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Remote control of an air compressor

Blue85

Blue85

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I have my compressor in a side room of the shop and want to turn it on and off from the main room. If you have a big compressor, it probably has a magnetic contactor and separate unloader for the head pressure. In that case, all you need is a switch wired in series with the pressure switch and it can be located anywhere. The unit I'm running now has the integrated pressure/contactor/unloader. It's kind of similar to this:

i-need-a-new-valve-21519660.jpg


Since I don't want to just cut power to the compressor while it may/may not be running, there's 3 options I can see:

  1. Build a cable drive for the power/auto switch that flips it up and down. The cable would only have to be like 3-4 feet to go through the wall, but ideally more like 6 so the handle ends up near my drier, regulator and reel stuff.
  2. Create a sort of "OR" logic to cut the power to the compressor only when it's not running. So once the remote switch is flipped off, a relay stays engaged until the cycle finishes, then cuts power. One drawback is that the relay will see full stall load when turning back on, assuming the pressure has dropped below the cut-in pressure.
  3. Convert the compressor over to style with separate pressure switch, unloader and contactor.
Anybody do something like this? Any commercial products that do any of these?
 
Oh yeah, I was also thinking about a remote controlled valve right on the compressor outlet. So when closed, any leaks throughout the rest of the lines don't matter. I was also thinking that if this worked well, it would be OK to just leave the compressor on all the time. It could be a cable-drive valve or something electric. The advantage to electric is that I could also wire a red light to it so when I leave the shop I can see that it's still on.
 
My compressor is in a quiet room. Hate trying to talk over it. I just put a switch outside the room to kill the power. I know not to turn it off while running and nobody else has any business touching it. When I am done in the evening, it is full and not running. I also drain the tank to outside every night.
 
Moisture in the air tools is bad. And you know something about rust. But in the bottom of a compressor, it can be real bad.

If the power is shut down, the presure release is not triggered. So when you start it back up, the motor can fry because the pump won't spin. Done that.
 
ktmoutfront said:
Presure in the pump. Motor does not have enough start up power for the compression stroke.
Click to expand...

Ok, that makes sense.

How much water do you get out of the drain? We had a piece of pipe at the bottom of each air tank for collecting moisture, but I can't remember actually draining them. Ever.

And our area had a whole lot more moisture in the air than yours. :dunno:
 
2 days of running it for body work will generate about a cup during the summer. Winter is just a mist.
 
Yeah, that's what makes the big hiss noise as the unit shuts off. It's the unloader letting pressure off the head. It's the smaller of the 2 lines running from the head in that picture up top. I think a lot of oil-less compressors don't have that because there is so much less rotating mass and displacement. Air tanks can and do fill up with liquid. I've heard of guys debating getting a new compressor because theirs is cycling more and more often. Then somebody asks the question and they go flood their garage. I drain mine like 3 times a summer and pretty much not at all in the winter. Usually something like a cup of water.
 
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