a couple week ago I was wheeling the the riot with the misses in the mountains in SoCal and about 25 miles into the trip we start to get in to some snow, only a couple inches. Then it start getting thicker and I pull out the snow cables and put them on. I tell her that, "I need an air compressor so we could air down in the "snow-slush-ice" and air back up, just like in Pismo Beach". just then we go throught a thick patch of snow and got stuck.

I had to dig out the tires drop the psi, and nothing! i jacked up the car jammed some rocks in for traction and got out with the help of some dirt bikers pushing.

I was out, but my tires are at 15psi for the rest of my trip and the who way back home. it sucked

so last night I worked out installing an electric compressor in the cargo bay of the patriot it is completely hidden by the trim panels and the hose is coiled and it rests under the lid of the spare tire compartment. The hose is sixteen ft. long and can reach each tire. The only thing tha shows is the led switch I installed to turn it off and on.


sorry no pics yet

:pepper:

Good thinking... i've been thinking about keeping a small 12V compressor/air pump for emergency purposes. Sounds like a sound investment.

nice. I would definitely like more details on this. I have a small 12V compressor that plugs into the cig lighter, but it takes 15 minutes to fill a flat tire.

are you talking a real compressor that can fill a tire faster than that?

it says it fills a flat tire in 3 minutes, my tires were all about 10psi under where they should be, and I filled up all four tires in about 5 minutes. :pepper:

That's a great idea. I would love to see the pictures. I keep a 12v compressor in the spare tire well, but they are very slow and tend to burn out. The one I have plugs into the cigarette lighter, and the last time I tried to use it, it blew the fuse. We were lucky that we only had to drive a few miles to get to a gas station with an air compressor. Driving on the highway with severely underinflated tires is not good. I need to replace the cigarette lighter adapter with battery terminal clamps and run it directly off the battery (or the jumper battery that I also carry).

On longer trips to remote areas I carry a good quality bike pump with a built-in pressure gauge as a backup. I've only had to use it twice, both on the same trip, when we picked up a cactus spines through the sidewall of the same tire, one on the way in and another 5 days later on the way out of a very remote surf spot a little less than halfway down the peninsula. Pumping up a completely flat tire to street pressure with a hand pump is a pretty good workout.

Your solution is way better than any of that, I'd love to see how you did it.

Why do people on the cheapest compressors with cigarette lighter plugs when they should know they won't be reliable? Add a little more money and you get one that connects straight to the battery with clamps and works much more reliably - and using it won't be any more difficult than the one that plugs into the 12v outlet.

Of course, a fixed on-board air setup does have its appeal - I, too, would love to see pictures of that. :)

Why do people on the cheapest compressors with cigarette lighter plugs when they should know they won't be reliable? Add a little more money and you get one that connects straight to the battery with clamps and works much more reliably - and using it won't be any more difficult than the one that plugs into the 12v outlet.

Of course, a fixed on-board air setup does have its appeal - I, too, would love to see pictures of that. :)


I have not searched yet, but is there a middle ground for compressors? So often it seems there is the world's cheapest one available in 40 brands and colors, but all made at the same plant in China. Then there are several that are top of the line. Is there one available between crappy and excellent?

I will try to get pics tonight I have to pull the trim off to see the compressor but its pretty easy three screws and a couple of clips.

This sounds like a great idea. Can't wait for the pictures.

sorry for the poor quality my iphone is really beat up...

:pepper:It's completly hidden in the interior trim you just lift the spare tire cover and there is 16 ft of coiled air hose just enough to get to all four tires. Did it all for less than $80.:pepper:

Good work there Riotking. Looks great, and sounds like it's a high(er) quality setup than the cheap ones from Walmart. 4 tires in 5 minutes is a nice high air flow.

Riotking.... Very nice.

so, where'd you get the compressor? what brand/model# is it? how'd you wire it up?

PS - I submitted this thread to the Knowledge Base forum on your behalf.

I saw that compressor you used at a store. it was $54 where I saw it. It said it would inflate a tire in 3 minutes. Not bad for a fairly inexpensive compressor! Nice job on the install!

I have not searched yet, but is there a middle ground for compressors?

T-Max? I assume you mean price-wise.

Riotking, very nice!

sorry for the poor quality my iphone is really beat up...
Nice job with the install. Thanks for posting the pics. How'd you wire it?

Why do people on the cheapest compressors with cigarette lighter plugs when they should know they won't be reliable? Add a little more money and you get one that connects straight to the battery with clamps and works much more reliably - and using it won't be any more difficult than the one that plugs into the 12v outlet.

