Happy New Year, everyone!

Anyone able to recommend a cordless, rechargeable jump starter/air compressor that works well with diesels? There's quite the variety out there....thought I'd rely on the experience of you guys. Happy to spend a bit more money to get excellent quality. Something like a Stanley J5C09 seems like it might be a good choice which can be had for $80. Or a Schumacher XP2260 for $120....a bit more power.

Thanks.

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Who sells these models? Can you actually see the compressor unit inside to try and determine if it's suitably robust to hold up to heavy use, like pumping up a flat tire?
On the subject of compressors, generally I've found the typical, modern 12V-cordless units to be very lightweight and cheaply made in China. The pumps are about 1/2 inch bore powered by large 'toy' motors through a plastic reduction gear. They're barely adequate to top off a low tire. Forget about trying to pump up a flat one. You'll burn out the motor if it's run for more than a few minutes.
I have a three old 12V American-made tire compressors that I keep in my multiple vehicles. Two Colemans and another US brand whose name escapes me for now. Also a new fairly heavy-duty Chinese-made unit I got on sale at Pep-Boys a couple years ago. The motors on these are direct-drive and about the size of a typical auto power-window or wiper motor. Even those have a hard job to pump-up a flat tire and I usually give them a rest after several minutes.
As for a portable, rechargeable jump starter, how often will you need it?
Someone gave me one several years ago and I wound up rarely using it and the battery is probably toast now.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

The first compressor I had was a cordless Campbell Hausfeld....worked well. When its battery would no longer take a charge, I replaced it with a less expensive version of the same thing that works off the car's power outlet. Works fine....except it's a bit inconvenient to have to have it tethered to a running car.

So my thinking was to get something that restored the flexibility of having a cordless compressor with the added benefit of being able to jump a car. I doubt I'd need to use the jump feature very often....but might be better than waiting for AAA.

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

For the jump-start function, I would recommend you wait for AAA.

Most people who buy booster packs find that unless you use the jumper regularly, by which I mean you drain it completely once a month at least, the battery dies (will not take a full recharge) within 1-2 years.

Beyond that, chances are when you go to use it, you will find it dead and they take at least 3 hrs to recharge (some take overnight). You cannot necessarily throw one in the trunk, then hope to use it two months later at a moment's notice.

You will be further ahead buying a spare battery or keeping an old one on a pushcart, connected onto an automatic 2A trickle charger, in case you need a boost at home.

Most of the small compressors in the $25-$50 range are junk - and anything that is going to fit into the shell of a booster pack will even smaller and less capable. Look at the reviews of small compressors at a variety of merchants' sites and you will see a lot of comments like "worked great... three times."

For the compressor, I suggest you wait for a sale and buy a 5- or 8-gallon compressor and use that for your tires. I made the mistake of buying a cheap "baby" compressor, 2 gals, for $35 on sale and you can make a spaghetti dinner while waiting it to pump up the tank and fill the tire.

If you are stuck on getting a portable battery pack, IMHO Schumacher is the best of an iffy lot.

Sorry for the doom and gloom but after shelling out multiple times for all those gadgets, like Josemite Sam with Bugs Bunny, I'm a Hession who ain't got no aggression" (I have given up).

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Or you could carry some jumper-cables.
I also picked up an older American-made Black&Decker compact portable tankless compressor at the Goodwill-store, which I keep at the house in Virginia Beach, since I park a couple vehicles there that may not get driven for a month or more. But it's 110V. Air-pressure guage is built in and it's heavy enough to pump up a tire in a reasonable time.
Otherwise, Pep-Boys and (I think) Harbor-Freight have one or two relatively heavy-duty 12V Chinese air-pumps in the $35-$60 range. You might find one of those on sale, like the one I bought for my Camry, at around $25.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Thanks for the thoughts. Maybe I should just by another portable inflator and call it a day.

The extra battery on the push cart is an interesting idea. $40 blem from Interstate would be a cost effective solution.

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

You might put an appropriate battery in your trunk and wire it to an accessory line or IGN HOT to charge all the time, but not discharge if you leave your headlights on. Probably a power resistor on the hot line to keep it from drawing more than a few amps in any condition. Then just carry jumper cables sufficient to reach the trunk from the engine compartment. Hydrogen venting is a concern with that though.

I find inexpensive compressors don't last these days. You might be better off bodging a compressor from an old fridge. Replace the included oil with probably just motor oil. The refrigerant compatible oil forms acids on contact w/ moisture.

AC Peeps can speak to the feasability and details of such a plan. Thats a 120V solution though.

Above battery scheme, spare and fix-a-flat.

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CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

I almost never have on the road charging issues and a jump will get a 617 running until shut off with a key. I've only changed 2 tires on the road. Both times were due to dry rotted tires on a vehicle just bought.

Battery longevity is an issue and one person I know of who runs his house on batteries claims to get 10 yrs out of all of his batteries because of his maintenance process. Consequently, I'm looking for a charger to keep in the shop that performs an "equalizing" charge.

Here's some battery maintenance info. Battery Maintenance | Trojan Battery Company

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

I use this one.

it not only has an air compressor, but a built in 400Amp inverter, and a light.

works great even on my v8Diesel truck!

$99 at wallyworld

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Managed to pick up a Craftsman 3 HP, 20 gallon compressor off of Craigslist for $70...I guess I'll let AAA worry about jump starts.

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

That one vstech is nice. I got one from Sears as the battery was replaceable. Walmart probably comparable. We use them to run lights at farmers market. It charges off a cigerette lighter in the trunk or behind the seat, so it's always full. Won't drain trough the cig lighter.

For air compressor. I always buy those cheap slime ones. I honestly filled a 6 foot tall tractor tire with it once. Skinny tires. But took a half hour. So hot I could barely touch it. Still works.

I gutted one to fit in my bike. Works great. The cig power part always breaks. Wired in a 12v plug of alligator clips.

Would you let your life depend on one? Meh. Good choice on the craftsman.

That's a good deal on that Schumacher...maybe I'll have to get one of those too!

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

A jump battery pack is all about the battery. The scrap yard I deal with sometimes gets "power chairs / wheel chairs", these have 2 half car battery size sealed lead acid units that work just fine.