Portable vs On Board Air Compressor?

[RamblinAnne]

Hey everyone- wondering what your thoughts are on having an on-board vs a portable air compressor. I have a Bigfoot truck camper that I'll be carrying most of the time but not always. I'll be using the compressor to adjust my Firestone Ride Rite air bags/air springs AND for adjusting the psi in my 6 tires (2013 Ford F-350 dually stock tires.. 31" I believe). I'm brand new to this so any advice would help.

Portable seems so much cheaper and aside from taking up some room in my back seat, are there any other cons?? Is the on-board really THAT much more convenient? I don't mind spending the money if I have a good enough reason that it's worth it. But I also don't mind doing a little extra work to save some cash. Clearly I'm conflicted. Please help.

Seems like Viair is the way to go. Anyone argue that?

[RamblinAnne]

Okay I am understanding a little better and thank you AnEv for addressing. He is correct- I am NOT considering a firestone compressor made for the airbags. I'm realize this is not designed to fill tires. I am trying to compare a heavy duty on board vs a heavy duty portable. I think I found my answer in that an on board really is the way to go. But let me just ask once more because I'm still not quite sure. So the difference between the two is that the portable a) takes up room in my back seat and b) has to be attached to my battery under the hood. Where the onboard simply requires me to push a button to turn it on. Otherwise, they are basically the same product and perform the same tasks, right?

But yes, just to clarify, I am not considering the airbag specific compressor. I am totally open to whatever compressor will do the job, portable or onboard. And please, forgive me for being such a novice. This is all new to me. Never owned a truck or a camper of any kind. My only extent with using a compressor was at a gas station on my little car.

[burningman]

jimh425 wrote:
If you are constantly adjusting air bags, you must have a leak.

It isn't that, it's that the conditions change and sometimes you want to change the pressure.

I've got the onboard air compressors - two of them, one for my overload bags and one for the air ride bags and they are definitely worth it for that. Super convenient and nice to be able to adjust on the fly.
I'd like to plumb a tank and an air hose quick-disconnect for doing tires or other air tool use but these little compressors won't take that kind of duty cycle, they'll overheat. Filling one tire wouid take half of forever.
They're designed for low volume and high pressure.
Small size, low voltage and high current all add up to overheating an electric motor used for very long

On my old Ford I used the A/C compressor as an air compressor. That setup outperformed my home compressor. The drawbacks were no A/C and oily air.
But it sure did work great!

[steamyb]

IMHO- the Viair http://www.viaircorp.com/tire_inflation.html is way over priced for the job. I went to Lowe's and bought a Kobalt https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-1-8-Hp-8-Gallon-150-PSI-120-Volt-Horizontal-Portable-Electric-Air-Compressor/50129758 for a whole lot less. Now my RV has 120V but with an inverter you can do the same thing. I tried a 12v air pump w/o the tank- top pressure was 65PSI (rated for 150PSI) and it took forever! Just my experience and YMMV.

[KKELLER14K]

EXACTLY!...If your pumping tires you got to go with something else.

[AnEv942]

Just to clarify
my assumption (and appears others) was comparisons/questions were being made between a portable compressor designed to put out a good amount of air like a viair 400+ and an on-board system designed specifically to maintain air bags as a system-say a firestone or airlift comp kit.

The convenience was between manually filling air bags with portable compressor and on-board system, again that was designed/hard plumbed to conveniently adjust air bags from cab.

If this were the case then yes the on board system designed for air bags- being used to fill tires is pushing it Way beyond it design parameters. You should go with the portable.

But Im wondering if instead the comparison/question was between otherwise similar compressors, say a Viair 400. one used as a portable and one to be on-board as meaning semi-hard mounted and plumbed to truck and air tank. Which would also change the meaning of convenience question...

If the later then I see more the difference in money for on-board as mentioned. whole different subject. The convenience I see as similar to how our jeep is set up. Though mechanical engine driven instead of electric pump, I just turn it on, while its filling the air tank I retrieve the air hose from its pouch on my seat back, plug it in to the external mounted quick connect and start blowing stuff up.
In the later case on-board more than a convenience, it's simply practical where large volume of air is needed. But yes it costs.

As far as tanks, any compressor attached to a tank will outperform itself verses non-tanked. Yield more volume, constant pressure and less run time of motor. If tank left pressurized-it would service air bags several times without turning on comp.

