Portable Tire Inflator

I'm no guru but that sounds right to me, Countrygirl.

FWIW, I had a similar problem with one tire which turned out to be a leaky valve stem.

I also bought a 12v compressor at Costco a few years back. It was rated to 90 pounds. I could use it on the car to get to 32 pounds without a problem. But when I hooked it to the TM at 55 or 60 pounds, it would blow a fuse. I finally took it back.

Keith

[ShrimpBurrito]

Originally Posted by Bluegrass

But when I hooked it to the TM at 55 or 60 pounds, it would blow a fuse. I finally took it back.

I used to have this problem with my compressor, too. Like the water pump in the TM, the compressor draws more current when it encounters more back pressure. That makes logical sense, too.

Most cigarette sockets I've seen in vehicles are rated for ~120 watts, which is about 10 amps. I measured the current on my compressor once, and I believe it maxed out around 13-14 amps, so while that's not a huge overage, the fuse is obviously doing its job. To get around this, I simply made an adapter with a 7-pin Bargeman connector on one end and a cigarette socket on the other end. The towing circuit in my TV provides 30 amps, so that is plenty to run the compressor without blowing the fuse.

Yes, I could have simply put the Bargeman on the compressor, and theorists will argue that's the best approach because the cigarette socket is probably not rated for more than 10 amps. That may be true, but because a) the compressor isn't much over 10 amps; 2) the compressor is not on for long periods; and 3) the socket is outside, thus significantly reducing any fire risk, I am fine with it.

Have done it for years and it works fine, although I used a spare stainless steel construction socket from West Marine (probably $10-$15), not a cheapo $3 socket from Big Lots.

Dave

This one had alligator clamps I attached to the battery posts. It had a 30 amp fuse in the line and it still blew.

[ShrimpBurrito]

Wow. Certainly sounds defective.

Dave

[gmferg]

Last year I was thinking along the same lines as ShrimpBurrito, compressor draws a little more than standard cigarette socket is fused for, so I purchased one of these from etrailer.com, plugs right into bargeman:



Added benefit is that since the plug-in is at the back of the TV, I can reach all six tires with my compressor, just barely.

This is the compressor I purchased from Amazon.com



It's interesting that now they list a disclaimer that the engine must be running or the fuse will blow. That wasn't there when I purchased it although several reviews warned about fuses being blown. Having the engine running raises the voltage supplied and will reduce the amount of current required to do the same work.

[wbmiller3]

I started with a 12v compressor with a cigarette lighter cord, but always had trouble reaching the trailer tires. When I got a rechargeable one, I have never looked back. The downside of course is that you have to remember to keep it charged.

I am on my second such device. The current one is a Black and Decker that can also be used to jump start a vehicle. I finally had to use to jump start my son's car and it worked fine. I have not yet used it to top off my new load range D tires to 65 psia, though.