12v inflators?

[woodie1000]

I have just bought Mr Woodie an Aquaglide for his birthday - lucky boy!

The thing is I don't intend to spend my summer pumping it up and squashing it back down...can anyone recommend a 12v inflator/deflator that plugs into a cigarette lighter or the 12v heavy duty plug? I've only found ones with crocodile clips and I don't intend to crawl through the small gap to get to the batteries either!

 

[DavidJ]

The one with the croc clips is the one to buy. The current draw is quite big and too much for the cig lighter wireing
David

 

[Gludy]

Zodiac do one you can change the croc clips to anything you want - its 12 volt and designed for ribs - works OK from 12 v outlet on my boat BUT it is very expensive - about £80. It does pump up fast though.

 

[jhr]

Croc. clips type is definitely the one to have - I regard it as indispensible, even for a 2.3 metre inflatable dinghy.

I'd be wary of doing anything other than leading it direct to the battery; they draw about 25 amps and you only have to feel the warmth of the cables after a couple of minutes' operation to get some idea of the hefty current going through them. Cigar lighter-type connection sounds a bit iffy to me (though my knowledge of electricity begins and ends with the correct technique for turning the telly on and off).

How about running some hefty cable from the batteries to a 13 amp socket, artfully mounted somewhere accessible in the cockpit? Then remove the croc clips and wire up a 13 amp plug. Saves all that rummaging around.........

 

[woodie1000]

Thanks for all the advice - I'll look into it.

Being female I'll not be artfully mounting anything!

 

[Talbot]

The best 12v inflator without a doubt is that made by LVM and retails abt £65 I have had one for 12 years and swear by it. It went wrong once and was immediately fixed for free by LVM despite being out of warranty - cant get better than that.

 

[DavidJ]

Yep
Talbots' is the same as mine. I've had it nearly ten years. No problems at all. Well worth the cash.
David

 

[TrueBlue]

Re: 12v inflater?

My two, two pennyworth:-

(One)
The 12 jobbies intended for tyre inflation are piston type and do take oodles of oomph - and being low volume are slooooow.

There are some chinese fan type - like the LVM in Talbot's post above which don't take a lot of power. (I use one (to aerate my head's tank....)and it seems to be OK - for that purpose at least.

(Two)
Please don't use a 13amp - as JHR suggests; it could cause confusion and busted mains gear later if somebody thought it was a 240V socket... If you MUST do something silly like that, at least consider using the earth pin as negative and parallelling the live and neutral to the 12V positive, that way if you use it as a mains plug by mistake you should cause no further damage.

Best of all is to use a proper plug and socket designed for the job, but these are a bit like chichen's incisors, so what about adapting a 7 pin car / caravan plug and socket, difficult to use then for anything else and cheap if you go to a motor factor.

 

[TrailerSailer]

I've an Aquaglide and you need to be aware that it requires quite a bit of pressure to make it stable. I would guess far more than the LVM or other similar pumps could put out. It does not take too long to pump up with the supplied pump so you may find the trouble of connecting up the electric pump is more than offset by the speed of manual pumping to the stage where the electric pump would have got you.

We managed to rip out one of the internal baffles in the main ‘tube’ shortly after our first ‘sail’. I think it was a manufacturing fault and was replaced under warranty. Before we did that we had great fun so I hope you enjoy yours as well.

 

[Wiggo]

As has been said, the Aquaglide needs to be pumped up HARD. The LVM will get you 85% there quickly, and the footpump will do the rest. There are some purpose designed marine/waterproof 12V connectors that will carry the current, but they are expensive. I have one such waiting to be fitted, but it cost about £35.

 

[Talbot]

My Zodiac Fast roller requires a very high pressure in the floor/keel, and you are correct, trying to achieve this with the LVM will be unsuccessful and will eventually burn out the motor. Howevr I always use mine to get 90% of the air into the floor/keel, and is good enough for the tubes (according to zodiac's pressure guage) - this means that inflation (and deflation) times are dramatically reduced, and that the amount of physical foot pumping is quite small. This is one tool I would not be without. When it finally expires of old age I will immediately replace it with the same tool. If you are in the portsmouth area and want to try it give me a shout!

 

[compie1]

ALDI sells these kind of things or in a toys store you can find them for £ 10, if it gets broken throw it away but mine still lives after 4 years of good service ( even inflating and deflating 4 meter diameter swimming pools)

 

[stelican]

The LVM pump will work fine on your 12v heavy duty socket near the transom but you will require the correct 3 pin plug it is a smaller version of the 240v shorepower plug and is black

 

[ipw]

Cheapest option if you have a small inverter around 300 w(who dosn`t these days) is to use your wifes hairdrier, on blow only with no heat it got my 3.8 rib up 90% in 5 min ,if you have a bigger inverter a blast of hot air for 5 secs tends to quicken the process ,keep away from the water though and make sure the wifes hair is dry first !!!!!!!!

 

[woodie1000]

Thanks everyone who replied. A lot of useful ideas for us to try - I'm sure we'll find a good solution.