[dougnc]

I'm having a hard time finding places with air anymore. And when I do find one the tip has been deformed and it ends up releasing air from the tire. On the trip I took last week I finally had to get out the little air compressor behind the seat and fill a tire that had dropped to 20 lbs.

But I'm seeing what are discribed as "high volumn" 12 volt air compressors advertised for $30. Do these work? Seems like it would be an awfully convenient way to keep my tires inflated.

 

[comley]

I'm having a hard time finding places with air anymore. And when I do find one the tip has been deformed and it ends up releasing air from the tire. On the trip I took last week I finally had to get out the little air compressor behind the seat and fill a tire that had dropped to 20 lbs.

But I'm seeing what are discribed as "high volumn" 12 volt air compressors advertised for $30. Do these work? Seems like it would be an awfully convenient way to keep my tires inflated.

I bought four of those little tire valve stem caps that are pressure sensitive( if the tire pressure falls below a preset level the visual color changes on the cap) one of the additional benefits of these caps is that i have only had to put about 1 psi of air in one tire over a period of several months.I still check air pressure with a tire gauge when i do oil changes but i can do a visual spot check by just looking at the tires when i get in the ssr. apparently these high dollar valve stem caps hold pressure in the tires a lot longer than the cheap black plastic ones that you get when you buy a new tire and valve stem at the tire shop. :thumbs :flag

 

[JAustin]

I have one ...

... that I bought about 5 years ago. Can't remember what I paid for it (no more than about $40), but it was rated for "truck / heavy duty." It has worked well, although it doesn't get heavy use.

I needed to buy a regular compressor to drive a nail gun last year (home improvement projects), and I now use that in the garage to keep all the tires in the family stable inflated (car, SUV, SSR, bikes). It's much faster.

But I always toss the 12V portable compressor into the cargo area of the vehicle (whichever vehicle) when we go on road trips.

 

[beer100]

I'm having a hard time finding places with air anymore. And when I do find one the tip has been deformed and it ends up releasing air from the tire. On the trip I took last week I finally had to get out the little air compressor behind the seat and fill a tire that had dropped to 20 lbs.

But I'm seeing what are discribed as "high volumn" 12 volt air compressors advertised for $30. Do these work? Seems like it would be an awfully convenient way to keep my tires inflated.

Those $30 jobs are basically the same kind of compressor as found behind the seat. They might or might not include an internal battery. I would expect about the same performance as the SSR's emergency inflator provides.

I have one made by Campbell Hausfeld. It's a good unit, runs off an internal 12v gell cell. It was actually cheaper than a really good bicycle floor pump. Lot less work too! It has a large dial type pressure gage and can easily put 120psi into my bike tires.

I use it, when necessary, to add air to my SSR's tires. It takes quite a while to add a couple of pounds pressure. Topping off all four tires can put a real dent in the battery's charge.

Being coordless it is convienent to use. Lightweight, no extensions cords or hoses to wind or unwind. That's its biggest advantage. It's disadvantage is the time it takes to pump air into those huge tires on the SSR.

For the price and the relatively infrequent use it's a good unit.

 

[beer100]

Here is a link to the unit I have Home Depot.

That link sucks. Just go to their site and key the cat.# into the search box.

Home Depot
Store SKU # 638147
Internet # 168630
Catalog # 100348465

$39.95

 

[dougnc]

Those $30 jobs are basically the same kind of compressor as found behind the seat. They might or might not include an internal battery. I would expect about the same performance as the SSR's emergency inflator provides.

I have one made by Campbell Hausfeld. It's a good unit, runs off an internal 12v gell cell. It was actually cheaper than a really good bicycle floor pump. Lot less work too! It has a large dial type pressure gage and can easily put 120psi into my bike tires.

I use it, when necessary, to add air to my SSR's tires. It takes quite a while to add a couple of pounds pressure. Topping off all four tires can put a real dent in the battery's charge.

Being coordless it is convienent to use. Lightweight, no extensions cords or hoses to wind or unwind. That's its biggest advantage. It's disadvantage is the time it takes to pump air into those huge tires on the SSR.

For the price and the relatively infrequent use it's a good unit.

I didn't find the compressor behind the seat too bad. I had just stopped at three gas stations looking for air, the last one actually removed air from my tire.

So I hooked up that little compressor and it added 10 lbs in less than 5 minutes.

It's made pretty flimsy tho, so I don't want to be unpacking and packing it. But it occurs to me I could keep a compessor in my apartment and haul it out every once in a while to check out the presure.

Of course, now I've found one that's both a charger and a jump starter! Decisions, decisions.