Wow, 3 whole months and One 480c seems to have R.I.P.'d itself. Im not sure yet. We had a lot of rain over night. Im hoping I just have a relay problem. Wont know until 6pm CST. Im open to ideas though. Has anyone had a compressor die in that amount of time?
I run my compressors a total of about 6 minutes a day. Cause when i come to work, I blow in a tunnel and I drain it down to about 140psi. It runs a couploe minutes to get it back to 200psi. Then on my way home, my little miscelaneous blows only drop it to about 160psi and it only takes a minute to charge.
**And I know some of yall know that one of my compressors is upside down, but actually, THAT is the one that is still working.
What is the compressor doing that makes you think it is ‘R.I.P.’?
If it isn’t turning on, your carbon brushes maybe sticking. It’s the back plate where the wires exit. Simply tap it lightly with a rubber headed hammer.
If I were you, I’d pull the compressor and go direct to the battery. If it runs - its fine. If it doesn’t, try the “love tap” approach that Garrett just told you about. If it runs, look at the relay, then the pressure switch, and finally your other wiring.
Check your grounds.
Check all other electrical connections - did anything ground out from the rain?
Are any wires melted-looking? If so, your wire gauge was too small for the wire run.
Damn…Lance you jumped on this like a fat kid on cake! Job well done son!
Wildhorn, I noticed your install in the other thread you posted. Make sure you move the pressure switch to the top, or to the side of your tank. If not, condensation will pool at the bottom of your tank, and surely rust your switch out. When this happens, the air compressor doesn’t receive the signal, telling it when to turn on and off.
Im hoping its just a relay and NOT that. lol. My comps are succomb to all the vibrations of the road because they are mounted to the frame. So seems a few bumpbs would tap it just fine. But I will try it.
TWO COMPRESSORS. One of em is running. Seperate relays.
Good look, Im gonan move it to the top if i can get it up there. The supports for the tank are short and its tough to get the fittings in.
Thanks for all the help. I have an led that blinks when my compressors are called on to run. This morning it was blinking kinda funny and i noticed i didnt have the same roar of the comps. One is running though. So I know from my press. sw to my relays is good. gotta check relays.
Ok. Im right on time like I said i would be. It is 6PM CST. And I have found the problem. I have two bad relays. What happened was, water got into the relay. And in theory, water doesnt have much of an effect on DC. But, what it did was, wash all the di-electric grease out of the moving parts inside and basically made the contacts dirty. The coils were still picking up though. Since they are cheap tyco relays, Im going to just replace them entirely instead of trying to clean the contacts. I saw a little burning on the coil itself. Thats because im pushing the little relays to the limit picking up all that load. lol. Thanks for all your help, cause today I learned that I need to move my press. switch.
Damn guys,
I need you all to come take a look at my setup. I need some major over haulin’ done. To start, I want to move my compressor into the upright possition and off the frame rail. I plan on putting everything in the bed eventually. Also would like (pipe dream) to put a 20 gal. 7 port tank in as well. My plan of attach is to get the tank, run the compressos(s) right in front of the tank, closest to the cab and feed the beasts with the 1/2 line. Unfortunatly, right now, I’m in a temporary holding pattern. Typical Military maneuver. “Hurry Up and Wait.”
I’ll get there, just may not be till the weather breaks in Southern PA.
happened to me before. it happens when you mount your relays terminal-side-up. the terminals should always point down. what happens is the housing turns into a cup and all the water pools and stays inside the relay. the constant 12V across the contacts then speeds up the corrosion so the silver contacts get eaten away quickly so the coil still pulls but there’s no contact to close the circuit.
Man,
I’m havin’ a major inferiority complex going on. I’m in the preasents of some real smart fellas. You guys are smart as hell. I would have had to pay someone like you guys to figure my problem out.
Wait, my relay can become a cup you say. Can I put beer in it?
But seriousley though, I would have never thought to check the relay to see if there was water in it causing the silver to corrode. Good calls guys. Remind me in the future to ask if I run into any other problems of my own.
There’s a reason I said compressor, as in not plural.
-Do you know how rare it is for two compressors, placed into service at the same time - to die at the same time? We’re not talking about installation error, we’re talking failure due to defect or end of service interval for consumables).
You’d almost be better off playing the lottery, because this never happens. When people tell me both of their compressors are dead, I know better. I also know that they’ve been running on only one compressor for quite some time.
Moral of the story? -Check your pumps from time to time to be sure they’re both working!
with the 400’s there is definately a noticable difference when only 1 is running. I said something about that one day to my bro “That doesn’t sound like both compressors are running” and sure enough, only 1 was running…
I got a couple of those brackets but haven’t installed them yet. I will get it done very soon tho.
What can I use to fill in the current holes I put in the frame to mount the compressors now? I know i"m going to have to re-drill…
youre so right dude. I thought because I had them blanketed in electrical tape, that I was weather-proofing it. And yet the new ones are the same way. I will be making that change pretty soon.
You can plug weld and grind smooth - or just not worry about it and paint over the holes that you had there from the first time around. When I changed my system up, I was adamant about welding up and smoothing the holes, but I didn’t grind up the plug welds to keep any strength created by the plug welds. Looking back, frames have holes all over. - You’re not likely to weaken the chassis from a few holes drilled.
