extra doodads: worth it or not?

[Snowman]

So, I've been thinking about a couple of add-ons for my subaru for quite some time now, but I really can't decide if they would be useful or not. I've always thought it would be neat to have onboard air for airing up tires or running air ratchets and impact wrenches and stuff. The other thing I'm considering is an inverter so I could run A/C power tools and worklights.

 

So, from your experience, do you think you would ever actually use such things, or would they just be novelty items that get used once and forgotten about?

[MSSLGECKO]

I can't answer your question, but I think that it is important to consider capacity an on-board air system is designed to hold.

 

So, maybe someone could give a figure for say filling all 4 tires or an estimate (larger radius tires preferably, or any other measure such as running airtools continuously) - What is the requirment for a holding tank to have enough volume for these sort of activites(?)

 

Then we could determine if a bumper system would be very effective - maybe you could find a holding tank that you could install somewhere on the car(?)

 

I'm interested as well, it would be pretty cool to have.

[Turbone]

A couple thoughts here.

I have heard recently there are some offroaders using diving tanks for air supply. These can hold up to 2ooolbs of air, should be enough for several big tires. And they are aluminum, so you have less weight and no compressor to deal with.

The inverters are fairly cheap and compact, if you get a good one you can run a small coffee maker :-p

Really need a bigger alt for running high amp power tools.

[Scott in Bellingham]

I personally coould use a air compressor for tires with playin in the sand its a must AC dont really need

[operose]

I like having the inverter for things like charging camera battery (no car charger) plugging in/charging laptop, etc, etc

[MSSLGECKO]

I personally don't want to use an inverter to fill 4 tires/use tools when you could use an air pump (Subaru brand, our favorite) and a system of valves and a tank.

 

I did a quick search and came up w/ this result (just a quick one not the best one) In it, they describe their setup using a pump and an aluminum diving tank that is modified for this application. Link

 

I don't have any experience w/ compressed air systems, so I personally have a good amount of reading to do before I start putting a system together. I like the idea of using a diving tank and mounting it on the roof rack - maybe dual tanks would look cool. (Gotta look cool, right?) :cool:

[MorganM]

Both upgrades are definatly nice to have.

[LosDiosDeVerde86]

So, I've been thinking about a couple of add-ons for my subaru for quite some time now, but I really can't decide if they would be useful or not. I've always thought it would be neat to have onboard air for airing up tires or running air ratchets and impact wrenches and stuff. The other thing I'm considering is an inverter so I could run A/C power tools and worklights.

 

So, from your experience, do you think you would ever actually use such things, or would they just be novelty items that get used once and forgotten about?

 

whats wrong with my air compressor/jumper cables/flashlight/psi guage/ac plug all-in-one that either plugs into a wall jack or your cigarette lighter?

[LosDiosDeVerde86]

sure, it may pump a lb of air per minute but it does that job and only cost 30 bucks. it's also gotten me out of MULTIPLE dead batteries on Sarah's CR-v

 

 

it was worth every penny.

[Sweet82]

I carry a Cheap compressor and hand tools in all my cars

 

Nothing fancy for me!

 

Seems like potentially a lot of money, weight and storage space for a convience.

 

My .02

Glenn

82 SubaruHummer

84 GL Mad Max

01 Forester

[northguy]

With a 1,000 watt inverter, you could run a small compressor (like my pancake compressor) to do on-the-spot repairs.

[Mike W]

I came accross a scuba tank in a thrift store. Yes aluminum but whoa, very heavy.

For a light but effective a/c compressor pump, try one out of a late 80's Corolla. Very small and light yet delivers a lot of cfms and is apparently self oiled like Yorks. A guy I work with uses one of these on his trail rig's OBA system.

[Snowman]

With a 1,000 watt inverter, you could run a small compressor (like my pancake compressor) to do on-the-spot repairs.

 

I was thinking about getting a 1500 watt inverter like we have in the rigs at work. I already have a 100-amp GM alternator and an Optima battery, so the electrical system should be able to keep up as long as the compressor wasn't running constantly.

 

Maybe just the inverter would be the ticket, as it wouldn't take up much space, and I could bring a compressor with whenever I needed it. A permanent onboard air setup would take up space and complicate things underhood, slowing down engine work, which would suck.

 

I'll check on the diving tank idea. I bet that would even run an impact pretty well for a while.

 

Thanks for the input guys!

[Turbone]

For the divorced transfer case guys;

You can take a AC comp and run a pulley setup off of the pass side diff axle stub, with a bracket to hold the pump. Just put the T-Case in N and engage the FWD on the tranny. Lumpycam had this setup on his Bratch and worked pretty good from what I heard.

