just looked it up, and the 88P is peak 20A. this is sized for up to 33" tires, which includes the stock size tires on many 4x4s, but certainly not a lot of aftermarket upgrade wheels. 20A is definitely marginal on a cigar outlet, many are fused for 10-15A, and many will melt if subjected to 20A or more for any period of time

it can run 25 minutes straight at 30 PSI before needing a cooldown, and can run up to 120 PSI. it will fill a 31x10.5 tire from 0 to 30 psi in 3 minutes 30 seconds.

but I also note, the 88p is NOT rated fort he "Winterization kit" which this whole thead was about IIRC. The Winterization kit specifically states, its for use with the 400P-RV, 450P-RV compressors, which have the automatic feature and about half again more airflow than my 88P has.

[DT6]

Plus one for the Ryobi portable tire inflator. You can run it for 5 to 10 minutes at a time, which is usually plenty for me to top off all four tires on our truck and the trailer as well (21C). I like that you can set the tire pressure and it stops automatically. For me, it mattered more that the Ryobi was compatible with all of the other Ryobi "stuff" I have, so I don't need to keep a separate battery charged for it. Turns out it is a great unit anyway.

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by DT6

Plus one for the Ryobi portable tire inflator. You can run it for 5 to 10 minutes at a time, which is usually plenty for me to top off all four tires on our truck and the trailer as well (21C). I like that you can set the tire pressure and it stops automatically. For me, it mattered more that the Ryobi was compatible with all of the other Ryobi "stuff" I have, so I don't need to keep a separate battery charged for it. Turns out it is a great unit anyway.

________________________________

Escape owers don't need much of a tire inflator to inflate their tires, blow up a mattress, or winterize their campers. Plus, a tank is needless overkill for any of these jobs.

I do need to run my 12v cigarette lighter type cord through the drivers side dinette window to use my Black and Decker. I have three lithium batteries for my Sears Craftsman drills, so I'd get a matching Craftsman today. However for the rare times I need a simple inflator, my 12/120v Black and Decker is just fine.

KISS!

Perry

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

You need a regular air compressor with a rubber tipped air gun to aid in skinning muskrats though.
Iowa Dave

Oh man, and I thought that I had every accessory needed for my air compressor.

I've been carrying a 10 buck cheapo for many years. Seems to take forever but it does the job. I have a secondary much larger oil-less compressor and it also takes forever to do what my conventional shop compressor can do in minutes.

Ron

[Reimj]

Originally Posted by splitting_lanes

I really like this DeWalt, I had it at MRR and on the cross country trip and used it several times on the same battery/charge. It’s a little more expensive than the Vair, sometimes you can find it on sale.

https://www.dewalt.com/product/dcc02...s-air-inflator

I have that one also. I have been very happy with it.

[Selkirk]

I have it on good authority that a Viair 400P-Automatic might be waiting for me under the tree on Christmas Morning. A strong hint was sent to Santa Claus after I discovered that they were on sale at Amazon.ca.

The 400P might be more than I really need....but I've managed to kill a couple of cheaper 12v tire inflators in the past. The Viair brand comes highly recommended and the 400P series supposedly produces enough volume to winterize trailer plumbing...an added bonus.

[Mike G]

Iowa Dave needs the nail gun accessory, for target practice when the possums show up.

[Iowa Dave]

I don’t get too wild with the mail guns I have. Course they are tethered with an air hose. It is common to use a stapler to pin some hides to basswood stretcher boards. Possums are a pretty low value item these days. Possums caught in my garden with the tube trap, have their homing instinct thoroughly tested.
Iowa Dave

[BobG]

Another alternative is this small but powerful 12V compressor. It is supplied with quite a few European cars such Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen Group, and others.

The compressor includes a long electric cord with 12V plug and air hose in a very compact case. It is probably not cost effective if bought new but maybe it is if bought used.

[CharlesinGA]

The Youtube channel Project Farm has done a couple of different videos on small inflators including cordless ones. If you have ever seen his videos, he does very good tests of them and the videos are no nonsense, rapid fire and full of information.

Which Portable Tire Pump is Best? Let's find out! https://youtu.be/kTpSgUyyBA8

Which Cordless Tire Inflator is Best? DeWalt, Milwaukee, Air Hawk, Ryobi, Bauer, Chicago Electric https://youtu.be/TkxpuzYggd4

Not Project Farm, but a decent review of the Viair 88P
Viair 88P: Better than @ProjectFarms corded inflators? Truck tires are no problem for this pump! https://youtu.be/PjZisBPr0F8

Charles

[cityofdestiny]

Originally Posted by BKeeper

Is there a portable compressor that's good for tires AND winterizing water lines? That is also fairly compact?

I keep a one gallon 18v Ryobi in the trailer for exactly this purpose.

[Little Richie]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Been window shopping on CyberMonday deals and these 12v tire compressors caught my eye. Does anyone use or can recommend a specific type to use in emergencies? Thanks in advance for any suggestions......

I highly recommend getting one, they are very useful. I use mine to adjust the tire pressure when traveling from cold to warm. More important I use it to inflate slowly leaking tires so I can drive someplace to have somebody else fix it.

I have a Dewalt tire inflator. I run it on batteries most of the time but I can run it off the truck or camper “cigarette lighter.”

It works well. I have used it to drive the camper to a garage to change tire; similarly for the truck.

I got it for two reasons: one ) At the time I purchased it there were no reviews, indicating an overheating problem, a common problem with these types of inflators. There were some comments about the speed - there seems to be a correlation between speed and overheating. Two) I have a DeWalt drill, etc. and consequently already had batteries. The batteries are frequently extra. I really like using the batteries. It’s so much easier.

[Scambo1]

I use the 39$ real air compressor from harbor freight. You’ll need to add an air chuck and some hose. But, it’s a real compressor and doesn’t take up a ton of room. Also add the $4 tire plug patch kit.

[SageRpod]

I bought this little guy from Harbor Freight. https://www.harborfreight.com/12v-10...tor-63745.html Have used it several times over the past 6 years and always gets the job done.

Ditto on the plug kit. I know, I know, not the best way to repair a tire but they sure work in an emergency.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by SageRpod

I bought this little guy from Harbor Freight. https://www.harborfreight.com/12v-10...tor-63745.html Have used it several times over the past 6 years and always gets the job done.

Ditto on the plug kit. I know, I know, not the best way to repair a tire but they sure work in an emergency.

that looks like a more or less clone of the viair.... This is the one I have...



it uses battery clips as 20 amps is too much for most cigar lighter outlets.

[cpaharley2008]

I ended up with the ac/dc Amazon model https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1