Installing an inverter on truck to power compressor

For the cost of a large inverter and ac compressor you can buy a nice viair 12 volt compressor and a small inverter for the electronics, with though left over to go to dinner.

BFL13 wrote:

I was unable to inflate my trailer tires to 50lbs with the cheesy 12v compressor I had, never mind 80lbs on the truck. In fact the 120v compressor has a hard time getting them to 80lbs. I quit at 75 :(

For sure - airbags have very little volume.
Tires have a lot of volume...filling a tire (or 4 or more) is asking a lot. For this, you basically need a high duty-cycle compressor, the higher the duty cycle, the better.

My onboard air has a 100% duty cycle Viar compressor. This fills my 2.5-gallon tank and operates my PacBrake. It's also good for filling tires.

But my Airlift Wireless airbag setup (installed before my onboard air) has a tiny compressor with a 2-minute duty cycle, then it must cool-off for 10 minutes. There's no way this would work for tires.

(Eventually I'll get rid of the tiny compressor, and plumb everything off the Viar...that's a project for another day.)

Harbor Fright sells a high-priced-spread 12 volt compressor that has impressive performance. For kicks a friend and I aired up an 11.00 X 24.5 truck tire from around 15 PSI to 120 PSI. It took eight and a half minutes. That truck tire holds w-a-y more air than anything you are likely to fill.

Chris Bryant wrote:
Install a set of Hadley air horns- heavy duty compressor, air tank and really, really nice horns.

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Chris Bryant wrote:
Install a set of Hadley air horns- heavy duty compressor, air tank and really, really nice horns.

I suppose that means nice air horns and not a set of long-horns on the front bumper. :)

An early memory crossing the USA in 1949 was stopping somewhere in Colorado, where in some sort of barn, Red Ryder was doing a trick- shooting show.

Anyway outside, was parked his great big white convertible Caddy, with a big set of long-horns on the front. Very nice!

Next year I got a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun, but was not as good a shot as he was. :(

Install a set of Hadley air horns- heavy duty compressor, air tank and really, really nice horns.

I wired my 12 volt cigarette lighter plug compressor to a trailer plug and just plug it in my trailer socket when I need it .
The valves for my Firestone airbags take the place of my license plate mounting screws so they are near the trailer plug.
I'd bet (and am going to find out for sure soon) you could fill the bags with a cheap bike hand pump .
Good Luck, Mike

All good points and replies. I knew I'd get some good info from y'all

I have a pretty good 12v portable compressor but it's a pain.

I guess I can always just put a 120v compressor in the back of the toy hauler and crank the generator too. Trying to kill too many birds with one rock I suppose :)

Don't know about air bags. Just to add something to what has been raised, I do run a 3 gal 120v air compressor from my 2000w Vector MSW inverter no problem.

I was unable to inflate my trailer tires to 50lbs with the cheesy 12v compressor I had, never mind 80lbs on the truck. In fact the 120v compressor has a hard time getting them to 80lbs. I quit at 75 :(

The other main thing is how to run any sort of big inverter "from the truck." I have mine on four batteries in the trailer. My truck battery with an inverter on it with the engine running can keep a 1000w inverter going with about 600w of load (a 35 amp Vector charger) Any more than that, the truck voltage dies right off, so that's my limit. (others might do better with a bigger alternator etc etc)

You might have to have a biggish battery bank in the box of the truck to run a biggish inverter to run the air compressor. Then recharge those batteries with an extension from the 7-pin, or whatever means you have at hand.

Why don't you just pickup a 12VDC air compressor... AMAZON