Itiwit Air Pump Modification (to run from 18V Makita battery)

[knwatkins]

Hi all, I thought I'd share this little modification I did over the Christmas period to a little Itiwit pump I bought from eBay for £15.

Sometimes we don't have the car next to where we inflate our SIB so I need a cordless solution. I have plenty of Makita batteries for my power tools so I thought I'd modify the 12V pump so it can run off the 18V batteries I already have.

I simply bought a 18V to 12V regulator and a battery base, screwed it to the side of the pump and wired it up internally.

Here it is...



I pumped up our air floor to the rated 15psi yesterday and it did the job well.

The only issue I've found is that when pressing the button for it to inflate to the set pressure, the voltage coming from the regulator drops for a couple of seconds as a result of the inrush current when the motor is trying to get started. This causes the motor to splutter a little bit but once it's spinning after a second or two, it operates just fine. I did try and resolve this by putting capacitor across the 12V supply, but it didn't make any difference. It works, so I'll just live with it spluttering for a couple of seconds on start up.

[Fenlander]

Neat idea.

[mhill]

Have you looked at the data plate on the motor? You may find it's actually rated higher than 12v. Most 12v equipment is happy with 18v from a Makita battery, at least, that's what I've seen so far.
Did you fuse it, though?

[knwatkins]

I didn't think of that to be honest. I couldn't see any voltage markings on the motor or the control PCB inside. However, I've just been out to the shed and taken a gamble at bypassing the 18V to 12V regulator and connected the 18V straight to the control PCB and..........it only bloody works and works a lot better! No spluttering on startup, more power and therefore pumps even faster!!! Thank you mhill

Time will only tell how long it will last if I am indeed over-driving it but initial tests have proved an excellent improvement in performance.

Here's the finished result with the regulator removed and redundant holes capped...


Regarding the fuse, yes it is fused internally, but I didn't post a picture as I was a little embarrassed about my DIY fuse holder. But hey, it works...

[mhill]

Ah excellent!

I use a Makita small leaf blower for bulk filling and deflation of my SUP, SIB & RIB then the Makita 18v tyre inflator of topping up to pressure. It’s bulky and a tad cumbersome but it was “tools” I already had.

How many bars are you taking out of a 5amp battery? Wonder how long the slimline 2amp units would last.

[knwatkins]

I have been doing the same with the Makita leaf blower (DUB185) and tyre inflator (DMP180) on the floor at 15psi. On the tubes I've been using the blower to get the bulk of the air in and then using a manual pump to get them up to pressure at 3.6psi.

I haven't used the Makita inflator on the tubes though as I was worried about the accuracy of the gauge down at 3.6psi (if it even goes that low, I haven't tried) and whilst it was blowing up the floor, I was able to work in parallel on the tubes with the blower and manual pump.

Given I'm selling the manual pump with my current boat, I needed to look at finding an alternative so I thought the little Itiwit would fit the bill nicely.

So my current methodology is to:
Bulk transfer the air into the floor using the Makita blower
Connect up the Makita tyre inflator to the floor to get it up to pressure
Then in parallel, bulk transfer air into the tubes with the Makita blower and use the Itiwit to get them up to pressure

I think that should get the boat blown up in super quick time.

Concerning the battery, I've just blown up the air floor to 15psi with a fully charged 5Ah battery and it was still showing 4 bars when it had finished so that's a good result

Out of interest, how are you using the blower? I ended up buying a spare hose and a spare rubber Makita nozzle. I then threaded the hose through the rubber nozzle, wrapped a bunch of self amalgamating tape around the end and pulled it tight into the end of the nozzle to create a nice air-tight fit.

[mhill]

I've got the same, if not maybe slightly older versions (I think the blower is 2009 vintage!) the DMP 180 is a bit irritating in that you have to hold the trigger down constantly, but a velcro cable tie does resolve it.

I keep Milwaukee m12 tools in my van, and the m12 inflater is much nicer and easier to use, the m12 leaf blower less so.
Talking of power tools for other jobs,
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adapter-Mil...1&gad_source=1 I got a set of these a few months ago and have started a few vans with them under 2.0 Diesel and although it felt sketch they did the job with no arc or sparks and no excessive heat from an m18 5amp battery. Not seen an 18v LXT version as yet, though.

I just manually twist the valve open and hold the flexi blower nozzle onto the valve. It works well on boat tubes for in & out, but it would be nicer to make a purpose-made valve adaptor.

