Worlds simplest solution needed

[Mogambo]

I recently bought the Airman Sparrow air compressor. It has the cigarette lighter style plug-in. What is the absolute simplest method of hooking this thing up to my battery without blowing a fuse? I have a plug-in hooked up to my battery to hook my Battery Tender to. The mechanic at my Yami shop said that the wiring and fuse it has should be heavy enough and I could maybe change the cigarette style plug-in to the male/female type that the battery tender uses. Any thoughts? Remember, I want to keep this REALLY simple, but I want something that will work. I don't want or need to hook anything else up to this except the air compressor when I am on the road, so I'm not crazy about getting involved with the Powerlet thing unless I absolutely have to.

Thanks guys and gals.

 

[abarron576]

Better check the fuse size on your Battery Tender. I bought one that had only a 3-amp fuse which probably wouldn't be enough. I changed mine to a 10 amp and just used a spare Battery Tender plug to plug the compressor, etc. in to the Battery Tender leads. Make sure you check polarity though.

 

[Knifemaker]

I am sure someone will point out the problem with this reply, but...Why can't you just use the "ciggerette" plug in the "glove box" after changing the fuse it uses to one that will work with the pump?

KM

 

[radman]

Better check the fuse size on your Battery Tender. I bought one that had only a 3-amp fuse which probably wouldn't be enough. I changed mine to a 10 amp and just used a spare Battery Tender plug to plug the compressor, etc. in to the Battery Tender leads. Make sure you check polarity though.

Gunny. My solution also, 3 amp fuse will be history.

 

[Neil San Diego]

Maybe an adaptor like this?

https://www.whitehorsepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=4484

Adaptor

And check the fuse in the battery tender line...

 

[Hit the Road Jack]

I am sure someone will point out the problem with this reply, but...Why can't you just use the "ciggerette" plug in the "glove box" after changing the fuse it uses to one that will work with the pump?
KM

That's what I did. When my air compressor blew the 3 amp fuse in the '06 lighter plug, I replaced it w/ a 15 amp fuse, same rating as my compressor.

 

[Duezzer]

The reason a fuse is in line is to stop to many amps being drawn thru the wire and to prevent a dead short fire

The fuses are sized to the wire amp handling capabilities

.

With a small wire a large amp draw will make the wire over heat - melting the coating - sometimes causing a short and even sometimes a fire :angry:

If you don't mind the burnt look go ahead and up the fuse size.

Rule of thumb - never go more than one size increase on a fuse than the manual calls for-

Ie 1 to 3 -- 3 to 5 -- 5 to 10 -- 10 to 15 ect ect .

Wire in with the proper size wire with the proper size fuse for the extra equipment you are adding.

Later

 

[Fred W]

The reason a fuse is in line is to stop to many amps being drawn thru the wire and to prevent a dead short fire
The fuses are sized to the wire amp handling capabilities

.

With a small wire a large amp draw will make the wire over heat - melting the coating - sometimes causing a short and even sometimes a fire :angry:

If you don't mind the burnt look go ahead and up the fuse size.

Rule of thumb - never go more than one size increase on a fuse than the manual calls for-

Ie 1 to 3 -- 3 to 5 -- 5 to 10 -- 10 to 15 ect ect .

Wire in with the proper size wire with the proper size fuse for the extra equipment you are adding.

Later

That's all perfectly correct, except that in this particular instance, the fuse for the accessory plug in the glove box (on 2nd gens) is 3 amps for god only knows what reason. They don't know what the load is (or the gauge wire) that you'll be hooking up to that socket and the wiring is heavy enough to support considerably higher amperage.

I think they probably just fused it way low intentionally for liability reasons. Now after you burn your bike to the ground from using anything in that socket they'll claim the fire was because you changed the fuse rating.

 

[motorcycle-ed]

The reason a fuse is in line is to stop to many amps being drawn thru the wire and to prevent a dead short fire
The fuses are sized to the wire amp handling capabilities

.

With a small wire a large amp draw will make the wire over heat - melting the coating - sometimes causing a short and even sometimes a fire :angry:

If you don't mind the burnt look go ahead and up the fuse size.

Rule of thumb - never go more than one size increase on a fuse than the manual calls for-

Ie 1 to 3 -- 3 to 5 -- 5 to 10 -- 10 to 15 ect ect .

Wire in with the proper size wire with the proper size fuse for the extra equipment you are adding.

