Viair 7 pin Adapter

[swooshdave]

https://www.viaircorp.com/electrical/7-way-power-access

Patent pending? Thats a waste of time.

Would this actually work to power a small air compressor? What’s the max amps on the Bronco 7 wire connector?

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[cbrenthus]

Not a bad price, but it must not be rated for “overlanding” or it would be ten times that

I don’t know the max amps on the 7 pin, but I think it would be fine to power a small compressor. But don’t we have a 12v outlet in the back?

 

[4x4TruckLEDs.com]

Not sure how they can patent that, they've been around for a LONG time.

As far as powering a compressor... what kind of compressor??? I don't recommend powering anything with a motor off this.

What is your end goal? Portable compressors have alligator clamps that go onto the battery terminal, so you don't need things like this.

If you are installing an ARB compressor in the back, you need to run a thicker power line (10 gauge power for a single and 2x 10 gauge power for a twin, plus your ground wires also unless you ground it at the back)

 

[Gluestick]

Not sure how they can patent that, they've been around for a LONG time.

As far as powering a compressor... what kind of compressor??? I don't recommend powering anything with a motor off this.

What is your end goal? Portable compressors have alligator clamps that go onto the battery terminal, so you don't need things like this.

If you are installing an ARB compressor in the back, you need to run a thicker power line (10 gauge power for a single and 2x 10 gauge power for a twin, plus your ground wires also unless you ground it at the back)

likely a design patent not a utility patent.

 

[swooshdave]

Not sure how they can patent that, they've been around for a LONG time.

As far as powering a compressor... what kind of compressor??? I don't recommend powering anything with a motor off this.

What is your end goal? Portable compressors have alligator clamps that go onto the battery terminal, so you don't need things like this.

If you are installing an ARB compressor in the back, you need to run a thicker power line (10 gauge power for a single and 2x 10 gauge power for a twin, plus your ground wires also unless you ground it at the back)

Well, the assumption is it’s for a Viair compressor which are a smaller single piston unit. Max draw is 30A.

And correct, this definitely wouldn’t work for something like an ARB twin.

 

[swooshdave]

Not sure how they can patent that, they've been around for a LONG time.

As far as powering a compressor... what kind of compressor??? I don't recommend powering anything with a motor off this.

What is your end goal? Portable compressors have alligator clamps that go onto the battery terminal, so you don't need things like this.

If you are installing an ARB compressor in the back, you need to run a thicker power line (10 gauge power for a single and 2x 10 gauge power for a twin, plus your ground wires also unless you ground it at the back)

Because it’s inconvenient to pop the hood and get the clips on the battery compared to just one plug on the back.

 

[OregonMike]

Because it’s inconvenient to pop the hood and get the clips on the battery compared to just one plug on the back.

Right? I'll already have to open the back to get the compressor out (when I get one LOL), so why not have a solution to power it from back there?

 

[swooshdave]

I just ended up making my own. The plug was $15 from Amazon and is really well made. It's got a nice gland nut on the bottom. I added heat shrink to the wire to made sure the gland nut gripped tightly.

This is the compressor I have:

I have a bit of the SAE cables already. Next I'll modify the compressor cord to SAE and try it out.

The compressor is rated at 30A which is the same as the trailer plug.

 

[2Jeeps&PatriotX1]

There is no way that I would feel comfortable running my viair 400p (spare) compressor, which draws close to 30A, and definitely not my twin ARB (main) compressor, which draws upwards of 35A, off the oem 7pin wiring. I do have the option to run my viair compressor off the rear of my tow vehicles where I installed an anderson plug with 6awg running to the battery via a circuit breaker. My offroad camping trailer uses the tow vehicle's anderson plug to charge the batteries while being towed, which is why I installed the anderson plugs/wiring in the first place.

 

[swooshdave]

There is no way that I would feel comfortable running my viair 400p (spare) compressor, which draws close to 30A, and definitely not my twin ARB (main) compressor, which draws upwards of 35A, off the oem 7pin wiring. I do have the option to run my viair compressor off the rear of my tow vehicles where I installed an anderson plug with 6awg running to the battery via a circuit breaker. My offroad camping trailer uses the tow vehicle's anderson plug to charge the batteries while being towed, which is why I installed the anderson plugs/wiring in the first place.

I'm not 100% confident. But I have to assume that there is no way Ford would say the trailer plug is rated at 30A and it not being able to handle that.

So either the Ford electrical engineers know what they are doing or...

I also don't know if the compressors run at full amperage all of the time.

 

[swooshdave]

I'm going back to the drawing board and will up the wire gauge. I don't know what I have now but I assume it's 16AWG. I'm going to switch that out to 10AWG. That should minimize the issues and insure I have a decent enough wire thickness. In theory.

 

[Silver-Bolt]

I'm going back to the drawing board and will up the wire gauge. I don't know what I have now but I assume it's 16AWG. I'm going to switch that out to 10AWG. That should minimize the issues and insure I have a decent enough wire thickness. In theory.

The max rating for 10ga is 30a. You may want to use 6-8ga to get yourself a little cushion. I am not a fan of pushing the limits on wiring.

 

[swooshdave]

The max rating for 10ga is 30a. You may want to use 6-8ga to get yourself a little cushion. I am not a fan of pushing the limits on wiring.

The wire coming out of the compressor isn't even 6-8ga. Which makes me assume it's not 30A continuous. Search around the web shows that a typical 12v air compressor is in the 10-30A range of actual draw. Given this is a single piston small compressor I'm assuming it's at the lower end of that range.

 

[swooshdave]

So I went with a 10ga wire on the plug. You can see from the original wiring on the left it's overkill. I'm guessing the original wire is 12 but probably 14ga.

Here's the final project done and tested. $15 for the 7 pin plug and $8.50 for the SAE extension cable for a total of $23.50.

The Viair unit is $37.85 with shipping.

 

[4x4TruckLEDs.com]

There is no way that I would feel comfortable running my viair 400p (spare) compressor, which draws close to 30A, and definitely not my twin ARB (main) compressor, which draws upwards of 35A, off the oem 7pin wiring. I do have the option to run my viair compressor off the rear of my tow vehicles where I installed an anderson plug with 6awg running to the battery via a circuit breaker. My offroad camping trailer uses the tow vehicle's anderson plug to charge the batteries while being towed, which is why I installed the anderson plugs/wiring in the first place.

My thoughts exactly. I don't know what that rear connection is rated at but it's really for lighting only. Not motors.

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