Running an Air Compressor off Cigarette plug

[Dark Knight]

I bought a cheap air compressor from SuperCrap and it ran straight out of the cigarette lighter. EVERYTIME I used it to pump up my tyres, I'd blow the 20A fuse (but admittedly only by the time I got to the 4th tyre).

Incidentally, I've just had my lockers installed, and the switches are powered up to the cigarette lighter wires also....would this mean that the compressor is running off the lighter wires too....? You see the compressor (large ARB for tyres too), is mounted under the seats, not in the engine bay, so I'm thinking maybe the installers took a shortcut...?

[Grahame]

Originally Posted by Dark Knight

I bought a cheap air compressor from SuperCrap and it ran straight out of the cigarette lighter. EVERYTIME I used it to pump up my tyres, I'd blow the 20A fuse (but admittedly only by the time I got to the 4th tyre).

Incidentally, I've just had my lockers installed, and the switches are powered up to the cigarette lighter wires also....would this mean that the compressor is running off the lighter wires too....? You see the compressor (large ARB for tyres too), is mounted under the seats, not in the engine bay, so I'm thinking maybe the installers took a shortcut...?

It sounds like it's wired correctly. The switches are wired to solenoids on the the compressor along with a separate one for the compressor itself. The ARB loom has fairly heavy wire (about 6mm) from the compressor to the battery. You should be able to tell the difference if you look at what is going into the switch and what is coming out of the compressor. You could also have a look at your battery connections, are there a couple of new wires there?