Mounting ARB Air Compressor

[Krazyk86cu]

Yeah, pretty much what Cram501 said. The compressor actually has it's own built in relay. The purple wire just turns it on. That being said, pretty much any 12V+ source will work to activate it. Amperage really doesn't matter in this case. I had originally planned to use an Aux switch when I started doing the wiring for mine, but then my install lent itself to using the ARB switch. So, my ARB switch ended up hooked up to an Aux switch. Pain in the butt to have to turn on both switches, and its really a waste of an Aux switch for me. I'll be wiring my ARB switch to the ignition switched lead next time I have the kick panel off.

So, if I want to just use the ARB switch on the ignition wire under the glove box, any idea which lead I connect it

If I were to re-do the wiring I would:

1) Use the ignition power wire in the passenger foot well, versus one of the AUX.

2) Would use the ARB switch to turn on/off.

Right now I can reach the aux no problem as compressor is under a seat but a waste of an aux.

Right now I have the ARB twin on aux4. I’ve decided to use the ARB switch instead of my aux switch. I don’t care about the dimming function, but can I split the under dash ignition wire into 2 and to light up and power the switch? And obviously ground the switch as well.

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[Headbarcode]

If I were to re-do the wiring I would:

1) Use the ignition power wire in the passenger foot well, versus one of the AUX.

2) Would use the ARB switch to turn on/off.

Right now I can reach the aux no problem as compressor is under a seat but a waste of an aux.

Precisely my thinking as well. If I had air lockers and wanted a clean look, I'd gobble up some aux switches. But without them, I don't see any need to have the switch up front, when I'm headed for the cargo area anyway.

I'm thinking I can pull the yellow and green wires out of the small wire harness that plugs into the compressor, leaving the black and red wires that go to the arb main switch. Then the red/yellow wire goes from the switch to the hot with ignition in the foot well. It really is that straight forward, right? Looking at the wiring harness, you'd think it was for residential air conditioning unit. Lol Is there anything else that needs to be hooked up? Like a ground wire or something? Thanks a bunch!

 

[oceanblue2019]

I am running mine a bit differently so I just built my own harness.

I am running the 24V version, but running it off the 48VDC e-torque hybrid battery.

 

[Headbarcode]

So, if I want to just use the ARB switch on the ignition wire under the glove box, any idea which lead I connect it

Right now I have the ARB twin on aux4. I’ve decided to use the ARB switch instead of my aux switch. I don’t care about the dimming function, but can I split the under dash ignition wire into 2 and to light up and power the switch? And obviously ground the switch as well.

Orange w/ Pink stripe

 

[Krazyk86cu]

Orange w/ Pink stripe

I know which wire is the ignition wire, I meant how would I wire that to the ARB switch to also have the LED work. I don’t care about it dimming.

Could I just split the ignition wire into two wires and run it to 2 and 6 on the ARB switch so it has power and light to the switch on ignition? Then the purple wire from the compressor to 3 and then 5 and 6 to ground?

EDIT: 7 and 8 to ground

 

[tonygiotta]

I know which wire is the ignition wire, I meant how would I wire that to the ARB switch to also have the LED work. I don’t care about it dimming.

Could I just split the ignition wire into two wires and run it to 2 and 6 on the ARB switch so it has power and light to the switch on ignition? Then the purple wire from the compressor to 3 and then 5 and 6 to ground?

1. Just run one wire from the ignition switched lead to 2 (input), and then run a small jumper from 2 to 6 (switch lighting). Keep in mind the switch will be lit at full brightness whenever the ignition is on (may be distracting at night).

2. Yes, purple wire from the compressor goes to 3 (output) on the switch.

3. Not sure where you got 5 and 6 to ground. Diagram shows 7 and 8 to ground, no?

I took a different approach to switch lighting. Hooked mine up to the dome light circuit so it comes on full brightness when I open the door, and then fades to black after closing the door. Takes a little bit of digging in the harness under the seat, but I’m happy with how it turned out.

 

[Krazyk86cu]

1. Just run one wire from the ignition switched lead to 2 (input), and then run a small jumper from 2 to 6 (switch lighting). Keep in mind the switch will be lit at full brightness whenever the ignition is on (may be distracting at night).

2. Yes, purple wire from the compressor goes to 3 (output) on the switch.

3. Not sure where you got 5 and 6 to ground. Diagram shows 7 and 8 to ground, no?

I took a different approach to switch lighting. Hooked mine up to the dome light circuit so it comes on full brightness when I open the door, and then fades to black after closing the door. Takes a little bit of digging in the harness under the seat, but I’m happy with how it turned out.

Yeah I must’ve been looking at a different diagram or something, but yeah ground to 7&8.
I love the dome light idea. How did you determine what wire went to the dome lights?

 

[tonygiotta]

Yeah I must’ve been looking at a different diagram or something, but yeah ground to 7&8.
I love the dome light idea. How did you determine what wire went to the dome lights?

Found the dome light circuit on the wiring diagrams located on this forum. The tricky part is digging for the right color combo wire in your harness.

Luckily, it runs right under/near the passenger seat. I’d have to dig through the diagrams again, but I think it fed something in the center console.

 

[Krazyk86cu]

Found the dome light circuit on the wiring diagrams located on this forum. The tricky part is digging for the right color combo wire in your harness.

