Is it possible to jerry rig a normal compressor to an air strut?
11-06-2023, 01:29 PM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Is it possible to jerry rig a normal compressor to an air strut?
I'll probably get run out of town for this, but I have to ask.
In a hypothetical situation, if one had coilovers and wanted to slowly transition back to air,
would it be possible, say, to put Arnott air struts in the front, and then design and assemble the necessary adapters to keep them at a usable level of inflation with a small shop compressor in the trunk or back seat?
Again, super hypothetical.
I saw in another thread that the 211's run at about 5 bar which is roughly 73psi but it would be easy to just manually adjust that either on the compressor's regulator or with a standalone one.
In a hypothetical situation, if one had coilovers and wanted to slowly transition back to air,
would it be possible, say, to put Arnott air struts in the front, and then design and assemble the necessary adapters to keep them at a usable level of inflation with a small shop compressor in the trunk or back seat?
Again, super hypothetical.
I saw in another thread that the 211's run at about 5 bar which is roughly 73psi but it would be easy to just manually adjust that either on the compressor's regulator or with a standalone one.
11-06-2023, 01:42 PM
#2
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2008 E350 (W211 @170K), 2012 ML350 (W166 @119K), 2014 E350 Sport (W212 @96K), 2015 ML350 (W166 @92K)
Definitely, that is how the MB engineers started their system. Then, they polished it to "an elegant and compact form".
Like any closed-loop system, you will need a (at least one) sensor on each wheel to know the relative positioning of a wheel with respect to a reference. Those positions must be interpreted, and adjusted independently to obtain a desired outcome: say, a leveled car.
Then, adjust the response of the system to be meaningful. Say the prototype takes 5 min to react to a level change, it becomes useless for dynamic driving. It will become a static leveling system.
Like any closed-loop system, you will need a (at least one) sensor on each wheel to know the relative positioning of a wheel with respect to a reference. Those positions must be interpreted, and adjusted independently to obtain a desired outcome: say, a leveled car.
Then, adjust the response of the system to be meaningful. Say the prototype takes 5 min to react to a level change, it becomes useless for dynamic driving. It will become a static leveling system.
The following 2 users liked this post by juanmor40:
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11-06-2023, 01:52 PM
#3
Member
Thread Starter
Definitely, that is how the MB engineers started their system. Then, they polished it to "an elegant and compact form".
Like any closed-loop system, you will need a (at least one) sensor on each wheel to know the relative positioning of a wheel with respect to a reference. Those positions must be interpreted, and adjusted independently to obtain a desired outcome: say, a leveled car.
Then, adjust the response of the system to be meaningful. Say the prototype takes 5 min to react to a level change, it becomes useless for dynamic driving. It will become a static leveling system.
Like any closed-loop system, you will need a (at least one) sensor on each wheel to know the relative positioning of a wheel with respect to a reference. Those positions must be interpreted, and adjusted independently to obtain a desired outcome: say, a leveled car.
Then, adjust the response of the system to be meaningful. Say the prototype takes 5 min to react to a level change, it becomes useless for dynamic driving. It will become a static leveling system.
Yes, a static system I think I'm totally cool with. Honestly there are a ton of custom controllers out there. It would be extremely easy to add height sensors to each of the 4 corners that feed back to a microcontroller, say an ESP32, which could then manipulate the custom valve block to simply maintain whatever ride height is set in the code.
ESP32 has wifi and bluetooth so it would also be easy to adjust via bluetooth or wifi on a smartphone. Could even add a display. Microcontroller is like $5, height sensors $5-10 each. I already have a brand new ultra silent compressor from Harbor Freight. Fittings cost a few bucks each, and the pneumatic lines, if it's not a bad idea to try using them after a clean out, are still there. Previous owner left all of that in.
