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Hi all, wonder if someone can give me some info or tell me if im going the wrong way about it.

i wanna put a on board air system on my 90, to inflate tyres,air horns, run front and rear diff locks, and a few air tools if i ever need to do any repairs while out n about playing.

i want to use a lorry brake air tank and mount it in the chassis rails where the rear silencer should be, ill protect it with a td5 rear tank guard.

unlike most home brew air systems which use converted air con compressors then use a pressure regulator to control it etc but i want to use a 24 v electric one. how do i get 24 volts in the defender as its 12 volts and not ex-military? 2 what pressure do i need to maintain for diff locks and is it a solenoid controlled to allow pressure in the system and out etc.?

cheers

tom

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off the top of my head, an ARB wants about 90psi? It is late/early so I could be completely wrong! air pressure and release is controlled by a solenoid, yes.

24V - if your batteries are a matched pair, then wire them in series for the compressor? No idea if this will work, as I am not a leccy expert.

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24V - if your batteries are a matched pair, then wire them in series for the compressor? No idea if this will work, as I am not a leccy expert.

No, it won't work, that's what David Bowyer's turbo box of tricks does, but is only for short periods as you don't get any charge to one of the batteries whilst in use.

The easiest and best way to get 24V on a 90 is to run a 24V alternator and either a pair of 12V batteries or one 24V battery. I say best, this is assuming that the compressor you are looking at using will draw some serious amps making 12V-24V step up adapter inviable.

What sort of out put is this compressor then? Unless it is anything out of the ordinary I doubt it is worth the whole 24V conversion thing.... I have the most recent T-Max compressor and will inflate a 33" tyre from dead flat to 25PSI in 2 minutes... I am going to use this for the basis of an onboard air system very soon -don't be fooled by the picture, it draws 45 amps when running!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/T-Max-4x4-12v-160L-Heavy-Duty-Portable-Tyre-Compressor-/120704323453?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item1c1a89cf7d

For solenoids, look at the spares for the Ashcroft locker (Devon4x4 do them for example), they are much much better value than the ARB ones.

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Honestly, the fact that you'll need a dual battery system coupled with the poor duty cycle offered by most DC electric compressors, you'd be better off with an AirCon compressor conversion. I have poly-air bags, front and rear ARB's, air jack prod_jack1_tn.jpg and rattle gun all fed from an "Endless Air" aircon conversion AC.jpg with a storage tank. A rattle gun blows through huge amounts of air and I'll wager most DC compressors will struggle with the duty cycle even with storage.

There's a realy nice tidy install of an Aircon conversion on a 90 in the Tech archive. He's got the pressure switch and even a cooling coil tucked under the wing. Wish I'd paid as much attention to detail.

Yes, the ARB's want 90 lb and are solenoid controlled.

Whatever way you go, have fun. If you install ARB's, you wont regret it.

Ray

NZ.

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thanks kiwi, the only reason i thought of going down the electric route is that majority of the time i am on the road and will not need it but its something nice to have for those days and trips when running locker's, airing tyres, and running repairs come up.

might have a look at the tmax air compressor and get a electric rattle gun instead.

thanks for the advice, time to work which way to go

tom

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Tom, I started off with a 12v T-max compressor with a receiver from a RRC air suspension set up. Fitted inside it's bluddy noisy, and as mentioned above, the capacity is pretty dismal compared with the air-con compressors. I now run a Denso A/C comp.

If you have an engine with space for an A/C comp (300tdi or most V8s already have somewhere to mount it) then you'll find it so much more useful. The pumps can be picked up fairly cheaply, use the truck receiver you mention, a few pipes and fittings, and a pressure switch, and you're almost there.

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