Compressor re-wire

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

Just before Xmas I bought a cheap 2nd hand tyre compressor from Cash Converters... $25.00 with a warranty and it's supposed to pump out 70lt's per min :shock:
I've used it once and it works fine... gets the ST's back up to pressure a lot faster than the Bushranger PowerAir did.

The reason it was so cheap is the leads only just reach the front tyres from the battery (so the back are out of the question :roll and you can only run it for 10-15 mins under pressure.

Off the label on the side...
Voltage: DC12V
Amperage: 23A

My questions are...

1. How do I determine the wire thickness I need for a lead about 6mts long?

And 2.
Can I replace the usual battery terminal clips (aligator type) with a cigarette plug conector to utilise the acc point in the back of the Prado?

[Brissy4me Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brissy4me]

Cant answer you on the wire gauge but I know the cigarette style sockets fiited to the vehicle are only fused for 10 amps so its a definate no for running it from any of those points. I would run it directly from the battery with alligator style clips once you find the right gauge wire.

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

Cant answer you on the wire gauge but I know the cigarette style sockets fiited to the vehicle are only fused for 10 amps so its a definate no for running it from any of those points. I would run it directly from the battery with alligator style clips once you find the right gauge wire.

The label says 120W max but didn't mention the amperage... the fuses are 20A so should have been obvious really

Thanks Brissy

[leachy_9 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close leachy_9]

Snaga,

Narva 6mm (4.58mm2) cable will do the job - rated to 50Amp.

http://www.narva.com.au/Terminals_23.html

Might be a silly question, but why not just put on a longer air hose?

Leach

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

Snaga,

Narva 6mm (4.58mm2) cable will do the job - rated to 50Amp.

http://www.narva.com.au/Terminals_23.html

Might be a silly question, but why not just put on a longer air hose?

Leach

Hmmmmm, hadn't even crossed my mind... might look into that 8)
Would be better as it's a screw attachment onto the tyre valve at the mo.

[speedcomm Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close speedcomm]

Snaga, dont even contemplate using it off a cig lighter, 120 watts is 8.7 amps at 13.8volts, much less than 23 amps the compressor uses

Run it direct off the battery via a fuse using the Narva cable mentioned, Not sure if there is a pic here somewhere but Mat, 120GXV6 has his compressor in the boot, on top of the draws, easy to get at etc

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

See, this is why this place is so great

I knew nothing about 12v now I know something ops:

I suppose when I get around to having a duel battery system put in place I could run some 50A Anderson pugs to the back or something

It'll either be extend the wire or extend the air hose... either way at the moment it'll definitely be running direct off the battery :wink:

[plucker Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close plucker]

Snaga, Just for your future reference on electricity Watts=volts x amps.
Yeah like already said the longer hose is easier, lighter and possibly cheaper, than copper wire is now.
Also most cigi lighters are rated at 10 amps presuming there is only 12V to start with - this would give you the 120Watts. When the car is running, which you probably want while inflating tyres, it will be more like 13.8V and the cigi lighter pulling 10 amps at that rate might burn out.
At the end of the day you will need your car running to power your air inflator with the power it consumes.

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

Snaga, Just for your future reference on electricity Watts=volts x amps.
Yeah like already said the longer hose is easier, lighter and possibly cheaper, than copper wire is now.
Also most cigi lighters are rated at 10 amps presuming there is only 12V to start with - this would give you the 120Watts. When the car is running, which you probably want while inflating tyres, it will be more like 13.8V and the cigi lighter pulling 10 amps at that rate might burn out.
At the end of the day you will need your car running to power your air inflator with the power it consumes.

Cool, thanks for that plucker

I was down at bunnings and they have quite a few options on air hoses... more so than Repco, and I'll have a quick look at SuperCheap tomorrow.

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

Thanks for all your advise guys...

Took the option of extending the hose rather than the cable.
A 10 meter spring air hose from Bunnings did the job.

I had to cut the original hose on the compressor to insert the new hose in between the two connectors.

All the original connections were too small for any of the new stuff so I now have the option of short hose or adding the long hose when needed.

The hose diameters are different as well, so there is a little bit of heat build up on the first connection which is weird as that's where the hose gets wider :?

Used it on Sunday for the first time on all 4 wheels, 25psi back to 38psi.
I tested it before we left and it's 4min 15sec for that range and it only just made the forth wheel before the thermal switch started to kick in :cry:

Oh, well... it's been a fun exercise, and now I have a compressor that can live in the garage for bike tyres and stuff
Better get myself a better one and spend a little more cash :roll:

Gotta give it to the little BushRanger though... in the 2 years I've been using it, it's never even hinted at slowing down. Just a shame it's so slow to start with :lol: