Airing up tires

Hello, all.

I've seen the thread on Viair compressors and it made me wonder about other ways to do it. One person mentioned a scuba tank. I have a small AC pancake air compressor. Is there a reliable and safe device to hook up to your battery that converts the car battery's DC power to AC power that is sufficient to run my compressor? If so, why would one not use something like that rather than a DC compressor like the Viair? It would also give you AC electric for other plug-in devices. My little Porter Cable does just fine for airing up tires when I plug it in at home and carry it out to the car/truck. A converter seems like a no-brainer. What am I missing?

 

Depending on the power requirements of your compressor you can buy a power inverter. Odds are if you found one powerful enough it won't be worth the cost.

Best way to air up tires is with a co2 tank. A scuba tank is just compressed air (more or less), so you have a high pressure in the dive tank but not much volume. Co2 is a liquid when compressed and expands into a gas so you get more volume of air per tank and you get more tire fills.

 

Power vs weight.
You cound get a largenough inverter 2k Watts, it’ll be cost ~200$ and require 1/0 awg wireing. Then you can carry a heavy pancake compressor. Or you can install somthing like an arb twin that runs on 12v and will match or beat a small 120v compressor for 1/3 the space weight and haste.

Scuba tank style wound be a powertank. A good option but you have to make sure the tank is full enough, and what if you end up helping a few people. You might not have enough wire for everyone. And don’t forget about having to go to the store to get it filled every so often.

 

I think I see where this is going. There is such a thing, but not cost, weight, or space efficient. So I guess I'll buy the Viair I've been looking at. Thanks.

 

I get CO2 tanks filled free. I had a CO2 regulator that didn't cost anything.

That said, it's going to someone else. CO2 tanks are relatively heavy, awkward to haul and take up space I'd rather use for camping gear, etc...

Swapping to VIAIR 400P. 30lbs + less weight. 1/2 the space required.

CO2 works, albeit not nearly as handy as I though. And again, mine was free. VIAIR compressor will be "free"....(Christmas bonus from work)

 

Love my co2 tanks. Have had them for years. Portable, so you can help a buddy at the bottom of the hill without having to back down. High pressure so you can blow beads back on rims.

 

20lb CO2 tanks are much heavier than a compressor.

 

So what?

The tank is solid mounted. The hose is moved from wheel to wheel. It weights little.

Lots less failure points to worry about.

 

Plus, a co2 tank is instant high pressure. Refill for $20 once every half dozen trips. Easy peasy.

Air compressors are good too but still way slower than co2.

 

In addition, guys like me with bad knees, want those tires aired up as quick as possible.

 

20lb? Holy crap. My biggest was 10. Now I have 2 fivers. They are no bigger than an extinguisher and they will fill 35 inch tires from 8psi to 28psi for several trips.

Remember... co2 is liquid in the tank. It expands tremendously when released to gas.