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Air Compressor Conversion

2K views 19 replies 3 participants last post by  probesport 
#1 ·
Hey Gang,

I was wondering, has anyone converted their stock air compressor to different clips? The stock compressor comes with jumper cable style connectors, and I was thinking it would be a lot more convenient to chop those off and wire them to a cigarette lighter adapter.

Then I'd be able to use the air compressor in the rear of the vehicle through the cig lighter plugs in the trunk.

Has anyone else attempted this? Is there any reason this would not be a good idea?

Thanks!
~Nick
 
#2 ·
NO. NO. NO.

YOU WILL SET FIRE TO THE CAR.

The cigarette lighter is NOT designed to take the load and period of time the compressor runs to inflate the spare.
 
#3 ·
Even the ones they installed in the trunk next to the 12v 2 prong plug?

Ok, well thanks, I certainly won't do that then. I'm guessing the 12v plug isn't sufficient either then? I'm just not wild about the idea of having to mess with the battery terminals.

Obviously, my first thought was a bad idea.. So thanks for the heads up. :)
 
#4 ·
You are not going anywhere near the battery terminals themselves

You are using two terminals under the bonnet/hood. They are easy to find and easy to use.

Stick with them.
 
#6 ·
If you haven't done so do take time to check out where you need to hook up the compressor just in case you need it.

Also you do know your wheel lugs/bolts have chrome plastic covers you need to pull off first? Some folk don't and get a surprise when they have a puncture!
 
#7 ·
I will definitely do that.. seems like they've kind of over-engineered the spare tire in the treg if you ask me.. more than what it takes to change a flat in most other cars.. hehe.. (who the hell wants to inflate a tire by the side of the road at 2am?? not sure what they were thinking..lol)

but your counsel is sound, I will definitely do a "mock" tire change one of these weekends when I have some time, so I'm familiar with the process. :)
 
#8 ·
The space saver works quite well but when you let the air out after using it do so on a hard surface otherwise it "eats" gravel and grass as it folds up, and keep the kids and your fingers out of the way too!

I and others use tire strings for quick fixes - no need to change the wheel, just reinflate.
 
#11 ·
Google or Bing tire strings.

There are two perfectly good terminals under the bonnet/hoodto hook onto. Why would you mess about with anything else.?
 
#13 ·
I don't think I've ever had someone ask why modify a car. Because I modify cars.

For convenience sake, hitting the rear wheels, inflating stuff, simple to do. In the Jeep world on board compressors, converted AC pumps and the like are very very common. If I can take an hour and make the compressor considerably more useful to me I'm all about it.

I'll bench the compressor tonight and find out what its peak/run amperage pull is and then we'll have some data. I need to find a Touareg EVTM I guess to find out the socket specs.
 
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#14 ·
Sorry for the late reply, I just got chance to bench everything but I have some data now. Without a load at 120 seconds, the compressor peaks out at 9.79 amps at 12.2v, at 13.8 it is 9.23a

Filling a 33" tire (largest I have) from 10 psi to 28 it maxed at 15.9a at 13.8v

Creating a full load with a welded Schrader, I can peak it to 19.71.

The aux wiring is protected at 20a. You would be able to run this via a cigarette lighter socket, provided it was done correctly.

No you will not burn your Touareg down, but you could blow a fuse if left on and running at full load with blockage. If you increase the fuse with out increasing the wire, you will melt it.

So. What does that mean? Well, for me it means I am going to put a connection on there that allows me to switch between alligators and a socket. That way you can fill inflatables and such at nearly no load with the lighter socket, right in back - but if you have a super flat tire, you might want to go direct.

Hope that helps.
 
#15 ·
Whoa, that's amazing Probe, thanks for the info!... Would you mind documenting your experience on this? I would love to try to do something similar to mine, as it seems like it would definitely increase the flexibility of the air compressor.
 
#16 ·
Sure thing, I'll probably do it tonight (but we've already seen how that works) and post to the thread.

I'll be doing it with paired weatherpack connections since I already have some.

Another option if you want to use it from the rear and not worry about overloading the circuit is to do a double headed connection and plug into both ports. But for what I want it's not necessary. I do need some adapters though to be able to inflate stuff like balls, beach gear, air mattress, etc.
 
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#17 ·
That also sounds extremely useful. I really have no idea for the dual cig adapters in the back, so would be totally willing to do a double headed connection, especially if it's something that I could remove from the air compressor if I ever wanted to use the front jump posts, then it seems like the air compressor would be the most flexible. Also like your idea about different connectors.. why not make that thing more functional? Keep me updated on how this all goes, I definitely will be giving your mods a whirl. :)
 
#19 ·
If you do the double headed setup, just split the acc plug into 2 connectors and you will drop the amperage draw.

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk
 
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