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cont. Viair arrived today

warrenpfo

warrenpfo

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Jul 21, 2010
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I know i am in the lounge and its best to ask this in the electronics section but how best would it be to connect the compressor to the battery?

It came with 2 tails that have a clip fitting and was wondering if i can just run these to the battery and not have an inline fuse as there is one on the compressor that i will then clip into the already wired in fitting rather than having to open the bonnet every time i want to use it.

 
Re: Viair arrived today

Fuse always as close to the battery as possible. :naughty:
Having the plug connected to the battery without a fuse could turn out badly (read:fire :evil:)

Mount the plug in the grill somewhere?
 
Re: Viair arrived today

That was my plan and as mentioned there is a fuse in line on the cable that you then plug into the wire I have pictured.

From what you have said it would seem you recommend I put a fuse in the cable I attach to the battery as well. Being an electrical virgin (I know the basics) what size fuse would you recommend and I assume it will be on the red + inline?

Should I take advantage and fit a box with a number of fuses so that anything in the future that I fit can then also run from the same fuse box rather than having a number of inline fuses. If this is a good idea can they all share the same neg?

Having 2 batteries in the engine bay is there a preference as to which one i should use or is it best to split the toys between each??
 
Re: Viair arrived today

Hmm, that all takes a bit of following. I have VIAIR too. There is already an in line fuse fitted in the wiring - yes? There should be a glass tube with a replaceable fuse in. The VIAIR units like the 400 and 440 draw about 38 amps. Whatever you do, do NOT reduce the wiring to less than is fitted. You must connect the whole thing with the same size or you'll have problems and the pump just will not work properly. Not to mention the potential for melting the cable.

What you have there is a 50 amp Anderson connector. There really isn't a need to have that in there unless you want the compressor to be demountable.

Connect anything extra to the driver's side battery.

I would get a decent sized relay, connect the compressor through that and have a switch to start and stop the compressor. If you fit a tank, you can have a pressure switch that does this automatically.

Having a small distribution board in the vehicle is a great idea, but I say again, the compressor MUST have original sized cable from the battery to the pump. If not you won't be able to blow tyres up. Trust me on this. I have tried it.

Chris
 
OK see original thread for reply before the thread got split.

C
 
Seeing as the inline fuse is 40A, fitting the same is fine. You can fit a bigger one if a) the cable is rated for it b) the socket is rated for it and if you actually want to use something else. For simplicity sake, keep it at 40A.

As for a multi-fuse box, you can if you wanted to but I think that would be a faf as you would have to use bigger cable to the fusebox than you have (it would have to handle the sum of all the fuses if you wanted to be safe). Again, for simplicity, use a single in-line fuse from halfrauds which is rated at 40A. If you need to branch out at a later date, you can rethink things.

For something like this, I don't think there would be a difference on which battery to use. The main one (which is connected to the alternator) would be first choice but really, the one closest to where you want to mount is fine. The shorter the cable run the better.

Yes, fuse on the + (red) cable, black can be left as is. :)

(as you noted, I split the thread)
 
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Chris said:
OK see original thread for reply before the thread got split.

C
Click to expand...

Moved your answer here :)
 
Thank you.

I think what I will do is have a good think as to what i might want to add in the future like inverter, fridge, wire in gps and ipod charger and then work out what is best. Things like ipod and Garmin gps would be nice to have wired to an ignition "on" live rather than perm live and the inverter and compressor would be good to have wired to a Engine running live so as not be able to drain the battery. The fridge will either go to a 3rd leisure battery which I can isolate.

With all the above in mind i was wondering if one got a fuse box that i could run the adequate size cable to from the alternator battery live and the neg which offered one the configuration setup i might be looking for e.g. Perm live on, ignition "on" live and engine running live on?
 
Depending on the invertor you are talking about, you can forget the fusebox idea. if it's one of the 2KW ones, forget it :) Even the 500W one, you would need a hefty fusebox to handle (potentially) it, the compressor and other bits. Not saying no but for the big things, easier and cleaner to use a distribution box and fuses on each cable. (Unless someone knows of a nice big DB?)

As for the other smaller things, those will all be ok coming off the cigarette lighter (either hardwired or via lots of untidy plugs). It is 120W which is ample for your bits and pieces.
 
Thanks Crispin

I will hard wire the compressor in with a 40A in-line fuse as you reccomended. Halfourds here I come tomorrow for some in-line fuses.
 
What has happened to the in line fuse that comes with the VIAIR? There should be one in the cabling near the pump. You don't need two. Has that been removed?

Chris
 
Chris

You are right there is an inline fuse on the cable running from the compressor which I did mention previously but it seems that the best thing to do is to also have an inline fuse in the connector I plan on wiring from the battery to the front grill so I don’t have to open the bonnet all the time to use the compressor.

This would also mean that if ever I plug anything else in to the connector in the grill that might not have a fuse I should be covered.
 
As he said, the fuse is there but (as I understand), it is close to the compressor with an Anderson plug in between it and the battery. The additional fuse is inline with the plug an battery.
 
Right, but I don't see why. Why do you need to fuse the plug lead?

Are you mounting this onto the vehicle or having it as a carry round unit? I know that the compressor doesn't have an on off switch like the 440p has, so as soon as you plug it in it starts. I would mount it somewhere, control it via a relay and just have a simple switch somewhere and do away with the Anderson connector. I may have missed you plans for this and I am not trying to complicate it on purpose, but I have installed a couple of VIAIRs and didn't do it via a connector like that. Tanks are actually very cheap and make the whole set up much better. With the pressure switch, it just clicks in and out on demand.

If you put a tyre gun on the end with what is called a closed chuck - ie the air stops coming out when you release the trigger, you must stop the compressor. They are not designed to run continuously with pressure in the line. The alternative is to get an open chuck and just let it run with air rushing out of the hose all the time.

Great bargain by the way. Nice grab.

Chris
 
Chris

Mine does have an on off switch on the side of it so must be a 440p I guess.
 
Awesome. Well that's even better then. Honestly, I'd hard wire it in then. Get some cable that's the same and just put a small junction box in there to join the two cables. You could if you really wanted make the join using a mega fuse from VWP. I appreciate that you said that you are a bit of a wiring novice, but if I was mounting that pump, I would open it up and run one single new cable from pump to battery. You could come from the 80s auxiliary fuse box under the bonnet that way all the fuse problems are sorted.

All of the VIAIR specs are available on Matt Savage's website.

Chris
 
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