[KKELLER14K]

OK...I will chime in. I have exactly what your looking for. The advice you seek, I have and I have been there. I will give you some food for thought. First, and onboard compressor that can run your airbags on the fly is so nice. Second if you do decide on one, do not mount the pump outside of your rig. It should be in the cab somewhere because the little filter will clog up in no time and burn up the pump. Mine is under my rear seat. Third, while they can support the volume of an air bag system and can pump up a tire in an emergency, it is by no means going to fill multiple tires back up to the pressures that you will need to travel. You can mount a Schrader valve to the side of the frame which you can conveniently connect the flexible hose to.... to pump up things within reason, but this is a air system designed for airbags in general.

[work2much]

Kayteg1 wrote:
I never tried it to the extend, but my estimate is that if you deflate dually tires down to 25psi for sand driving and would like to inflate them to 65 psi using Firestone compressor, you are looking probably at 2 hr of pumping, assuming the compressor will not melt in the process.
Having build-in with tanks will allow you to pump 110 psi in the tanks, what will not only give you good start for reinflation, but will spread compressor duty on longer time.
Still IMHO this is not a job for 12V.
Airbags don't take much air and having portable compressor I was able to add some air in the matter of few minutes before starting the engine.

This pretty much sums it up.

[Kayteg1]

I never tried it to the extend, but my estimate is that if you deflate dually tires down to 25psi for sand driving and would like to inflate them to 65 psi using Firestone compressor, you are looking probably at 2 hr of pumping, assuming the compressor will not melt in the process.
Having build-in with tanks will allow you to pump 110 psi in the tanks, what will not only give you good start for reinflation, but will spread compressor duty on longer time.
Still IMHO this is not a job for 12V.
Airbags don't take much air and having portable compressor I was able to add some air in the matter of few minutes before starting the engine.

[cmeade]

truck customizers.com has complete train horn kits that include tank, compressor, horns, and inflator hose. After airing up your tires, toys, and airbags you could be ready to blow the doors off the next car that cut you off! Yes I am still hoping Santa cures my train horn envy.

[RamblinAnne]

Sorry for being so naive here but I'm still kind of confused. If I invest in an on board compressor, are you saying that it's not powerful enough to fill my tires? Only the airbags? I don't want to buy two compressors. I want one that can handle both my tires and my air bags. No I'm not going to be constantly inflating/deflating. But I'd like to have the option to be able to go on the beach when I feel like it without it being a major hassle. or put the camper on without dreading the airing up process. I just want to know if an on board is really that much more convenient.

Does having a tank or not affect the speed or capability of the compressors? The viair portables don't seem to have a tank. Does this make it an inferior product?

[cmeade]

If money is no object then an onboard compressor, tank, and the biggest train horn they make is the way to go and the air chuck,hose, and inflator are the frosting on the cake. BTW I have a Viair 400 and train horn envy.

[work2much]

A good size tank would make it not so portable. We have our mounted under the truck with the compressor. If memory serves it has a 3 gallon tank which is on the small side (to say the least) to air up 6 tires after getting out of the sand. For us it is about right for air bags, filling up rafts and topping off tires occasionally. If I had to do it over I would go with a bigger system.

[jimh406]

If you are constantly adjusting air bags, you must have a leak.

[AnEv942]

Portable would be less so with an attached tank..on board system tank gets mounted on truck. But not all on board systems include a tank.

We are constantly adjusting air bags, whether taking camper on/off, adjust to get level, road conditions. Upgraded to onboard- worth the price for the added convenience-its just push a switch anytime, camper on or off to adjust bags. Tires not so much.
I do have tank on onboard system and set up to use for other air needs. However I don't use unless really necessary for tires, too much run time for the small air bag compressor. I carry a small 110v electric compressor in camper that I use with gen. for tires. As tire filling is a manual thing anyway kinda made sense.

Works for us- air is pretty much required I couldn't limit source to one compressor.
In your case, adjusting tires over bags, a small on board without tank dedicated to bags would give you the convenience with a bit less cost- then a better portable for tires. Or, just the better portable for the volume to fill tires and manually adjust bags.

I wouldn't use on board air bag compressor where its primary duty would be filling tires. You can always do onboard for bags later if the convenience seems justifiable.

[rexlion]

I think they tend to make portables small, so minimal space is taken up, and lightweight, so they're easy to move around. Tanks are big and heavy. But a tank is no big deal if it's installed permanently and doesn't take up cargo space.

If I were going to need the compressor frequently, like maybe 15 or more sand/offroad occasions per year, I'd want an onboard system. Less than that, it's not so much hassle to pop the hood and attach clamps to the terminals. My ViAir is pretty quick and I've never really wished for a tank.