The Utility Box

[MasterYota]

Being as I seem to have multiple trail rigs, there are a few pieces of wheeling equipment that would be silly of me to duplicate, or have in triplicate as the case may be. One of those pieces is my Viair Air compressor. It works great at airing up my tires after a day of wheeling, and it would be difficult to use it on the trail if I had it hard mounted in a rig I wasn't driving at the time. Hence the need for a Utility box.

Heres the plan; I will outfit my three rigs with the neccessary hookups for my compressor to run, (airline, tank, and electrical w/switch gear), and simply house my compressor, on/off pressure switch control, and air hose, in the box. My compressor fits nicely in a 40mm ammo box from Princess Auto, and there is ample room for extra gear in the box as well. I will plumb the box with the connections to mate up to the vehicle that its in, and I'll probably figure out some way of latching the box down so that its not moving about while wheeling.

The design of the box incorporates not only the a/c, but also an electric cooling fan to keep the contents from overheating during useage, as well as a 1500w power inverter which I just scored for a smokin' deal at Cambodia Tire... 1500W is enough to power a drip coffee maker on the trail, as well as my Electric impact gun if I get a flat tire, plus it'll operate most power tools, and chargers. The best part is that it'll be portable between rigs. If I keep the connections fairly simple, it could even be portable around camp...

Any other suggestions?

[MasterYota]

So the measuring tape dosen't lie; the 1500w inverter is way to big to fit in the ammo can, so its out in favor of a much smaller 400w that I scored today for $20...(all it has to do is run a small cooling fan, should work). I also found all my other pre-purchased parts to get the assembly plumbed and underway. With any luck, I'll have a functioning unit by the end of next week... I'll try to get some pics as its going together...

[MasterYota]

So I've managed to get the cooling fan and the compressor test fitted with thier mounts installed, and the holes drilled for air flow. Next up will be mounting the inverter and the pressure regulator, and getting the plumbing and electrical sorted out. Pics to come if I ever manage to find my damn camera!

[MasterYota]

Inverter and Regulator are all installed and everything fits well. All thats left is the wiring... I'll get some pics as soon as somebody tells me where my camera is...

[lwb86]

pics?

[MasterYota]

I'm going to have to find a way to take them; probably have to steal the wifes iphone to accomplish it...

[MasterYota]

Finally managed to get the wife to upload the pics I took...

Here's what is in the box: Viair 450H hardmount compressor, 400w inverter, cooling fan, and an adjustable pressure regulator to control the compressor.

The plumbing portion is done, just need to finish the wiring end. I've some Anderson connectors to hook it up to the truck wiring. I'll also modify a cheap set of jumper cables with an Anderson plug on one end to make it portable.

Here it shows the general size, and the holes in the side of the ammo box where the cooling fan is located. I still need to drill some small vent holes in the end of the box to generate air flow.


This shot gives a little perspective on its actuall size...

[MasterYota]

Finished up the wiring and install tonight, and assembled the portable jumper cable powerleads. Should be able test the unit tomorrow...

[MasterYota]

Tested the box yesterday, and it works exactly as planned! Now I can get on plumbing the tank into the truck, and finishing up the wiring on the truck end...

[Sponsored content]