Portable air compressor for tires

I am hoping I can get a good recommendation for a portable air compressor that plugs into my bed outlet as opposed to using the battery directly. I see plenty of people use the

$91 Viair 88p Portable Compressor Kit (12V, 120 Psi, Forup to 33" Tires)

Viair 88p but I'd rather power it using the bed outlet. My tires are nothing Fancy (265/70 R17)
thanks in advance

 

We've used small 2 gallon compressors on trails, but they are quite heavy compared to the simple Viair units. It's faster, but cumbersome.

The outlet is 400W, so 4 amp is max

It needs to be 2 amps or less for such continuous use, so 1 or 2 gallon with a small motor. But outside of inflating tires they are basically useless and slow. I have a 12amp mobile compressor (for home and projects) and its slow as balls, but does what I need.

The battery connected ones are ideal for most. I love my 100$ inflator.

 

ah ok, so any plug in type will be inferior. Ill probably go with the highly recommended

$91 Viair 88p Portable Compressor Kit (12V, 120 Psi, Forup to 33" Tires)

Viair 88p since that is the case. thank you!!

 

I carry one of these. Super super quiet and pumps up pretty quick. Only thing is that the stock onboard inverter thats supposed to be "400 watts" or whatever is super pathetic and barely runs it. Its only supposed to pull 2.8 amps which is like 34 watts. But I super love using mine. I got it on one of the sale days for $106.

 

I have the Vair 88P, but then got a Smittybuilt 2781. The 2781 is much faster especially if you do the pressure switch modification. This made adding air back much easier. I use it for trailers and my truck. Would recommend it with the mod.

On the invertor an easy estimate is:
amps x volts = watts

So typical equipment 3 amps @ 120v is about 360 watts.

 

I'm beginning to see why everyone taps directly off the battery.
I'll look at that Smittybuilt too. thank you.

 

The problem is electronic devices that we want to use off that inverter have starting wattage requirements that easily exceed 400 watts. So it's more like you need to get at most a 200 watt device and pray it doesn't go above 400 when starting. What I've always been told is take the running wattage and multiply it by at least 2 for most motor devices.

 

Is your compressor AC? Volts x amps = watts. 12v x 2.8 amps is 34 watts.
At 120 v that is 340 watts

 

Yea you right. Math hard.

I have onboard also, but hate it cause its noisy cant easily air up my trailer and dirt bike tires with it. Got cornfused.

But aside from a higher starting amperage its still under the rated. Descent inverters will usually have a higher amperage allowance for peak/surge. Usually almost double. But the toy -ota one is more like 400w peak, 200 continuous.

 

The other problem is that the more inverting/converting you do (from DC to AC to DC) you are losing a lot of efficiency to heat.

I just upgraded from a cheap inflator to the almost as cheap 88p. For my purposes of very occasional air down/up and weather adjustments, it's a great little unit. I looked hard at the Smitty mentioned above, but ultimately went with the smaller 88. It shares space behind the rear seat with a battery jump pack, tire plug kit, tow strap, sun shade, and an ice scraper, still with room to spare.

And it aired all 6 tires before my coffee order was up.

 

I have the Viair 400P and it works awesome.

VIAIR 400P - 40043 Tire Inflator Portable Offroad Air Compressor for Truck & SUV | 12V On/Off Road Tire Pump Air Compressor Portable Heavy Duty 150 PSI, up to 35" Tires, Alligator Clips

https://www.amazon.com/VIAIR-40043-...mzn1.fos.f5122f16-c3e8-4386-bf32-63e904010ad0

 

Thanx for all the input!

 

I have had that one for 10+ years.

 

I mounted a single compressor arb under the hood. One less thing to have to find space for/remember when loadinf in/out

 

Just picked this up. Should more than do the job.
I also have the M12 inflator in the truck.

 

What about something like this. On sale too at Home Depot.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vector-...uUxp4v4p3WGyGaudV6AaAvhjEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

It's all about duty cycle.

$91 Viair 88P Portable Compressor Kit (12V, 120 Psi, Forup to 33" Tires)

Viair 88P is 25min @ 30psi. A 380C is 100% @ 100psi (55% @ 200psi). 400P is 33% @ 100psi. Smittybuilt 2781 is 40min @ 40psi.

ARB just says 100%. Not sure what pressure.

 

Can confirm this works very well since Sept 2019:

$150 VIAIR 300P - 30033 Tire Inflator Portable Offroad Air Compressor for Truck & SUV | 12V On/Off Road Tire Pump Air Compressor Portable Heavy Duty 150 PSI, up to 33" Tires, 2.30 CFM, Alligator Clips

https://www.amazon.com/VIAIR-30033-...ds=viair+air+compressor&qid=1674530024&sr=8-7

 

Another vote for the 88p 3 years in mine is still going strong and it gets used regularly and I still haven’t even blow a fuse on it yet.

 

Ive used this one for the last couple of years. It does fine inflating all 4 from 15psi up to 32psi in a fairly quick time in 90' temperatures. Use it regularly to inflate trailer tires up to 65.

Best advice is to make or buy a 'Y' section so you can in late two tires at the same time to the exact same pressure...