Others OFF GRID POWER STATION VS SMALL ORANGE PCP COMPRESSOR

[JD5]

Hi, I'm hoping to power the small "ORANGE BOX" spirtech etc... type compressor with a Oupes Mega2 power station with an expansion battery, 2400 watt inverter and over 4000 watt hours of storage total. According to the specs I should be well within the parameters of doing so. The Compressor starts off fine until about 1500 PSI then starts to slow down, struggling to the point of getting ugly so I shut it off. The compressor at it's peak is drawing 475 Watts on a 20 amp A/C outlet. Apparently Inductive loads such as electric motors with windings and inverter style power stations or even inverter gas generators struggle to work together? Something to do with the KVAR and the current and voltage being out of phase. At this point I am way out of my depth and hoping for a work around or advice in general on how to get these two playing nicely together.

 

[FL22]

Hello and welcome to HAM.

Just thinking out loud here…
I’ve never owned one of those small compressors, but I’m sure it has a DC motor in it with either an internal or external power supply (household current to whatever the requirements of the motor are) So this power station you have, are the batteries that power the inverter the same output voltage as the compressor motor input voltage?

I feel that a storage battery that powers an inverter that gives 110 AC outlet then plug a power supply into to turn it back to DC would be wasteful to put it mildly.

Even if needed a DC to DC converter, that would still be better. ( an example would be one that would take a higher DC voltage and reduce it, but increase the amperage )

Regardless, don’t take what I say too seriously, I’m just some total ya-hoo on the Internet .

 

[pan60]

welcome to HAM.

 

[Dogowski]

Welcome to the HAM forum! Enjoy you're stay here.

 

[Dogowski]

Hi, I'm hoping to power the small "ORANGE BOX" spirtech etc... type compressor with a Oupes Mega2 power station with an expansion battery, 2400 watt inverter and over 4000 watt hours of storage total. According to the specs I should be well within the parameters of doing so. The Compressor starts off fine until about 1500 PSI then starts to slow down, struggling to the point of getting ugly so I shut it off. The compressor at it's peak is drawing 475 Watts on a 20 amp A/C outlet. Apparently Inductive loads such as electric motors with windings and inverter style power stations or even inverter gas generators struggle to work together? Something to do with the KVAR and the current and voltage being out of phase. At this point I am way out of my depth and hoping for a work around or advice in general on how to get these two playing nicely together.

These compressors need to be hooked up to a car battery with the engine running to play nice or the indoor 110v supply. It just takes too many amps for the small power packs to keep up.

 

[JD5]

Hello and welcome to HAM.

Just thinking out loud here…
I’ve never owned one of those small compressors, but I’m sure it has a DC motor in it with either an internal or external power supply (household current to whatever the requirements of the motor are) So this power station you have, are the batteries that power the inverter the same output voltage as the compressor motor input voltage?

I feel that a storage battery that powers an inverter that gives 110 AC outlet then plug a power supply into to turn it back to DC would be wasteful to put it mildly.

Even if needed a DC to DC converter, that would still be better. ( an example would be one that would take a higher DC voltage and reduce it, but increase the amperage )

Regardless, don’t take what I say too seriously, I’m just some total ya-hoo on the Internet .

Thanks for the reply FL22.
The compressor is 12 volt DC and 110V A/C
The power unit has a 30 amp 12 volt dc outlet which I tried but it's only good for 360 watts and the minute my 350 watt compressor started building pressure (1300ish PSI) it eclipsed the wattages available.

 

[JD5]

These compressors need to be hooked up to a car battery with the engine running to play nice or the indoor 110v supply. It just takes too many amps for the small power packs to keep up.

While you are right in that this is the type of compressor that can run off a car battery with the engine running it
is not a small power pack, it's a off grid power station with a 2500 watt inverter and over 4000 watt hours of storage. It has 4 110 20 amp A/C outlets and 12volt 30 amp outlet along with various other DC outlets in USB form.

 

[JD5]

welcome to HAM.

Thanks for the welcome pan60

 

[JD5]

Welcome to the HAM forum! Enjoy you're stay here.

Thanks Dogowski.

 

[Jaabaa]

How many Watts does the Compressor need?
I'll go get pictures of my system and post in a few minutes. It's a Compressor, Lifepo4 battery. It can run for a hour.

 

[Jaabaa]

$134 compressor
$70 Battery
$2 TX 60 plugs and Crimp Lugs.
Charges the Aircuda' from empty in less than 10 minutes and Tops off from 2000 to 3500 in less than 5 minutes.
I put it in the Wagon with the guns and it's a easy day at the range.
The thing about these cheap compressors(read directions closely) is they need to be rebuilt every 20 hours of use. It's easy after the first time. I almost made a video when air was doing it.

 

[Jaabaa]

Battery is a 12v 30ah weighs just 7 pounds.

 

[Jaabaa]

Take your Compressor power 450 watt. Add 20%
So 600 watt would be your inverter for that Compressor. You would need a 12v 50ah Battery for that inverter. Or 12v in on the Compressor.
They mostly use a TX60 Solar Plug.
I did everything I could to get out of carrying a Tank.
You should have a 12v input on your Compressor, no inverter needed. I would recommend a 10 amp fuse. It can also be used as your switch.
Good luck

 

[FL22]

Take your Compressor power 450 watt. Add 20%
So 600 watt would be your inverter for that Compressor. You would need a 12v 50ah Battery for that inverter. Or 12v in on the Compressor.
They mostly use a TX60 Solar Plug.
I did everything I could to get out of carrying a Tank.
You should have a 12v input on your Compressor, no inverter needed. I would recommend a 10 amp fuse. It can also be used as your switch.
Good luck

 

[JD5]

Take your Compressor power 450 watt. Add 20%
So 600 watt would be your inverter for that Compressor. You would need a 12v 50ah Battery for that inverter. Or 12v in on the Compressor.
They mostly use a TX60 Solar Plug.
I did everything I could to get out of carrying a Tank.
You should have a 12v input on your Compressor, no inverter needed. I would recommend a 10 amp fuse. It can also be used as your switch.
Good luck

Thanks so much Jaabaa, you get the above and beyond award for sure!
I have a CHEN LIPO4 100 AH 12 volt I use for my kayak I was thinking of using then charge that with my power station. I like your smaller battery idea, for lugging around that would be the ticket. Thanks again. I'm also liking the GX E L3 Battery operated compressors. Just bummed this "power station" I have wont get the job done. Then I watched TOFAZFOU do a review of the JTS Comp1 compressor and he powered it with a Jackery power station that was no bigger than a lunch box WTH?