MrTruck’s Favorite Innovative Accessories
I’m not talking about license plate borders or chrome exhaust pipe tips. I have those too, but cool functional stuff that you don’t see everywhere. I found these accessories at SEMA convention (specialty equipment marketing association) in Vegas. I’m not a Vegas fan, but end up there a couple times a year a NFR and SEMA. My son spends time in the tire and wheel room at SEMA, something to do with “booth babes” showing off wheels. I stay clear of the tire room and spend most of my 4 days there upstairs in the trailer and truck section. Vendors have booths trying to attract new dealers. This is for mom and pop stores which is the back bone of American business, at the same time is APPEX convention which is more for corporations.
My pickup truck is on the road a lot and usually with a trailer following close behind. So of course a portable 12 volt air compressor is important. Besides tires, an air impact wrench can keep you on the road. Or being about to blow out a tractor air filter in the field with air pressure is a plus. I had a 12 volt portable air compress in the seventies with a starter motor and solenoid running the compressor. The motor burned out often.
At SEMA I met Jeremy Smith with Phoenix USA. He sent me a 12 volt compressor with 3 gallon tank maxes at 120 psi with a ¾ direct drive motor. No maintenance or oil to change with a pressure switch, on/off switch and water drain. I added a 50 amp breaker inline with the battery cables added to the compressor. I can run the cables up to my trucks battery and reach my trailer tires with the 50’ air hose I added. http://phoenixusa.com/
Use to hold a flashlight in my mouth in the rain while changing a tire. And had the million candle watt spot light. But the problem is placement of the light. If you have a third hand, no worries but for the rest of us another product seen at SEMA is Central Tools 100LED. Bruce Dawson sent me the light. This LED light has magnets on the bottom and side, a flexable neck and hook. I’ve stuck it on my truck frame while upgrading exhaust, stuck it to my hood while changing air filters. It’s my favorite flash light, always under my truck seat. A very bright led light that flashes when it needs charging. http://centraltools.com/index.html
CTEK of Sweden is a battery charger you won’t loan out. Bill Rainey showed me the CTEK compact battery charger at SEMA. I took it home and it stays in my truck too. Small is nice, it’s out of the way even when charging. You can’t hurt it or hook it up wrong and get sparks or shock. You select the battery type, such as deep cycle, motorcycle or regular battery and CTEC does the rest. If you hook up wrong nothing happens, it just doesn’t charge. If you hook up correctly, positive to positive and so on, it will display just how charged the battery is now and monitor it. I use it on my horse trailer which has two deep cycle batteries. A well made unit.
Dakota Micro Inc. starting field cameras for testing combines and cornstalk shredders. Lot easier to stick a camera in with moving machinery than a journalist with a camcorder. DM’s AgCam is water proof, bullet proof, shock resistant and has night vision, infrared and can withstand up to 150 F. We’ll be using these camera’s to monitor and quad to record the horse trailer tests planned for this summer. Because the camera’s are so durable, and have a magnetic base, we can put them under trailers to watch air ride axles, they can record the movement of Cushion Couplers on a gooseneck and by epoxing a steel washer inside an aluminum horse trailer, we can aim the AgCam camera’s at horses feet dancing in the trailer or monitor their drinking habits. We’ve already used them to see how much truck mudflaps sails at 70 mph. Then the obvious uses for AgCam is to use backing up to your trailer coupler and then put the camera in the trailer and watch your horses actions.
The camera kit from AgCam came with a 9″ monitor (a real size), 4 camera’s and quad receiver. We’ll hook it up to video and have the results on MrTruck.com this summer. These camera’s are currently used in law enforcement and their unique durability will make them ideal for recording the action under and inside our horse trailer at highway speed. Think about that when you pass me in my red Hart trailer. You might be on MrTruck.TV http://www.dakotamicro.com/
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