Later

Dead right on the wire size. Do NOT risk burning up your bike or just the wire harness by just putting in a bigger fuse. The best solution is the pigtail for your battery tender and get another SAE plug to match the tender. This connects directly to the battery with it's own fuse. The wire is still pretty marginal for the current needed for the compressor, but at least it is not in a harness, so it can cool better. I used the standard harness on my bike, but I tried the compressor and ran it for a few minutes to make sure the wire would handle it. It got a bit warm, but nothing to concern me so I did not bother with rigging up a new harness with bigger wire. The problem with over fusing the DC socket in the glovebox, is that if THAT wire burns up, it is buried in a harness and can take out a lot of other stuff and be near impossible to repair.

Motorcycle-ed

Lancaster, SC

 

[Fred W]

Furthermore, putting a larger fuse will not actually cause much increased risk of fire due to a dead short somewhere, because the new bigger fuse will still blow pretty quickly and protect the undersized wiring. However, an appliance that is connected that draws a steady high load just under the new fuse rating (like say a pump or something similar ) could end up overheating the wiring with the undesired results.

 

[Duezzer]

Furthermore, putting a larger fuse will not actually cause much increased risk of fire due to a dead short somewhere, because the new bigger fuse will still blow pretty quickly and protect the undersized wiring.

That's correct

I was just saying without a fuse in line a dead short can be a major issue

Later

 

[jekirby]

All I plan to do is take the battery cover off and use the jumper cable type clips that came with my compressor. Takes less than a minute to remove the battery cover and I don't have to add yet another set of leads to the battery.

 

[Mogambo]

Maybe an adaptor like this?
https://www.whitehorsepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=4484

Adaptor

And check the fuse in the battery tender line...

Ding-ding-ding!!! Neil in San Diego appears to be the winner!!! This looks about as easy a deal as I could imagine. I was sort of hoping there was something like this out there.

Uhhhh....Neils idea IS a good one.....................right guys??!! No problem here...........RIGHT???

 

[Fred W]

Maybe an adaptor like this?
https://www.whitehorsepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=4484

Adaptor

And check the fuse in the battery tender line...

Ding-ding-ding!!! Neil in San Diego appears to be the winner!!! This looks about as easy a deal as I could imagine. I was sort of hoping there was something like this out there.

Uhhhh....Neils idea IS a good one.....................right guys??!! No problem here...........RIGHT???

Sure is, assuming that you already have a battery tender lead hooked up direct to your battery. But the fuse built into the battery tender lead may be too small for the load of the pump. You'll have to check.

 

[Geezer]

Maybe an adaptor like this?
https://www.whitehorsepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=4484

Adaptor

And check the fuse in the battery tender line...

Ding-ding-ding!!! Neil in San Diego appears to be the winner!!! This looks about as easy a deal as I could imagine. I was sort of hoping there was something like this out there.

Uhhhh....Neils idea IS a good one.....................right guys??!! No problem here...........RIGHT???

Yep, or you could save some money and have one almost immediately by buying a cigar lighter socket with pig tails on it and and SAE plug from your local auto supply and wire it yourself. Not the absolute easiest solution, but still pretty easy. If you want to try this, the ponly thing to worry about is polarity, you want the naked half of the SAE plug that you attach to the cigar lighter to be the positive (+) side, so you wire that one to the center of the cigar lighter. The center of the cigar lighter is probably a red wire. A little electrical tape on each lead so the bare wires can't touch each other and you're ready to go. I keep one of these in my glove box to charge my cell phone and camera batteries and stuff like that. My '05 doesn't have the plug inside the box.

 

[pinhead]

I recently bought the Airman Sparrow air compressor. It has the cigarette lighter style plug-in. What is the absolute simplest method of hooking this thing up to my battery without blowing a fuse? I have a plug-in hooked up to my battery to hook my Battery Tender to. The mechanic at my Yami shop said that the wiring and fuse it has should be heavy enough and I could maybe change the cigarette style plug-in to the male/female type that the battery tender uses. Any thoughts? Remember, I want to keep this REALLY simple, but I want something that will work. I don't want or need to hook anything else up to this except the air compressor when I am on the road, so I'm not crazy about getting involved with the Powerlet thing unless I absolutely have to.
Thanks guys and gals.

Here's what I did:

Bought one of these, two of these, and one of these. Connect them together with some 10-12 guage wire and attach directly to the battery terminals. You could either mount the outlet somewhere permanently (mine is mounted inside the tail section by the brake light, under the seat) or just stuff it under your seat and attach it to the battery when you need it. $15 and 15 minutes?

 

[odot]

FIRE!

FIRE

FIRE

FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bustanut joker]

Fire???? Where? I gotta pee.

:jester:

Waytago Kerby. Oversimplify things why don't ya?

 

[odot]

Yah....all this helpful bull shit is making me nauseous. What are we?......a bunch of goodie two shoe types?