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Electric kite pump

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vman
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Electric kite pump

Postby vman » Thu Oct 11, 2007 4:08 pm

anyone using them?
how much does it cost?
any brand?

tks

tukyank
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Postby tukyank » Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:25 pm

there should be lots of posts on this if you do a search.

I use a $30 coleman rechargeable for my 1-pump kites 12M and over.
It doesn't have much pressure so I still have to do 10-20 pumps with a manual pump after the kite is 90% inflated.

Benefits:
- I lay out my lines while the kite is inflating
- minimal pumping
- my manual pumps last longer
- only need to recharge after around 10-15 sessions

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Postby scklandl » Thu Oct 11, 2007 7:05 pm

TUK

whats the model youre using or where did you get it?

Ive been using a cheap walmart deal but it only lasts enough to pump two kites (its small though 4"x4")

Only fills the kite 2/3 full while I pump struts or lay lines but let me tell you that last third is so much more staisfying than the first two. Buy one youll love it especially if youre on your 12m+ alot!!

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Postby Dave K » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:16 am

Scoprega Bravo BST 12HP Battery driven pump. About $200USD. Made in Italy. It's a two stage pump; low pressure high flow and low flow high pressure. Goes up to 11.2 Psi (800mB) with a user settable cut-off dial. Pumps my 15 ION up in just a couple of minutes. 12V sealed gel battery good for about 15 minutes continuous running. Both 12V car and 120-240V rechargers. Cut-off dial seems to match my pressure dial gage pretty nicely.

I got it for launching from a 21 ft boat where it's just too hard to hand pump while rolling around in the chop and keeping the kite clear of sharp edges. Haven't had it that long so I can't say anything about reliability. Previous posters (Spork?) have said impellers on these units don't like sand and electronics were not the the best on earlier units. We'll see, but so far it's great :lol:
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spork
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Postby spork » Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:08 am

Dave K wrote:Scoprega Bravo BST 12HP Battery driven pump. Previous posters (Spork?) have said impellers on these units don't like sand and electronics were not the the best on earlier units. We'll see, but so far it's great :lol:
Yup. That's the only pump I use. I even bring it when I travel. No need for hand pumps. Because it's heavy I always bring it as carry-on (keep the board bag to under 50 lbs).

I haven't had problems with sand, but the impeller on the low pressure stage failed for pretty much everyone eventually. The good news is that the low pressure stage was available at very reasonable cost ($15). I picked up a pile of them for all the locals. The better news is that they've improved that impeller and I suspect it will last much longer. The most important tip is this: never move the pump at all when it's pumping in the low-pressure/high-volume mode. The gyroscopic forces are very hard on that impeller.

True I'm not a big fan of the electronics in the pump. I basically circumvented all the switches, relays, pressure cut-off, etc. with a single toggle switch (low pressure - off - high pressure). And I added an after-market dial type pressure gauge ($7.50 from McMaster-Carr). I've made this same mod for lots of locals. I've used this pump for years and expect to get several more years out of it.

Here's the guts of it just for fun.
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Postby fkb » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:07 pm

That pump works great, my buddy has one and I'll actually choose my riding spot based on where he is :) lol.

But, for a cheap alternative, the coleman from target works for inflating the LE... cheap at around $20 it'll take away 90% of the pumping.

http://www.target.com/Coleman-Rechargab ... rh=&page=1

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Postby fearlu » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:26 pm

Spork,

I bought one of those pumps from Jack when he first brought a bunch in and mine has croaked. Do you offer any rebuild services to "strangers"? Just curious since I loved it when it worked and would be pleased to get it back in service. With this Bay Area weather we got plenty of free tinker-time, right?!

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Postby kitezilla » Fri Oct 12, 2007 4:16 pm

fkb wrote:That pump works great, my buddy has one and I'll actually choose my riding spot based on where he is :) lol.

But, for a cheap alternative, the coleman from target works for inflating the LE... cheap at around $20 it'll take away 90% of the pumping.

http://www.target.com/Coleman-Rechargab ... rh=&page=1

I have used the above Colman pump for over 2 years now in the harshest of environments...I have even dunked it in salt water twice...and it keeps on pumping, just fine. After I accidentlly submerged it in salt water, I just let the water drain out of it, in about 20 seconds, and then pumped up a 20 Meter kite. I later submerged it in fresh water to wash out the salt water. That was over a year ago, and it has worked for me everyday since then.

What a value that pump is !!

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spork
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Postby spork » Fri Oct 12, 2007 4:26 pm

fkb wrote:But, for a cheap alternative, the coleman from target works for inflating the LE... cheap at around $20 it'll take away 90% of the pumping.
Actually, assuming you pump your L.E. to 7 psi, the Coleman pump can only replace the first 2/3rds of the pump strokes. If you consider it by amount of work pumping, I'm sure it does less than 1/3rd of the work (because it only does the easy strokes). But yes, I have one of those too. I used it all the time until I got the Scoprega.
fearlu wrote:I bought one of those pumps from Jack when he first brought a bunch in and mine has croaked. Do you offer any rebuild services to "strangers"?
Sure. I don't have any spare parts left, but I'll be glad to do the repair and/or mods.

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Postby fkb » Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:41 pm

spork wrote:
fkb wrote:But, for a cheap alternative, the coleman from target works for inflating the LE... cheap at around $20 it'll take away 90% of the pumping.
Actually, assuming you pump your L.E. to 7 psi, the Coleman pump can only replace the first 2/3rds of the pump strokes. If you consider it by amount of work pumping, I'm sure it does less than 1/3rd of the work (because it only does the easy strokes). But yes, I have one of those too. I used it all the time until I got the Scoprega.
I would go with 2/3ds... I let it inflate the LE while I pump the struts, then I hit the LE with maybe around 10 pumps and I'm done. Without it, by the time I get to those last pumps I'm already getting sick of pumping.

I'm guessing the LE takes like 30+ pumps... (with one of those crappy best pumps anyway).

Either way, it's inflating the LE while I'm doing the struts so I am done and rigging a lot quicker. Well worth 20 bucks if you can't spend $200 on the nice one.

Really it was the biggest benefit when we were still riding those monster C kites with the blimp leading edge. Argh!


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