Great spot for the compressor. Although it's designed for it, I put it there to avoid the elements. The achillies heel in these systems are the air intakes/filters.
They need to be in fresh air and away (relocted) from road grim. If they are breathing hot air or being dunked in mud, they won't be happy.
If the compressor is located up front and/or low on the rig, perhaps relocating the inlets to the air box might be in order.
Clean fresh air, on demand.
The compressor is loud....but it's not that bad. It is heavy and will need some sort of bracket to prop it up. It draws an @$$ load of current and will need serious power line to reach the rear. I ran 2awg all the way to the rear into an agu distribution block.
Let me know if you need a hand getting this going.
Thanks! FiG installed the ARB this weekend. Love the awesome pic of your rig after camping!
We def did NOT run this heavy a gauge....
Not that it's a secret that I enjoy spending your money. But I think with this set up, you might as well do a dual battery set up in the back and power the comp from the rear. Extra battery will give you that piece of mind when you guys are out alone
I'm aware of your delight in spending our money!! LOL Hopefully, I can reciprocate!
And I really don't want an extra battery in the back, if that can be avoided.....
The extra battery is really only necessary for loads that you run when the engine is not running, i.e. camping lights, stereo or refrigeration. Otherwise your alternator will handle the load just fine (keep engine running when filling tires). But Toro is right, you need to run heavy wire for the extra distance.
Wire gets longer
Resistance goes up
Voltage goes down
Amps goes up
Heat goes up
Performance goes down
Rinse, repeat
We didn't think we needed an extra battery, either. Figured we'd keep the vehicle running to air up the tires, and the alternator should handle the load. How BAD is it if we ran the wrong gauge?
The 2nd battery would basically act as a big capacitor and would allow you to run smaller cable to the back of the vehicle. So I agree with putting a 2nd battery in the back near the compressor, even if it's a small one.
I was contemplating this but my compressor only draws half of what the ARB dual does so it wasn't as big an issue to run 4ga to the rear. I am still planning on doing a 2nd battery to power the fridge and compressor but still in the design phase of my storage/kitchen/2nd battery solution.
Sent from my RTT while stargazing
You guys are KILLING ME!!!
Already pulled wire and installed ARB OBA (pic to follow)......
Obviously I'm thick headed..... I don't understand why an extra battery in the back would allow us to run smaller cable...wouldn't it need to be the same gauge?
And crapola, guys...... I think we ran too small a gauge...... ARB required 10awg, we ran 8awg (2 red, one black). Obviously we didn't accurately account for distance as we didn't run the formula....
I looked up the formula and basically we need to run 2awg for each wire?!?! The 8awg barely fit along the path we ran, how the hell are we supposed to get 3- 2awg wires to fit?!?!?!
Also, just because I'm having a gauge crisis, don't think for a second I don't super appreciate all your input. 'Cuz I do....
