Air Zenith: Wire gauge

I was wondering what gauge wire everyone is running with these compressors. I hooked mine up today. It works great, hella fast, and not excessively loud. I used 8 gauge wire. On the first fillup from 0-200 the wire go pretty hot. I know that it won't run that long very often, but I don't like the wire getting hot like that. Any help is appreciated.

I have 4 gauge coming from battery to my solenoid (battery is relocated to the bed, where AZ is a few feet away), then the AZ's original wire, shortened a little to connect the AZ to solenoid. Solenoid's also grounded with 4 gauge.

Originally posted by WhyNotFab



I have 4 gauge coming from battery to my solenoid (battery is relocated to the bed, where AZ is a few feet away), then the AZ's original wire, shortened a little to connect the AZ to solenoid. Solenoid's also grounded with 4 gauge.

That ground is a tad overkill, don't ya think Ricky?? An 18 gauge ground would work just as well.

Where my solenoid is bolted to the bed is where my AZ ground is also connected to, I have a terminal bolted on the underside of the bed with the same bolt, connected to 4gauge that's bolted to the frame. Just did that so I know for SURE I always have a good ground without drilling one more hole to run the AZ wire through.

an 18ga ground will not work if your running 4ga pos wire the ground should be the same size as the positive since its going to be carrying the same ground current. i am running 4ga to my 2 az's to the solenoid then the 8ga compressor wire from the solenoid and grounded to the frame

Originally posted by jblsuburban



an 18ga ground will not work if your running 4ga pos wire the ground should be the same size as the positive since its going to be carrying the same ground current. i am running 4ga to my 2 az's to the solenoid then the 8ga compressor wire from the solenoid and grounded to the frame

Obviously you don't know how a relay or solenoid works. There are two seperate circuits inside a relay. An activating circuit, and a working circuit.

The activating circuit are the smaller terminals (like in the case of starter solenoids, or the Stinger relays), or in a normal relay, prongs 85 and 86. The activating circuit draws less than .5 amp when operational, and thus the power (pressure switch) and ground leads could easily be 20 gauge wire with no issues.

The working circuit is what powers your compressor. In a solenoid or Stinger relay, these would be the larger terminals. On a normal relay, these would be terminals 30 and 87, or 30 and 87a (87a is not used in our applications). The working circuit is the one that needs to handle the full power of the circuit, and is thus rated at whatever the solenoid or relay is... like a Stinger 80 Amp relay can support up to 80 amps on the larger terminals, wired properly.

So, as I said before, an 18 gauge ground on the relay will work, and will not be detrimental in any way, shape, form or fashion.

I knew a small ground would work for activating the solenoid, but I wanted to ground my AZ without drilling a hole so I went ahead and grounded the bolt that holds the solenoid down with the 4ga. (since I had plenty of 4ga.) going to the frame, and grounded the AZ to that as well so there was less wires/holes to look cleaner.. so I wasn't arguing in any way that a small ground works for relays/solenoids. I understood what you meant though Matt.

Originally posted by WhyNotFab



I knew a small ground would work for activating the solenoid, but I wanted to ground my AZ without drilling a hole so I went ahead and grounded the bolt that holds the solenoid down with the 4ga. (since I had plenty of 4ga.) going to the frame, and grounded the AZ to that as well so there was less wires/holes to look cleaner.. so I wasn't arguing in any way that a small ground works for relays/solenoids. I understood what you meant though Matt.

Oh, I know that you did, but the dood above my post didn't. Had to skool him a bit.... :p

matt is right about the small wire. my systems proof. its not the actual ground for the compressor

im runing 4 gauge to the solenoid and just grounded the wire that comes with the air zenith. solenoid has a 14 gauge remote turn on and ground.