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Thread: ARB compressor short

  1. #1
    Breadmaker Shaker Plasnart's Avatar
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    ARB compressor short

    Hi all,

    Last week I was out for a drive, and while airing back up my little 28l/m ARB compressor shorted out.

    thumbnail_20201108_162009.jpg

    The 30A fuse blown and the leads were hot hot hot!

    Today I checked alternator output at 2000rpm and was all good at 14.2V so no issues there. I chucked another 30A fuse in the compressor and instant blowout when hooked up to the battery.

    Hmm, pulled the lead plug apart and lo-and-behold it's melted to the shizenhousen.

    thumbnail_20201108_162150.jpg

    So cut the M/F plugs off and hard wired the leads back together.

    Goes like a ripper again, no problems noted in my very quick run without load this afternoon.

    So my question is, what could have caused the plugs to melt like this? Could it just be that every time I air up the little compressor is pumping for a good 20 minutes without stopping? It works hard the little thing and it's probably got 25-30 hours run time on it.

    Was worried about the input voltage but all seems OK in this regard.

    Could there be anything more sinister going on here?

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  3. #2
    ......... MB's Avatar
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    G’day Plassy Mate!
    Any chance that plug was tucked up hard under the compressor itself?
    Possible radiant heat started issue instead of power related maybe?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    Breadmaker Shaker Plasnart's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MB View Post
    G’day Plassy Mate!
    Any chance that plug was tucked up hard under the compressor itself?
    Possible radiant heat started issue instead of power related maybe?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Gday Scotchymaster! 99.9% sure it was fully out of the box mate.

    I had pumped one tyre up and around half way into the second, so it was runnig for less than 10 minutes.

    About 30 seconds before it stopped, the compressor sound changed from "under load" sound to "free pumping" sound, but I hadn't pulled the hose off. That was weird.

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    MB (8th November 2020)

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    Breadmaker Shaker Plasnart's Avatar
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    Do most compressors have a duty cycle? This little thing just runs while it has power no matter its temperature. Motor and air tank get very hot every time it's used.

    Thinking this may have (over time) contributed to the softening/deformation of the lead plug and finally the plug shorted?

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    Patrol Guru matfew's Avatar
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    Shitty connection with those plugs after a while. Loose female connection not gripping well enough causes high resistance join which in turn creates heat. That's what happens with most connections.

    Sent from my BV9800Pro using Tapatalk

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    Plasnart (8th November 2020)

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    I am he, fear me the evil twin's Avatar
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    IMHO only... won't be the input voltage per se.

    I would suggest that Compressor would be lucky to have a 20 minute on 40 minute off duty cycle so it would def get get super hot at 20 minute continuous.
    The leads being copper (which obviously conducts heat) are probably the source of the heat that melted plug which is quite close to the compressor IE the leads will get bloody hot and melt the plug

    To test that theory... run it for about 10 mins under load and check how hot the leads get.
    If the leads get bloody hot then that is the issue, if they don't then it was most likely a poor connection at the plug.
    Last edited by the evil twin; 8th November 2020 at 06:37 PM.
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    Plasnart (8th November 2020)

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    Breadmaker Shaker Plasnart's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by matfew View Post
    Shitty connection with those plugs after a while. Loose female connection not gripping well enough causes high resistance join which in turn creates heat. That's what happens with most connections.

    Sent from my BV9800Pro using Tapatalk
    Cheers Matt. This unit is about 12 years old so that may well have been the case.

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    Breadmaker Shaker Plasnart's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by the evil twin View Post
    IMHO only... won't be the input voltage per se.

    I would suggest that Compressor would be lucky to have a 20 minute on 40 minute off duty cycle so it would def get get super hot at 20 minute continuous.
    The leads being copper (which obviously conducts heat) are probably the source of the heat that melted plug which is quite close to the compressor IE the leads will get bloody hot and melt the plug

    To test that theory... run it for about 10 mins under load and check how hot the leads get.
    If the leads get bloody hot then that is the issue, if they don't then it was most likely a poor connection at the plug.
    The unit has always got really hot but never the cables. This time the cables were super hot!

    Funny thing is, when I cut the plugs off today and stripped the insulation, the wires from the clamp ends were copper, the wires from the motor were silver colour. Does that mean anything to someone with elec knowledge (i.e. not me!)

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    As @matfew and @ET have mentioned its simply a plug interface issue with resistance resulting in heat thats melted the plastic. My old ARB compressor did the same on Fraser island pumping up 4 tyres from 10psi to 35 and the plug was like warm bread dough by the time I finished.

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    Plasnart (9th November 2020)

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    Breadmaker Shaker Plasnart's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeeBee View Post
    As @matfew and @ET have mentioned its simply a plug interface issue with resistance resulting in heat thats melted the plastic. My old ARB compressor did the same on Fraser island pumping up 4 tyres from 10psi to 35 and the plug was like warm bread dough by the time I finished.
    Makes you wonder why they would include this weakness into the design. Why on earth do the leads need to be removable via the plug?? Not once have I ever thought about unplugging them.

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