Luckily, it runs right under/near the passenger seat. I’d have to dig through the diagrams again, but I think it fed something in the center console.

That’s convenient! My compressor is mounted under the passenger seat so I know exactly what bundle you are referring to.

 

[Headbarcode]

1. Just run one wire from the ignition switched lead to 2 (input), and then run a small jumper from 2 to 6 (switch lighting). Keep in mind the switch will be lit at full brightness whenever the ignition is on (may be distracting at night).

2. Yes, purple wire from the compressor goes to 3 (output) on the switch.

3. Not sure where you got 5 and 6 to ground. Diagram shows 7 and 8 to ground, no?

I took a different approach to switch lighting. Hooked mine up to the dome light circuit so it comes on full brightness when I open the door, and then fades to black after closing the door. Takes a little bit of digging in the harness under the seat, but I’m happy with how it turned out.

Does the black ground wire from the compressor need a split for 7 and 8 on the isolation switch, or do one of those positions need a chassis ground strap? The schematic looks like a jumper, but my main power harness extension from up down air came with a small 12" long black ground strap with an eyelet on one end and a female spade on the other. Not sure what else that could be used for. Thanks for the help and clarification!

 

[tonygiotta]

Does the black ground wire from the compressor need a split for 7 and 8 on the isolation switch, or do one of those positions need a chassis ground strap? The schematic looks like a jumper, but my main power harness extension from up down air came with a small 12" long black ground strap with an eyelet on one end and a female spade on the other. Not sure what else that could be used for. Thanks for the help and clarification!

I’m not familiar with the Up/Down kit. I could see using a ground strap for the compressor maybe, but the isolation switch has such minimal draw, it would be complete overkill for that. You could really tap the switch grounds into any ground.

I performed surgery on the ARB harnesses, stripping out all the unnecessary wires and shortening everything to meet my needs. I ran a heavy, dedicated ground for the compressor back to the ground post behind the passenger side kick panel. I ran a small, shared ground wire for pins 7 & 8 back to that same post. 7 & 8 were jumpered together behind the switch.

You could tie them all together if you wanted, I just don’t like splicing a small wire into a large one if I don’t have to. Separate wires also made sense since the compressor also had them separated into two different harness connectors.

Wish I had taken some better pictures to share. Really hard to see what’s going on down there now.

 

[AnnDee4444]

I am running mine a bit differently so I just built my own harness.

I am running the 24V version, but running it off the 48VDC e-torque hybrid battery.

I know you've shared this before, but what inverter are your running to get 24V? Was it difficult to tap into the 48V system?

 

[oceanblue2019]

I know you've shared this before, but what inverter are your running to get 24V? Was it difficult to tap into the 48V system?

I am no longer running any DC to DC convertor for the compressors. I am using a 24V version of the twin ARB and have connected the two compressors in series across the 48V battery. In series they both see about 24V.

The only downside is if one compressor fails as an open circuit the other will not run, and if it fails as a short the remaining one will only run for a very short period of time

That is why I need a custom harness due to the series setup.

But this setup was worth it to ditch a heavy DC to DC convertor. Even at 24V the compressors would need 35A max which was close to 1000W with some safety margin; and therefore a bit of size to it.

The 48V system is not bad to work with if you are cautious. I ordered the right connectors so I didn't have to do any splice work in the main harness and just plug in a short "Y" harness that gets me my take offs that I use to power the compressors and into the DC to AC inverter to power my fridge.

I plan to document this over the winter as just getting a few last details cleaned up such as solar charging.

I will likely sell a harness kit to get to fused 48V bus for you to hookup what you like without having to cut/splice anything.

 

[AnnDee4444]

I am no longer running any DC to DC convertor for the compressors. I am using a 24V version of the twin ARB and have connected the two compressors in series across the 48V battery. In series they both see about 24V.

The only downside is if one compressor fails as an open circuit the other will not run, and if it fails as a short the remaining one will only run for a very short period of time

That is why I need a custom harness due to the series setup.

But this setup was worth it to ditch a heavy DC to DC convertor. Even at 24V the compressors would need 35A max which was close to 1000W with some safety margin; and therefore a bit of size to it.

The 48V system is not bad to work with if you are cautious. I ordered the right connectors so I didn't have to do any splice work in the main harness and just plug in a short "Y" harness that gets me my take offs that I use to power the compressors and into the DC to AC inverter to power my fridge.

I plan to document this over the winter as just getting a few last details cleaned up such as solar charging.

I will likely sell a harness kit to get to fused 48V bus for you to hookup what you like without having to cut/splice anything.

Now THAT is cool way to set it up . I'm guessing you used two single 24V compressors (CKMA24 = 18A max. ea.)?

I wonder if we could convince ARB to offer a 48V compressor... They make all the right parts, just need to assemble it as a package (as a double).

 

[oceanblue2019]

I used the 24V twin kit, which is two 24V compressors in parallel, using same wiring as the twin 12V from what I can tell.

I changed the wiring to put them in series.

What that means is as follows:

48VDC --> 40A fuse --> relay --> compressors in series --> ground

To control the relay I wired an aux switch to the input of the pressure switch in the twin arb. That also goes to the fan. I believe this is the purple wire. The output of the pressure switch goes to the relay solenoid.

For the relay I used a 48VDC rated 70A Bosch.

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