Product review - Portable Automatic Jamec Tyre inflator / Deflator.

[boobook]

With towing offroad, raising and lowering tyre pressures takes some time, and after a recent blow out due to my near new ARB pressure gauge being 10 PSI out ( read 30 but was really 20). I decided to review my tyre inflating situation. Also my 3 sets of Stauns ( 18, 24, 30 PSI) are very slow, and the pressure can vary by more than 4 psi each time I use them. They have kind of been driving me nuts for a while.

Firstly I updated my TPMS. ( My old one had to replace the entire sensors after a flat battery and at $50 ea erghh). Then I upgraded my compressor situation. I put in a tank and a second compressor inside the bullbar of my 200 all on separate circuits so there was no single point of failure.

Now for the inflator.

I saw this on the Jamec pages of Companion the distributor. Pic below.

http://industrial.companionbrands.com.au//index.php?p=line&bid=25&sid=1398234542

Basically it's a portable version of the auto ones that are at most servos now. Same same functionality but better.

There are 2 preset pressures. Say 18 and 40 PSI. You select one and it will inflate or deflate to that pressure. If you want say 24 PSI you can select 18 then the up button 6 times for 24 PSI, or you can put 24 PSI in the memory very simply. It also has a mode to over inflate then go back to your selected pressure for seating tyres and another over ride to inflate from zero PSI. Also it comes with an individual calibration certificate. Mine is 0.3 PSI out at 30 PSI and 0.5 PSI out at 50 PSI. Got to be happy with that. It has a rechargeable lithium battery - 10 hours of use with auto off & Mini USB re-charger port.


BUT it retails for $390 and the website says the dimensions are 380 x 125 x 135. WOW that's pertty big, where will I put it in the car. Also how quickly does it deflate?

No one had them in stock. None on ebay, and posts to 3 other forums come up with no one that had seen or heard of one. Companion weren't much help either. That is being generous.

I called Repco's head office and they had one in the warehouse. If I go to the Dandenong store they said they would get it from the main warehouse at the rear and I could open it. It was $330.

It turns out that the dimensions are the box it comes in. It's really 300 x 100 x 75. A bit bigger than a decent inflator but not too bad. I asked for a discount since the box was already open ( now LOL). They said $280. Done.

With the compressor attached, I tried it. Wow this is easy. My 33" tyre was at about 40 so I used 24PSI. The air comes out of a vent on the side. It was about 4 - 5 times quicker than my Stauns ( per tyre) with no screwing around or calibrating and rechecking pressure, and sometimes re-inflating.
It just let air out then stopped and beeped at 24 psi. Same with reinflating. I set it back to 40 PSI and it stops and beeps at 40.

Then I removed it from the hose to see how it would work just deflating. No go. It leaks air back into the hose and expects pressure. Damm I will have to have it connected to a working compressor I thought. Then as a test I swapped the Male and female hose connectors over so it stopped the air coming out. Bingo. It worked perfectly as a stand alone auto deflator. I will make up a more permanent solution next week.

It is great, fast, accurate and 100% compatible with having a beer while inflating and deflating. You can go about other checks and tasks or just take a break. It's also the only accurate way of directly setting pressures higher and lower that I have used. No double checking with a gauge, no re-inflating after the tyres go too low while letting air out.

It is a bit expensive but not over the top compared to a decent, accurate, calibrated gauge.

Love it.

[Patrol Dude]

Mate looks pretty trick, I can associate with the additional time to drink beer. The price how ever!!!! If it lasts and doesn't have a electronic failure then maybe. Let me know how it goes in 5 years and I'll consider one [emoji6] till then I think I'll stick with the ARB deflator for $50.
Image from http://www.4x4groupbuy.com/store/images/ARB_ez_tire_deflator.jpg.

[obeeone]

G'day

There is this smaller cheaper version on ebay
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Jamec-Pem-High-Precision-Digital-Tyre-Inflator-11-0523-/161659669642
Carl

[boobook]

I had an ARB gauge and it read 10 PSI too high. It cost me 4 tyres. That is what started me on the endeavor of looking for a decent calibrated gauge.

I have never had the TMPS show exactly the same pressure as a tyre gauge before. It always showed a few psi different and every tyre was slightly different. Now I set the PSI to 38 on the inflator and every tyre shows 38 on the TMPS.  I never knew it was that accurate.

That one on ebay is a normal manual digital compressor head.

[Cuppa]

I have one of these Jamec Pem 'non digital' inflators. Good bit of gear.  http://industrial.companionbrands.com.au//index.php?p=line&sid=1262645566
Also have one of those ARB deflators which are very quick.
The readings on both are identical which is reassuring.

[Adam]

I would like to send a huge "Thank You!" to Boobook for posting this product review.
I know it is two years old now, but I only just found it recently.
I have been using staun deflators for many years, and I have multiple sets at different pressures for different conditions. My body is suffering from too many old injuries. While I won't bore anyone with the details, I really struggle with too much bending, kneeling, or sitting on the ground. We have had more than one camping trip cut short over the years because of me.

