battery leads to hook up air compressor

Hello,

SO, we bought what I thought was a quality air compressor for our Sprinter class C motorhome. While it was not the end of the world, our granddaughter had a flat tire on her bike, so I grabbed our new compressor only to find out it was NOT a cigarette lighter power connection, but rather alligator clips to go directly on to the battery posts - no big deal, until we had to pull the manual out just to find WHERE the battery was located, only to find out, UNDER THE FLOOR

So, my question is, do they have some external hidden battery posts in the engine area, and if not, does anyone have a simple solution for a NON (very NON) mechanical ability old guy???

Thank you!

Bogey

Bogey said:

Hello,

SO, we bought what I thought was a quality air compressor for our Sprinter class C motorhome. While it was not the end of the world, our granddaughter had a flat tire on her bike, so I grabbed our new compressor only to find out it was NOT a cigarette lighter power connection, but rather alligator clips to go directly on to the battery posts - no big deal, until we had to pull the manual out just to find WHERE the battery was located, only to find out, UNDER THE FLOOR

So, my question is, do they have some external hidden battery posts in the engine area, and if not, does anyone have a simple solution for a NON (very NON) mechanical ability old guy???

Thank you!

Bogey

Click to expand...

What year is it?

Regards,

Mark

The main battery should be under the hood, mid drivers side, if your van is 2006 or older. I've never heard of a battery under the floor, though I'm not the most experienced person here.

Yes they do. On the driver's side of the air cleaner there is a red plastic sleeve. That is the positive terminal. The sleeve is spring loaded and pushes back toward the cowl. It exposes the metal connection for your "+" positive, red.....clamp.

The ground is located on the driver's side fender. It is a about 1/2 between the front and rear hood opening down on the inner fender panel. It is a big, fat, copper stud. Your black/negative/ground (-) clamp goes on the stud.

If you are clever and a MacGuyver type..... you can find a polarized connectors at a parts store. Basically, you make an accessory plug adapter ( Schumacher makes them, I think) with a male/female polarized connector so you can use either clamps or the ACC plug. What is way cool is that all Sprinters have a 300W ACC socket located in the lower center console. It is always "hot". It is the place,that Mothee Benz uses to set up power for the OEM electric tire inflators. So....maybe think about that as a future option.

THANK YOU ALL!!!

It's a 2016, Sprinter 3500 (not the B class Van, but rather a class C)

I found that red thing Old Crows was talking about - I saw the positive + on it and thought to myself, "I wonder if that's for the positive lead, but for the life of me, I could not see the black, negative post?? And I didn't want to move that red thing in case I screwed something up, but now I'm going to go back out in the morning and see if I can find the negative post as well.

AND, if I can find them, can I simply hook my alligator clips up to those two spots?

I was going to plug directly into the cigarette lighter, but since I only had alligator clips, I went looking for the battery, plus someone told me that compressor (it's an RV VAIR 4000 or something like that) would be too much draw for the cigarette lighter???

Thanks very much for the help!!

Bogey

Yeaaaaa! Score and win. Yes. Use those terminals.

The lower accessory plug in the console (below the cup holders) is 25Amp/300W. It should easily handle your compressor. It is used for the OEM tire inflator and sealant (tire mousse/green slime) pump.

The Viair 400 is rated for 30 amps so yes it will blow your cigarette lighter fuse. There is a reason they come with battery clips.


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Be careful when using a compressor to inflate bicycle tires. It can be easy to over inflate and possibly rupture the tire. I prefer a hand pump for inflating bicycle tires, but that's just me.

vic

OK, with many thanks to the folks who answered my question, I easily found the battery posts under the hood. LOL, I knew the actual battery under the floor could not possibly be the only place to hook up jumper cables or alligator clips to...

Anyway, thanks again!!