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mcewena's avatar
mcewena
Explorer
Nov 16, 2022

Brake buddy compressor power draw

Hi, How much power should a brake buddy classic draw during the compressor cycle? With the engine running on the toad and the alternator putting out 14.1v the compressor cycle drops it down to 11v. Without the engine running the compressor takes it below the 9.5v shut off so it’s not usable. It’s a Miata with a fairly small (newish) battery but it’s hard to fathom the BB compressor taking more than the car starter.

Tia
  • There’s a separate adapter in the trunk (god knows why), it’s wired directly to the battery (also in trunk) and it does the same thing from there. BB got back to me saying it’s normally 7-9 amps but older units can spike up to 13-14.

    I think the load is just too much for the tiny U1R battery. I either need to replace the BB, draw power from the RV hitch plug or see if I can squeeze a higher capacity battery into the trunk.
  • I don't know the "draw" answer, but we had to have a separate line/plug run to the battery. The 12 volt receptacle in vehicle was not enough for the BB.

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