While the stauns are not perfect, at least they minimise the time I have to spend down at wheel level. I searched a few years ago for some kind of automated inflator, but came up empty. So, while I could deflate with minimum effort, re-inflating always had me kneeling for much longer than I should, even after buying the big ARB twin kit to speed it up.

After stumbling onto this post, I started searching. Desperately hoping the product was still available. Found one on eBay for $240 brand new from Melbourne. It is fantastic! I won't go over it all again. It's enough to say that Boobook's description is spot-on.

Thank you so much for sharing this. You have made my camping and 4WDing just that much easier, and I will be thanking you for it every time I use it. I am so grateful.

Thanks,
Adam

[Rainsey]

Just my two boobs worth. Mate of mine has one and we used it extensively when we did the Anne Beadell and the Canning the other year. Absolutely loved it, so much so I am going to buy one myself once I get other expenses out of the way.

Cheers
Rainsey


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[weonatvan]

I found mine

I found mine a little large and cumbersome and couldn't find a suitable box to store it safely from damage. So I chopped it up/shortened it and screwed it to the bottom of a camera case with enough room for my hose etc.

I also installed a check valve in the handle so that I can simply connect the unit a tyre for deflating without doing/connecting anything else.

Works like a charm. [emoji106]


"You don't know what you don't know"

Cheers dave

[Patrol Dude]

Hi BooBook, is your unit still meeting your expectations?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[boobook]

Yep. I still love it.

The only thing it doesn't do well is pump up the airbags in the suspension. I have a small manual one for that and as a back up.

Dave, how did you cut the handle, did you have to cut the internal hose too. A pic outside the box would be great. Also the check valve photo would be interesting.

[Cruiser 105Tvan]

Looks like a small toolbox from super cheap.
Similar to a pelican case.
Is that right?

[weonatvan]

Looks like a small toolbox from super cheap.
Similar to a pelican case.
Is that right?

Actually it's an 'ABS instrument case with purge valve' from Jaycar MPV2, HB-6381. It's a little bigger and heavier then I would have liked but after searching for over two years looking for a case to suit the original unit to no avail as I was wrapping it in a sheet and placing it on the floor behind the drivers seat, so I settled for this knowing that I can literally throw it about and not suffer any damage as they are very robust with good catches, but are 70 bucks a throw. [emoji85]

Unfortunately the smaller boxes didn't have enough height for the unit to fit. [emoji22]
I may have got it into a HB-6425 case at $35 after shortening but chose not to.

Yes, I did look at $10 plastic tool boxes but what you get IS a $10 flimsy box with cheap clips that gives little protection to an expensive precision instrument. I also investigated having an alloy box but gave that idea away as it may have damaged other gear stored with it, plus xee $.


"You don't know what you don't know"

Cheers dave

[weonatvan]

Yep. I still love it.



Dave, how did you cut the handle, did you have to cut the internal hose too. A pic outside the box would be great. Also the check valve photo would be interesting.

They have an alloy tube about 150mm long inside the handle with 1/8 NPT threads. I replaced the tube with a brass nipple, then a check valve from the likes of AOB on flee bay, a right angle 8mm push-in fitting and shortened the handle to suit. [emoji848]

I recently took it to Fraser without a hiccup.[emoji12]

Sorry, no pics out of the box as it doesn't come out because it has four screws through the bottom of the box into the plastic housing of the unit.

Because it's permanently mounted in the box I also installed a swivel fitting to the outlet, made a smaller diameter shorter more flexible hose as I can throw the box on the ground at the base of the tyre and dirt get in/on the unit. [emoji106]

I just use around 10 metres of 8mm nylon line as my air hose with push-in fittings. Cheap, simple, light and can easily be cut/repaired/extended with a push-in joiner, which all happens to fit in the box as a bonus. [emoji41]

[Cruiser 105Tvan]

Well done Dave.
Now you can sell the idea back to Jamec and make a nice Crissy bonus.
Great job.

[weonatvan]

Well done Dave.
Now you can sell the idea back to Jamec and make a nice Crissy bonus.
Great job.

Haha. Dream on I reckon. I personally would redesign the whole unit from scratch as there are voids internally that could be eliminated. It's some time ago that I did my mods and can't fully remember all of the workings.

The weight is in a large alloy billet which has ports drilled through it with two solenoids valves attached that inflate and dump. These are controlled by a PCB. I reckon the billet could be half the weight if reconfigured.

I wasn't aware that opening upper and lower pressures could be permanently adjusted from 15 and 30psi. I may need to investigate further.

Barring in mind that my mods are not for the faint hearted as once you start cutting there ain't no turning back and you pray it's still gunna work when all is done. [emoji722]

But, I do love the concept of the base unit (if not the design) and if I could afford it at the time I would not hesitate in buying again. No more tyre valve removals. When I have six tyres to deflate from say 45 to 15, I go ahead of unit and dump a heap of air using a stick so it speeds up the process. Otherwise it could take up to 15 minutes if left to its own devises.



"You don't know what you don't know"

Cheers dave