[MSSLGECKO]

Of all the fun things you could do with an on-board air system, my buddy and I came up with our grandest scheme yet. On a turbo engine, one could route a hose to the exhaust manifold into the collector just before the turbo, this could be used to spool the turbo at low RPMs for short bursts.

 

Any thoughts?

[torxxx]

You dont need onboard air kelly.... just grow some muscles..

[Scoobywagon]

If I was going to do this, I would mod a Toyota AC compressor and use propane tanks. They'll hold more than enough pressure and are generally cheaper and easier to come by than diving tanks. I'd mount them in a Safari rack.

 

AS far as inverters go, you usually get what you pay for. Yes, you can get a huge one from harbor freight, but it will not generate a sine wave. YOu'll get a square wave and that just won't work for some things. COmputers particularly, but some tools won't appreciate that, either. For portable AC power, Honda builds a really nice little 500w gas powered generator. Not a whole lot bigger than one of those compressor/jump box things they sell these days. Also pretty quiet.

[Mike W]

I didn't want a permenently installed on board air system in my hatch, so I rigged up a portable 12volt system using a dead Harbor Freight compressor. I tossed the POS 110volt compressor and installed a Cadillac compressor in it's place. With this setup it has the built in 3 gallon tank or it can also be connected to a bigger reservoir such as a bumper, roll bar, etc.

[samo]

Xantrex inverters are my personal favorites of the ones I've used. They come in a variety of flavors, both in square wave and sine wave. For my old shop, I built a mobile design studio into the back of a Sprinter van using a Xantrex sine wave 1500W. That little bugger would power anything. We ran a computer, a digitizer, a plotter, 400W of lighting, and random other goodies off of it, and it just purred. Great inverter.

[jaws dawg]

So, I've been thinking about a couple of add-ons for my subaru for quite some time now, but I really can't decide if they would be useful or not. I've always thought it would be neat to have onboard air for airing up tires or running air ratchets and impact wrenches and stuff. The other thing I'm considering is an inverter so I could run A/C power tools and worklights.

 

So, from your experience, do you think you would ever actually use such things, or would they just be novelty items that get used once and forgotten about?

 

You can use your Air cond. pump as a source for compressed air. some barbed fittings, air line, heavy duty hose clamps, and a cheap 5 to 10 gallon air tank from Harbor Freight tools should get the job done. Just remember to put a breather filter on the intake side of the A/C pump and put a little air tool oil in the compressor to keep it working. wire the compressor to a fused toggle and a relay to run the clutch.

 

As far as the power inverter you MUST have a good alternator. Also spend the money on one that will do more than you need, rather than come up short when you need it most.

 

I'll set up a schematic of the air system and post it in my photo gallery.

[Snowman]

Xantrex inverters are my personal favorites of the ones I've used. They come in a variety of flavors, both in square wave and sine wave. For my old shop, I built a mobile design studio into the back of a Sprinter van using a Xantrex sine wave 1500W. That little bugger would power anything. We ran a computer, a digitizer, a plotter, 400W of lighting, and random other goodies off of it, and it just purred. Great inverter.

 

What did that Xantrex 1500 cost?

[soobmater]

With a 1,000 watt inverter, you could run a small compressor (like my pancake compressor) to do on-the-spot repairs.

 

 

thats exactly what i was thinking, if you hooked up the inverter, you could run countless different things, i've actually been wanting to have a power inverter, not a 1,500 watt one, but like a 800 watt one.hahaha you could have a tv, microwave, tons of things

[Storydude1]

If you have AC, and it does not work, do a search on OBA over on Pirate4X4.com(Do NOT post without knowing what you speak of over there...)

Engine driven, uses the AC compressor, and can supply more than enough air for ANY off-road need.

 

Less than 75 bucks in parts, and you can have 120PSI air@12CFM/2500Engine RPM.

 

Scuba tanks will not work(not enough volume)

Co2(Powertank)will work, but can get expensive with repeated fills.

Walmart 5 Gal air tanks=useless(unless used as a tank for engine driven OBA)

 

OBA link using Sanden(rotary) compressor

Great info there.

 

I installed my OBA on my Jeep for less than 50 bucks(used, and scrounged parts). It will fill a 31X10.5/15 from 15 psi to 35 in about 45 seconds...Or about as fast as my home 60 Gal.

Sanden compressor, 5 Gal wally world tank, and a few fittings.

[samo]

What did that Xantrex 1500 cost?

 

You know, I don't rightly remember. I know it couldn't have been a terrible amount, because my boss was too cheap to spend tons of money, but I honestly don't know. Sorry :-\