Bought it at a Caravan & Camping Show some years ago. ARB. Main use was to inflate and deflate
airbags in the rear when the caravan was hitched.
Also to adjust tyre pressure once again based on whether towing or not.
We never travel without ours, as others have said, to inflate tyres if going bush or on bad corrigations after dropping tyre pressures down to suite the conditions. Ours is a Bushranger about 12yrs old and still going. Very handy when towing caravan on corrigated and rough roads, 8 x tyres inflated in about 15mins Cheers Basher
Have 3 ARB compressors in parallel (90 amps) so all work is quicker.
Also have air tank, after cooler (can be refrigerated & now fan forced), moisture trap.
Last week helped a person replace tyre, to make life easier pumped up the flat tyre, it had a decent hole but the air was going in quicker than out, so the car was easier to jack up.
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Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
One test I read, the ARB compressor at the hose connection got to 130°C. Dangerous stuff & also melts plastic hoses. You could add a short section of stainless steel/rubber hose.
I added internal & external heat sinks & high volume computer fan. Only gets warn now.
The other benefit is the air is already cooler before it gets to after cooler & moisture trap so water in the air will condense more easily.
If compressing air by a factor of 7 (typical), you end up with 7 times the water.
If you are airing up & down regularly you end up with a lot of water in the tyres.
Adhere to the Duty Cycle of the compressor so you don't cook the compressor.
From 23psi to what PSI for about 30 seconds per tyre?
With 3 ARB compressors at 90amp at the upper end of compression, at 14.4 volts with engine running according to my Kyoritsu 2046 clamp meter, with a tyre of 70 litres volume is take 28 seconds to pump from 20psi to 35psi, including 4L air ank as a starting point (actually 3.68L as I measure the volume of ARB air tank). I measure everything I can think of.
The system has a 135psi cut off & 120psi start up setting. Another 0.9 litre of volume in all of the additional air lines.
__________________
Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
Hi Marlene, Lots of answers, some good, but some from compulsive obsessive people who over think life.
If you wish to adjust your tire pressures down to help the terrible shaking on rough roads or to go on sand then you can do that safely knowing you can pump them up to normal pressure again when getting back on the highway. You must not drive at normal speeds unless the tires are back at normal pressures or they will fail.
You might also wish to repair your punctures on the road so you will need a compressor to pump them up after patching them. Or you might have air bags possibly. Relying on the air at service stations to do these things may not work well as often it is faulty or the queue for pumping tires is very slow. You could look at it as a bit of insurance for your own vehicle.
You can buy a portable 12V air compressor at most 4WD shops and other retail car outlets. They plug into the power socket or clip on the battery terminals. If buying one do not get a tiny very cheap one as they are hopeless, get a better one as suggested in this thread.
I have a compressor for my caravan and tow vehicle, which is a suitably sized unit, but I never ride the bike without a compressor and puncture repair kit in the topbox.
It is made for smaller tyres and is a pretty compact unit, so no matter what I drive or ride, just like the add used to say, don't leave home without it.
A bicycle with a flat tyre yesterday, no surprise with all the screws tradesmen leave on the road as they couldn't be bothered to pick them up. I pick screws up (female as well!) whenever I see them on the street. Could build ends projects!
My car was nearby, plugged bike tyre & pumped up tyre in 1.7412 seconds or there abouts! A very happy customer.
There are some very compact bike compressors on the market. Probably not the best quality, but as a saviour in the rain on a cold night, still worth every cent. At least replace the "repair kit" for next time.
Better than not backup onboard system.
__________________
Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
I'm not endorsing this particular unit (probably much to cheap )but I have found twin cylinder units in this configuration seem to run a lot cooler than there single cylinder equivalents. Landy