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Equipment Tests > 12-Volt Air Compressor Comparison
12-Volt Air Compressor Comparison
Issue: January 2009
Words and photos by Mark Allen
No, nothing to do with the price of living - but testing 21, 12-volt air compressors to find the right one for your 4WD.
There are many products that are either 'must have' or 'should have' or 'better have' in the world or 4WDing, camping and general life in the great outdoors. An air compressor is definitely one that fits into every category as it can have so many handy and convenient uses - aside from tyre inflation.
Depending on your uses, there are a few things to look out for when purchasing an air compressor - maximum pressure, air flow rate, duty cycle, portability, accessories and of course price.
Let's expand on a few of these points: maximum achievable pressure - no point purchasing a compressor that can only inflate low pressure toys like soccer balls, air beds and kids' toys if you're wanting to pump up tyres to 40 or 50psi. For low pressure pumping that requires a large volume of air, all you need is a lower pressure pump that has as high a flow rate as possible. Remember all those soccer balls, air beds and toys may have different openings, so be sure to look for varied fitments on the hose outlet.
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Without knowing a compressor's internal technical specifications (or as we have lab tested on a Dyno), there is no way of guessing the flow rates. That will depend on the bore, stroke, RPM, internal design as well as other restricting factors like chuck type, air filter material, wiring gauge and length, as well as temperatures reached while running. Just because one compressor 'seems' to look identical to another, it may be very different inside - just like all car engines are NOT created equal, although many are rated at the same size.
Duty cycle; many people either forget, don't worry or have no idea what it is or why it's important to have a good duty cycle in a compressor.
Roughly, the duty cycle of a pump can be thought of as the amount of time the pump is actually working when it's turned on, compared to the amount of time it's not working when it's turned off - 2 minutes on followed by 2 minutes off is often (incorrectly) thought of as a 50 percent duty cycle, not very good when you're hanging around trying to pump something up quickly!
But then again, a (claimed) 50 percent duty cycle pump may run for 30-minutes, followed by a long 30-minute wait. Perhaps that's okay to re-inflate your four tyres after leaving the beach - but will that pump actually do the job within 30-minutes - I'd hate to be waiting another 30-minutes, while the motor cools down, to finish that last tyre!
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Words and photos by Mark Allen
No, nothing to do with the price of living - but testing 21, 12-volt air compressors to find the right one for your 4WD.
There are many products that are either 'must have' or 'should have' or 'better have' in the world or 4WDing, camping and general life in the great outdoors. An air compressor is definitely one that fits into every category as it can have so many handy and convenient uses - aside from tyre inflation.
Depending on your uses, there are a few things to look out for when purchasing an air compressor - maximum pressure, air flow rate, duty cycle, portability, accessories and of course price.
Let's expand on a few of these points: maximum achievable pressure - no point purchasing a compressor that can only inflate low pressure toys like soccer balls, air beds and kids' toys if you're wanting to pump up tyres to 40 or 50psi. For low pressure pumping that requires a large volume of air, all you need is a lower pressure pump that has as high a flow rate as possible. Remember all those soccer balls, air beds and toys may have different openings, so be sure to look for varied fitments on the hose outlet.
read on below advertisement
Without knowing a compressor's internal technical specifications (or as we have lab tested on a Dyno), there is no way of guessing the flow rates. That will depend on the bore, stroke, RPM, internal design as well as other restricting factors like chuck type, air filter material, wiring gauge and length, as well as temperatures reached while running. Just because one compressor 'seems' to look identical to another, it may be very different inside - just like all car engines are NOT created equal, although many are rated at the same size.
Duty cycle; many people either forget, don't worry or have no idea what it is or why it's important to have a good duty cycle in a compressor.
Roughly, the duty cycle of a pump can be thought of as the amount of time the pump is actually working when it's turned on, compared to the amount of time it's not working when it's turned off - 2 minutes on followed by 2 minutes off is often (incorrectly) thought of as a 50 percent duty cycle, not very good when you're hanging around trying to pump something up quickly!
But then again, a (claimed) 50 percent duty cycle pump may run for 30-minutes, followed by a long 30-minute wait. Perhaps that's okay to re-inflate your four tyres after leaving the beach - but will that pump actually do the job within 30-minutes - I'd hate to be waiting another 30-minutes, while the motor cools down, to finish that last tyre!
next page »