An ideal would have a section of flexi host and a valve with a fitting for the DAS180; the volume of air that that thing can move is incredible.
https://www.makitauk.com/product/das180.html

[knwatkins]

Ah yes, the DMP180 does that and it used to get on my nerves when doing the car tyres so I modified it a few years back by moving the wires on the switch. It now doesn't need me to hold the trigger down so I can do other things whilst it's working. If you're interested, have a look here on YouTube, it's a simple little modification:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHfchqTetbA

Here's a picture of my blower pipe. It works pretty well, especially on deflation as it sucks all the air out to get the boat as compact as possible. That DAS180 looks very cool. I'm sure you'd be able to rig something similar up to it.



I have cheap Chinese jump starter pack that has rescued a few people over the years. I don't think I'd be brave enough to connect an 18V battery to my modern Land Rover though. I'd be too worried about frying something.

[mhill]

Originally Posted by knwatkins

Ah yes, the DMP180 does that and it used to get on my nerves when doing the car tyres so I modified it a few years back by moving the wires on the switch. It now doesn't need me to hold the trigger down so I can do other things whilst it's working. If you're interested, have a look here on YouTube, it's a simple little modification:

Here's a picture of my blower pipe. It works pretty well, especially on deflation as it sucks all the air out to get the boat as compact as possible. That DAS180 looks very cool. I'm sure you'd be able to rig something similar up to it.



I have cheap Chinese jump starter pack that has rescued a few people over the years. I don't think I'd be brave enough to connect an 18V battery to my modern Land Rover though. I'd be too worried about frying something.

That looks like a sensible mod to do, and maybe this evening's cold entertainment.

that pipe almost looks OEM, is that just push fit?

I've used 18v LXT with some 2.5 T&E with the ends pushed into a battery on one end and wrapped around the battery terminal and started a VW Caddy, no issues and was a good quick start and move on.

[knwatkins]

It's just this pipe... https://a.aliexpress.com/_EGKw5DO

Which I then threaded the non-boat end through the nozzle, wrapped some self amalgamating tape around the hose just below the connector and pulled it back tight so it wedged itself inside the nozzle. It's nice and air tight on the joint and works a treat.

[Fenlander]

I'm grateful to this thread as it's led me to a useful purchase.

Earlier in 2024 I bought a small Ryobi air blower, as in image below, for my DIY jobs but found it excellent for inflating the SIB at home for a post-outing wash where it filled the tubes and floor quickly with less noise than my Bravo 12v. I commented when I reported on it that I wouldn't bother taking it on trips though as the Bravo is so good.

However prompted by this thread I see Ryobi have produced a similar but higher output version which I've just ordered purely for SIB outings. It's this model, on offer too...

https://uk.ryobitools.eu/power-tools...yABEgI_IfD_BwE

Like the one I have already it goes to just a 0.5psi fill but is over double the output and even greater than the Bravo in turbine mode. The Ryobi outlet taper snugly fits Zodiac standard valves and the pump keeps running if the trigger is fully clicked in. Could almost have been made for the job and assuming you already have a set of Ryobi batteries like me at an offer price just skimming under £30 plus post something of a bargain.

Outputs in lit/min...

New Ryobi high volume: 510
Older Ryobi: 210
Bravo BTP 12 Turbine mode: 450
Bravo BTP12 High pressure mode: 160
Itiwit max output: 75

[knwatkins]

That sounds like a great buy Fenlander. It makes sense to stick to a brand if you already have the batteries and those Ryobi blowers are look very neat indeed. Much more sophisticated than me and my leaf blower

I know some rely on the Itiwit to inflate from scratch, but at 75 l/min, I would get impatient By comparison, the Makita DUB185 is 3200 l/min so I use that for the bulk inflation which only takes a few seconds, then use the Itiwit to get the tubes to the final pressure.

[mhill]

Wow at £30 thats a bargain!

Ryobi do some really interesting and quite quirky cordless tools but I really don’t need another battery platform!

[Steve509926]

Originally Posted by mhill

Wow at £30 thats a bargain!

Ryobi do some really interesting and quite quirky cordless tools but I really don’t need another battery platform!

A battery converter might help:-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MT20RNL-Bat...lbWF0aWM&psc=1

[Fenlander]

That's a good tip Steve, as mhill says going to yet another platform is a pain. I have Ryobi for light garden tools and a value cordless drill, Milwaukee for the decent DIY tools and Stihl for larger garden gear. At Christmas there were attractive local offers pushed heavily on DeWalt and Makita but I drew the line at the current three battery systems.

[Fenlander]

>>>the Makita DUB185 is 3200 l/min

Quite staggering, it must take longer to move between the valves than it does to fill the tubes.

[mhill]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

>>>the Makita DUB185 is 3200 l/min

Quite staggering, it must take longer to move between the valves than it does to fill the tubes.

It’s all volume but no pressure though.