In my case, I have had that 12v compressor for about 10 years. It wasn't bottom-of-the-line at that time, and I've had no problems with the compressor itself (just the one blown fuse in the Patriot, which as I see it is a problem with the Patriot). Definitely agree that terminal clamps are better than cigarette lighter adapters though.

I have not searched yet, but is there a middle ground for compressors? So often it seems there is the world's cheapest one available in 40 brands and colors, but all made at the same plant in China. Then there are several that are top of the line. Is there one available between crappy and excellent? What do you consider high-end? Best is probably a belt-driven unit mounted under the hood or in the bumper, neither of which is really an option for the Patriot. There are good quality, reliable, mid-duty portables available at pretty reasonable prices, somewhere in the $250-350 range. Meaning you could go through several sub-$100 units before having to break out the manual pump. :)

I've used one of these (http://www.amazon.com/Master-Flow-MF-1040-Portable-Compressor/dp/B000L9AD2K)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZK1EGGN6L._SL500_AA280_.jpg
for a few years. Bought it at Pep Boys for 39.99, comes in a decent carry bag and it fits in the spare tire under the rear cover. It is a lighter plug style and while it won't do 3 tires in 3 minutes, it inflates quickly, no need to lift the hood and the bag has extra room for a t-handle tire plug set and extra gauge. I can't count the number of people I've rescued in parking lots with it.

The on board air is awesome, and its hidden perfect great job!!!!

i like that idea!!!

Nice! I like that its hidden, but easily accessed when needed!

nice job

so, where'd you get the compressor? what brand/model# is it? how'd you wire it up?

yeah, how did you wire it up to power? how did you wire up the external switch?

- Dan M

I didn't do the best way I'm new to auto wiring. So I removed the cig adaptor from the compressor and wired it to the back of the my cig lighter then ran the wire under the panels along the driver and reardoor all the way to the back. I cut one wire and ran it to the switch then I mounted the compressor and turned it on and every worked fine though I blew a fuse to the power adaptor so I put a 20 amp ATM. Since then I haven't had any problems and I use the compressor a lot.

I use this Ryobi compressor, which uses the same 18V battery as my other Ryobi cordless tools. lt does tires and anything else that requires inflation. It allows you to set the pressure you want ahead of time, and it cuts out when it reaches that pressure. It's been very reliable:

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogSearchResultView?D=906121&Ntt=906121&catalogId=10051&langId=-15&storeId=10051&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntx=mode+matchall&recN=0&N=0&Ntk=P_PartNumber

the 18 volt compressor not a bad idea, but it takes the fun out of having a hard wired onboard air compressor hidden in the trim of your car.

I didn't do the best way I'm new to auto wiring. So I removed the cig adaptor from the compressor and wired it to the back of the my cig lighter then ran the wire under the panels along the driver and reardoor all the way to the back. I cut one wire and ran it to the switch then I mounted the compressor and turned it on and every worked fine though I blew a fuse to the power adaptor so I put a 20 amp ATM. Since then I haven't had any problems and I use the compressor a lot.

Key is clean connections/splices
Also adding fuses to every line added

Since you want to do it the “right way” it goes like this:

First pick the location for the compressor, either the right or left of the cargo area. I went with the left (driver’s side) it had a little more air space and there are already wires that I could follow to the engine compartment.

Now pick the location of the switch and marked it. I found it easier to make the mount for the switch and check the real length of the wires and added extra wire just in case.

This is a good time to rewire the compressor I simply replaced the power cord with my own wiring. One wire went to the ground and the other for the load wire to the switch.
I tested my wiring with the old cig adaptor to make sure that the compressor worked with the new wiring. I twisted the wires together and plugged it in and turned on the compressor.

If all works, then continue by, running the power supply to the engine compartment. Add the fuse, relay and prep battery connection. (It should go in this order from battery fuse Relay compressor) I didn’t connect it yet, because I didn’t want to spark when working the rest of the wiring. I ran all the wires under the doors and through the fender into the engine compartment. I just followed the existing wiring if you need more details let me know.

Connect the ground wires to a grounded part of the body for the compressor then the relay and the switch if lighted.

Connect the power supply and test let it run a while.
Air up a tire hope it works out for you.

P.S. if you are going to go through all the trouble make sure you are really happy with the compressor you use, if the one you have runs really hot you might want to find one that doesn’t because it is in a very tight spot that you wouldn’t want to burn or melt anything.
Good luck:smiley_thumbs_up: