Portable 12V air pump/tire inflator

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May 22, 2012
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Location
Mexico, NY
I have the pancake slime electric pump in the hard shell case. There’s room for plugs,patches and plug tools and packs away easily
I have this one. It's not pretty, gets VERY hot to the touch but it has worked for me on my Vstrom and KTM. I haven't tried it on the Tenere yet but typically you connect this directly to the battery so I'm not sure how you'd blow a fuse on the bike using it...
 

Checkswrecks

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I have a $10 special (Walmart like Eric?) that I too took out of the plastic housing. For power, I have an SAE plug for the phone charger and plug into that.
 

AVGeek

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I use the cigarette plug. Had to bump up the fuse. Been ok for years. I also use that cigarette plug to charge the bike’s battery. I have to turn on the accessory switch, but it works fine. I use a black and decker high frequency trickle charger. They are like $12 bucks and work great.
Not only is the fuse only 3amps for that receptacle, but the wiring is of a similar gauge. You may have been using it for "years" that way, but melted wire of insufficient gauge is a lot harder to repair than simply adding in a properly sized circuit.
 

RCinNC

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I'm a Slime pump user too. Mine's an older model, I think it's been superseded by a newer one. I took mine out of the housing like others on here have mentioned; there's a lot of wasted space inside those pump cases. In my case I built a new housing so the pump would fit into my tool tube. Mine runs off a pigtail attached with a fused connection directly to the battery. I used 14 gauge wire and a 15 amp fuse, if I recall correctly, to make the pigtail, and I rewired the Slime pump with 14 gauge wire to replace what looked like 18 or 22 gauge zip wire that it came with. I also took the pressure gauge off; it was just more wasted space, and those little stick gauges they sell for a buck at the auto parts store and will fit in your pocket do just as good a job.

I've tested my Slime pump both for inflating a tire from totally flat to full, and also for setting the bead on a tubeless tire, and that little cheap pump worked just fine. I go along with EricV on this; the $100 pumps are very nice and definitely better built, but that Slime pump does the same job at a tenth of the price. I might spring for the pricey one if I was heading to Patagonia and beyond the reach of any help, but otherwise the cheap one works for me, and I've been using that one for years.

This is the one I bought. I think back in 2009. It's fairly small, but it still took up too much room in the top case.



This is still the same Slime pump, just with a new housing and some of the components moved around.

 

MFP

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Check out Motopumps. They offer several models and back what they sell. The owner's an inmate on advrider.

https://www.motopumps.com/
twinrider,
Thanks for your heads-up, I ended up purchasing an Air-Shot from Rob over at MotoPumps.
Nice little unit with very decent accessories.
Unfortunately my riding time is on hold for now while I get my left arm’s tennis elbow in check.
 

VRODE

Easy Does It
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Aug 7, 2014
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Northern Vermont
I used a $9 wallyworld compressor (removed all the plastic housing) since ‘01. Worked well and has gotten flats filled a number of times. I used to use battery clips for my old bike, but added a Powerlet plug for the ST. I recently got a Motopumps unit since it was getting a little old.
 
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ballisticexchris

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Well I'm actually going to possibly eat a little bit of crow and rethink my tire inflation kit. For over 20 years I've been happy with using CO2 solution and various bike pumps. No issues at all, very reliable and super quick to get me back on the trail or road. The small bit of experience I've had with using electric ones has been crappy. Basically unreliable jury rigged ones and super long 10+ minute waits to refill tire.

What changed my mind? Well, I was going through my tire repair kit and noticed how heavy and bulky my "big street" CO2's are. I remember they worked good on my Ninja but forgot how huge they are. Having to wait to fill a tire sucks. OTOH, I'm no longer rushed to get back on the road or trail. So I'm thinking why not. The days of removing tire, change tube and back on the trail in under 30 minutes are behind me. I no longer see the need to shove in a plug and inflate in under 5 minutes. Hell I'm pushing 60 years old. What's the rush......

So at this point I'm going to still use them for my dirt bike but I'm thinking to keep my hand pump (for a backup) and get a compact electric one that will plug into my Battery Tender port.

Here is what I have been packing:
IMG-0558.JPG

Pretty darn heavy and bulky. I'm willing to bet an electric pump will be a bit lighter. Now I have to figure out which one. I want heavy duty. Couple buddies have stripped out pumps and rewired. Not into Mickey Mouse solutions. I saw an aluminum housed one that looks pretty beefy.
 
R

RonH

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I had a slime, and had it on the GL1800 when I got a flat from the dumb Bridgestones that wear in like 1/2" wide pattern until no tread in center at 5500 miles. It pumped fine, but that chinese coupler was terrible and I was worried of ripping of the valve stem. Got the bestrest pump, not the latest model, and for sure the fill hose is 100x better at least. Can't say much else. I compared, and the slime was just as good at filling other than the coupler. I was kind of disappointed in the bestrest as it bounces all over the road and goes around like mad. Bounces like on a trampoline all over the road. I finally added a velcro strap, and if needed tie it to the forks or whatever. Probably not worth the investment, but the coupler works great vs the chinese stuff which is a plus.
 
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ballisticexchris

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Yeah, this is the one I keep on my S10. It's a good one. Make sure you get the 90 deg chuck if you buy one.
I just ordered it yesterday. I got the combo setup straight Chuck on pump and 90 deg on gauge. Expensive but can’t beat the lifetime warranty. I want something I can air down and back up again over and over. I know from experience those cheap pumps just don’t last with hard use. And made in USA! Big CO2’s will be for seating the bead. Bike pump and small CO2’s will go back on my Beta.
 

EricV

Riding, farkling, riding...
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I like the AntiGravity one I got. Can be run directly from a 12v or from the SAE plug on a battery tender. Also useful if you carry a jumpstarter pack.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VM7LB9Y/
After poking the net the other day, I came back to the Antigravity tire inflator. They have two versions. The ADV version is $5 more and comes with an extra cord that is SAE to SAE so you can plug the pump directly into your battery tender pigtail. (I have one of their jump start batteries too, so could plug into that as well.) My Optima maintenance charger uses the same SAE, so IF I decided to downsize from the Slime pump, I'd likely go with the AntiGravity pump. At $30 and no need to snip the end off to put a SAE on it, it's a win. Even for the $25 version it still comes with aligator clips, Cig plug cord and the cord to plug into their jump start batteries.

ANTIGRAVITY

Good bang for the buck from a solid company.
 
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U.P.rider

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Adding to my MotoPump experience; Since adding the BestRest elbow I had not used the pump until last weekend where after airing down to 22 psi front and 25 psi rear I was airing back up and found that I could not achieve 35 psi to the rear, only 30 psi, after filling the front to 33. I didn't have far to go so I rode home then the next day I removed the elbow and it pumped right up to 35 psi. I found that it was just as easy to fill the tire without the BestRest elbow attached.
 
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ballisticexchris

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Adding to my MotoPump experience; Since adding the BestRest elbow I had not used the pump until last weekend where after airing down to 22 psi front and 25 psi rear I was airing back up and found that I could not achieve 35 psi to the rear, only 30 psi, after filling the front to 33. I didn't have far to go so I rode home then the next day I removed the elbow and it pumped right up to 35 psi. I found that it was just as easy to fill the tire without the BestRest elbow attached.
What elbow were you using? The one that mounts to the valve stem or the optional one that clips on to the straight fitting on the pump?
 
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ballisticexchris

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I'm testing mine out in a few minutes and will let you know. I have the straight fitting and gauge that connects with the 90 deg fitting.
 
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