York vs electric compressor vs CO2

[Marine7]

I hade a HornBlaster Train set-up on my 1 ton dually diesel, and I "t'd" off the tank and mounted a quick connect on my bed toolbox, that worked decent. That set-up comes with the Viair compressor (which I upgraded to the HD one when ordering).
Now, with this 80, I'm kicking around what I want to put for my main OBA system. I'm really thinking about using my existing ac compressor, and running without ac. I honestly cannot tell you the last time I used ac was, I cycle it once a week or so, just to keep it lubed, but even at 105 the wife and I prefer windows down. Can anyone tell me if the factory compressor is capable? Or should I go to the York? Brackets and everything are obviously already on and waiting!
I had CO2 on one of my Heeps, but as mentioned earlier, I spent a lot filling bottles because I didn't want to run out half way thru the trip! (Because people flock to you once they know you have co2! Sort of like seagulls..... feed one, and pretty much have to shoot your way out!)
I have a small Viair I use now, but off-reading will be outlawed before that thing could fill up my tires!......S-L-O-W!

 

[Cruiserdrew]

can't realize I did not figure this out sooner but here goes, how important is it that the engine is running when using an electric compressor. Was looking on amazon today and saw that even viaair reccomends that the engine must be running when the compressor is running. I guess I just never thought of the idea of difference running vs. non running. I plan to test out the voltage compared running vs. non running shortly.

Makes a big difference, at least with a Puma. If the motor is not running, the Puma will draw down battery voltage to the 11 volt rage transiently. At 11 volts, it draws more current, and runs hotter and less efficiently.

If you have the motor running at about 1500 RPM, your voltage regulator will hold the system at 14 volts. You can even hear the speed of the compressor increase. This significantly increases the efficiency of the unit.

So if you install a large 12 volt compressor, a hand throttle is almost mandatory.

 

[1973Guppie]

Makes a big difference, at least with a Puma. If the motor is not running, the Puma will draw down battery voltage to the 11 volt rage transiently. At 11 volts, it draws more current, and runs hotter and less efficiently.

If you have the motor running at about 1500 RPM, your voltage regulator will hold the system at 14 volts. You can even hear the speed of the compressor increase. This significantly increases the efficiency of the unit.

So if you install a large 12 volt compressor, a hand throttle is almost mandatory.

thx for this, I have a hand throttle, I am running the photoman seq alt with smaller pulley, just need to use it, lol. I did notice how hot my comp is gets, guessing this is why........

 

[Dragos80]

can't realize I did not figure this out sooner but here goes, how important is it that the engine is running when using an electric compressor. Was looking on amazon today and saw that even viaair reccomends that the engine must be running when the compressor is running. I guess I just never thought of the idea of difference running vs. non running. I plan to test out the voltage compared running vs. non running shortly.

Pretty sure @Cruiserdrew's Puma is faster than that. But a big factor in electrically powered compressors is voltage drop. If you don't use large enough conductors between the battery and compressor, then there may be a relatively large voltage drop (= power loss) in the wiring and as a result the motor on the compressor will run significantly slower and thus produce less air. I witnessed this just last year on a trip to Death Valley with a friend's Product : Extreme Outback compressor. He was powering it from an outlet he had wired to the rear bumper of his 80. He complained how long it was taking to air up compared to my York OBA and when I listened it just sounded like the compressor was really struggling. We switched the power source to leads coming right off the battery and the difference was remarkable -- like a 2x reduction in the time it took to fill a tire. I don't know if he used too small gauge of cable or had bad connectors, but it really made a huge difference. Voltage drop like this is easy to measure: use a multimeter and measure the voltage at your battery and then measure again right at the compressor. Any resulting difference is power loss due to heating in the wire. And since power equals volts x amps, then any voltage drop is directly proportional to power loss. So 12.5v at the battery and 10.5v at the compressor (roughly what I remember Rick had) means a 16% loss in power to the compressor. Also I'm almost certain the resulting loss in air supply doesn't track linearly with compressor power, so this could easily account for a 50% reduction in time to refill tires. Bottom line: don't let your compressor run at a reduced voltage!

Voltage Drop Calculator