Questions on Bravo Pressure Digital Pump BP12

[shaun2020]

1. When I purchased the pump, the air tube was wrapped up and in the side pocket of the bag, this in theory has caused kinks in the tube and I can not get rid of these kinks when trying to inflate my boat unless I try and squeeze the tube at the same time, this is a bit of a pain, I believe this is interfering with my pressure reading on the pump when I am inflating the boat, does anyone have a solution or had a new hose made up that does not bend or kink? if so what are the screw on fitting sizes etc?,

2. The air tube on the pump is 2 mtr long approx, is it possible to have a hose made up to 3 mtrs, would this effect the performance / pressure performance of the pump?

3. Could I use a 12 volt motorcycle battery to operate the pump on my boat while out at sea, will the battery last long, I would use my car originally to pump it up to check pressures before launching, but thinking when I am out at sea, it would be better to have my Bravo inflatable pump working than a foot pump, a whole lot less hassle,

4. Has anyone had success in extending the battery wires on the pump as I find they are a little short unless I move my car / boat in to different positions to to get to all of the valves, if so what size & type of wire do I need to buy / how long will I be able to extend the wires by?

5. I notice the pressure on my pump does not start reading the pressure until way late in to the inflation process, is this normal?

6. My tubes are supposed to take 3.5 Bar if I remember right looking at my boat plate, but when I get to 2.5 Bar they seem quite solid, do I dare keep inflating? I don't want it to go pop / Bang? or maybe faulty pump?

All advice & help greatly received,

Thanks Shaun

[Fenlander]

1. Mine doesn't kink permanently even when rolled up in the side pocket. It's the sort of tube with a coil to keep the shape.

2. I added 1.5m extra tube (actually Honwave pump tube) with no issues.

3. Yes any small alarm or bike battery etc will do. Enough capacity for topping up or even an emergency part inflation.

4. Yes I have extended by almost 4m. But use heavy wire and connectors and don't go much/any over 4m as you suffer voltage drop. Mine was longer but I had to cut a few metres off or the pump was sluggish,

5. No... mine reads quite soon.

6. I hope you mean 0.35 bar... 3.5 bar would probably blow the seams apart.

Hope that helps... great pumps... had mine about 2-3yrs.

[jyasaki]

1) I have a Bravo BST-12 wired into the boat; I use a length of garden hose plumbed in (hose clamped to the pump end, and zip tied to the adaptor.) Whether or not it kinks depends on the hose you use. Also not sure how easy your pump would be to adapt; the BST has a turret that the original hose bayonet mounts to. Hose just slips over and is clamped. I found the original hose (black plastic corrugated stuff) to be crap; better than the yellow plastic stuff on the footpumps (which always splits), but still not very good.

2) Sure see #1. Shouldn't affect anything. Air pressure is pretty much self-equalizing.

3) Sure, should work fine. No battery in the boat already? Check the max current draw, and wire and fuse appropriately (I think the BST-12 pulls about 10A; I'm fused at 15.)

4) A decent ways, but you should get big enough wire to prevent voltage drop. Lower voltage means the pump pulls more current which tends to destroy motors.

5) Don't know.

6) Should probably verify with another gauge. Peace of mind is a good thing.

jky

[honwave]

Hi
If I was going to extend the wire on my Bravo pump I would remove one of the croc clips on the pump wire, strip back the insulation and count the strands then measure the dia of one strand and buy either the same size or bigger - RS (RS.com) used to list wire by strand and dia or try Maplin.
Hope this helps

[SIBer]

My hose has no kinks.

I use a Yuasa 12 Ah. Plenty of power as flattening batteries kills them so only discharge to 50% for long life.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yuasa-NP12-1.../dp/B002TUZM48

[shaun2020]

Hi all,

Thanks to you all for all your help & comments, much appreciated, some good mods / and hopefully make life easier for myself and other people