ARB Twin Air Compressor issue!

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Jose

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First of all Happy New Years to all my Overland Bound family hope it was an awesome New Years for you all. So I’m been using my ARB Twin a couple time out on the trails and last time I used it to fill back up the tires from my Stoney Lonesome OHV Park it stoped working after filling up the 2nd 35” tire. It’s connected to a 6 switch SPOD and now when I hit the ARB switch all I here is the fan and the compressor does not kick on. Any of you all that have the ARB Twin has had any issues like it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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Jose

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Ok guys disregard!!! Found the issue. One blown 40a fuse. I will be emailing them though cause it’s actually the second time I’ve used the twin for it to blow a 40a fuse so quick. I mean I would rather it blow a fuse the mess up the compressor but still they must have an answer or solution to the problem.


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[DO]Ron

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Good luck on getting it fixed!

Don't take this the wrong way though, but do you know for sure it is hooked up to the Spod correctly? Don't know if that can cause the fuse to blow, 40A is a hefty ammount to blow.
 
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Jose

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It’s blowing the fuse on the wire harness from the compressor that’s hooked up on the battery side. Spod is hooked up correctly. I have it installed under the hood and I keep the hood open when I’m filling up tires.


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shoredreamer

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The ARB Twin pulls more than 40 amps under load so it will keep blowing a 40a fuse. The compressor is likely fine and it also has internal circuit protection built in but you still need a fuse near the battery or in the Spod to protect the wire. The chart here shows 50-68 amps.039F8949-581B-4D86-A276-6ED9F7AA9E1B.png
If I were you I would run each motor of the compressor to separate circuits on the Spod. Which means utilizing 2 of the 6, and put a 30 fuse for each circuit in the Spod box.

Or run the compressor directly to the battery with a MAXI/MEGA/Circuit breaker off the positive. Depending how far the compressor is to the battery, you may want some decent sized wire to reduce resistance and volt drop. My compressor pulls 30 amps on a 30’ circuit so I needed 4awg, for example.1F7D82C6-2063-475E-B225-2696861A0F58.jpeg
How far is the compressor from the Spod and battery? What size wire is in the wiring harness? That Twin pulls some major power!!
 
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Jose

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The ARB Twin pulls more than 40 amps under load so it will keep blowing a 40a fuse. The compressor is likely fine and it also has internal circuit protection built in but you still need a fuse near the battery or in the Spod to protect the wire. The chart here shows 50-68 amps.View attachment 43843
If I were you I would run each motor of the compressor to separate circuits on the Spod. Which means utilizing 2 of the 6, and put a 30 fuse for each circuit in the Spod box.

Or run the compressor directly to the battery with a MAXI/MEGA/Circuit breaker off the positive. Depending how far the compressor is to the battery, you may want some decent sized wire to reduce resistance and volt drop. My compressor pulls 30 amps on a 30’ circuit so I needed 4awg, for example.View attachment 43844
How far is the compressor from the Spod and battery? What size wire is in the wiring harness? That Twin pulls some major power!!
Awesome info shoredreamer thanks for that!! Here is how my set up is under the hood. I’ll definitely look into all this info. But you would think that they would supply the right size wire harness and fuses with the electrical prints that they supply. You can see that the Spod has 12vlt 40amp relays also and switch #6 is where the ARB is hooked up too. I think the harness is a 6 footer that they supply. Also the switch on which the compressor is hooked up to has a 30 amp fixes as well. I emailed ARB and waiting on there response as well. Again thanks for this info very much appreciated. [emoji106][emoji106]















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Overmodified

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Probably something you already know, but the ARB twin is much happier when the engine is running and its getting 14+ volts from the alternator instead of just the 12.6v from the battery only. I've used these compressors in several vehicles and only had a fuse issue when the compressor was used while the motor was off.
Good luck!
 
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Overland California

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So you're popping the 40A fuse in the hot line that goes from the ARB compressor to SPod distribution block? Are your ARB compressor's positive and negative cables hooked up directly to the battery or to the SPod?

Due to the amperage under load, your best bet is to wire the ARB compressor's positive and ground wires directly to the battery and then the ARB compressor's lead cables to the SPod.
 
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Jose

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So you're popping the 40A fuse in the hot line that goes from the ARB compressor to SPod distribution block? Are your ARB compressor's positive and negative cables hooked up directly to the battery or to the SPod?

Due to the amperage under load, your best bet is to wire the ARB compressor's positive and ground wires directly to the battery and then the ARB compressor's lead cables to the SPod.
Thanks for the info brother. That’s exactly how I installed the wires . The 40amp fuse are coming from the battery side and the compressor is hooked up to the Spod! [emoji121]️The positive and negative wires of the compressor is hooked up to the battery and you can see that the purple and black wires is the leads cables that is connected to the Spod switch #6


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Jose

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Probably something you already know, but the ARB twin is much happier when the engine is running and its getting 14+ volts from the alternator instead of just the 12.6v from the battery only. I've used these compressors in several vehicles and only had a fuse issue when the compressor was used while the motor was off.
Good luck!
No doubt brother!! I always air up with the engine running and hood open.[emoji106][emoji106]. At first they told me to install it under the seat but I always though that was a bad idea.


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Overmodified

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The compressor negative connection at the battery looks like it's got some heat discoloration on the insulation. You might check to make sure that connection is tight. If it's loose you'll be able to feel the wire getting hot pretty quickly. Since it's a wing nut (which are usually only finger tight) you may want to change to a standard hex nut so you can get a wrench on it.
Let us know what you find.
 
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Jose

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The compressor negative connection at the battery looks like it's got some heat discoloration on the insulation. You might check to make sure that connection is tight. If it's loose you'll be able to feel the wire getting hot pretty quickly. Since it's a wing nut (which are usually only finger tight) you may want to change to a standard hex nut so you can get a wrench on it.
Let us know what you find.
I had to look at the pic real quick to see what you were talking about then I went to the jeep and checked the negative cable and saw what you saw. But that was me with the heat Shrink connector and kind of burned it a bit that I installed cause the one that came with the wire was to small so that’s the discoloration that you see in the pic lol. I had to double check cause I was like damn I didn’t tighten it enough. Also I’m definitely taking your advice on changing the wing but to a standard hex nut!![emoji106][emoji106]


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JBUswim

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Any updates????
I am having the same problem. Compressor goes straight to main/only battery. They both blow. Air temp is under 100. Anything wrong with putting 50Amp fuses in?
In my 2001 Cruiser, the ARB wires will not reach from the compressor location to the battery so I had to add in short sections of wire to go the distance.
 

hfd376

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I've got the twin compressor in the portable configuration. I was really surprised at the "small" gauge wires supplied with it. What I did was use a few 120 amp anderson power poles connectors, and a set of old 6 gauge jumper cables, along with 6 gauge butt splices, and a hydraulic crimper from Harbor Freight. I put a quick connect at the grill of the truck. I cut off the clips off of the jumper cables and installed the quick connects with the butt splices.

Understand that the lower the voltage goes, the higher your current (amps) will go. Also, any poor connections will get hot also. The wire is a part of the circiut and sending voltage thru it becomes part of the load. The longer the wire, the worse it will be. Even with larger diameter wire, mine still gets warm from the current.
 

Magic Mike

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Hello all. I am having the same issue, except I'm not blowing any fuses. Went to turn on my compressor, fan comes on but no compressor. Fuses are good, connections are all good, hot and negatives to the battery are good and it won't run, doesn't matter if the rig is running or not.

Funny thing is that it was running last night..

Any ideas, thanks
 

hfd376

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If you haven't already, try using some air from it. If you have no pressure, then it might be the pressure switch.