CAUTION My Mrodair Compressor Experience
I have found a lot of good information on this forum over the past couple of months and I wanted to share my Mrodair Air Max experience. Maybe I can prevent some headaches. Here is the short version.
I ordered and received an Air Max compressor with upgrade package. I opened the boxes and everything ordered was there. There were no instructions on assembly, maintenance, or power requirements. Just a note telling to put oil in compressor before turning on. I spent a couple of nights reverse engineering everything and assembling. No good videos at the time.
I plugged it into the washing machines outlet and turned it on. It ran for about 10 seconds and then tripped circuit. The breaker was reset and compressor turned on again. It ran for another 10 seconds sounding pretty rough so i turned it off. My son noticed smoke coming from under the top panel that smell electrical in nature. No fire. I found a loose switch on a rail and replaced back on rail. I retried Air Max again and only heard switch engage when turned on and disengaged when turned off.
After I emailed Mrodair, I received a prompt response. One of the few. Mike said it was my outlet. So I tried 2 new outlets on dedicated 20amp 110v lines with no other outlets on them. I got the same results. Only a “click” when turned on.
Mrodair was emailed again with details and there was no response after two days so I emailed again while suggesting I might be returning the compressor for a refund. That got a reply. Mike and I trade emails with pictures trying to solve the problem to no success. he then suggested that he would send me a new rocker switch and relay that I would install. I did not buy a new compressor to have to wrench on it to get it to work. i emailed Mike telling him that I was returning the Air Max and how he wanted this handled. Not surprisingly, there was no response. After three days I emailed him twice and he gave me the return authorization number. I sent everything back via UPS.
I tracked the shipment and Mike signed for it on 3/4. No word about my refund by 3/7 so I emailed Mike. As usual, no response. I emailed him again on 3/8. He responded with one of the three biggest lies; “the checks in the mail”. I finally received it 3/14. Mike charged a 15% restocking fee for a product that never worked. I waited until the check cleared to email him asking why the restocking fee. Guess what? He hasn’t responded.
I spent close to a month trying to get that HPA compressor running. I think that products should work as advertised and when they do not, the seller should solve the problem not the buyer. I’m out over $400.00 between paying for shipping both ways and a bogus restocking fee. That’s what I get for not doing my homework on Mrodair.
I WILL NEVER DO BUSINESS OR RECOMMEND MRODAIR TO ANYONE. THEY’RE CUSTOMER RELATIONS IS THE WORST I HAVE ENCOUNTERED ON THE WEB.
Sorry that my first post had to be this kind of post.
All Replies
Bypassed the switch (just for testing purposes) and it works. I went ahead and ran the compressor upto about 3500 PSI (same pressure as my tank was at) and then opened the tank valve. The o-ring around the base of the fitting with what looks like a check valve on their drier / bleeder assembly blew out. I took the fitting out, and it looks like the o-ring was sliced during assembly. There were shreds of it down thru the threads. I’m not sure how that was accomplished except maybe if the o-ring was just slapped on the top of the block and the fitting was shot down thru it. It was also assembled dry. There is no sign of any silicone grease.
My tank is now at 3300 PSI. We are going backwards here.
I always have to look it up or in the case of AC strikes they usually come with one. Actually I haven’t used an AC strike in years (maybe a decade or more). Most are DC now.
~~~
Well, I just finished making the mounting bracket to keep my air drier vertical and mounted it. A few moments ago I ran the compressor under load for the very first time. It got up to about 2200 PSI, there was a small arc flash from under the top panel somewhere, and the compressor shut down. I started to do some quick diagnostics, and pulled the spade terminals off the main power switch. One of the pins just pulled out of the switch. I don’t know if that was the problem, but I felt I better come over here and sit down at my desk for a moment before I got pissed off and attacked it with a screw driver.
Would the MOV’s be wired in parallel with the coils?
What rating would you go with?
I am aware of what carries what. I am not concerned about the cut off carrying the current. I am concerned about the collapsing magnetic field of the relay coil creating an arc in the cut off ruining the contacts over time. I am less concerned about the contacts in the relay because it is easily replaceable. Its the same standard foot print as lot of other relay modules. In fact I am using an Allen Bradley relay block because the block it came with was destroyed.
I know if the the compressor gets much use the contactor will go bad eventually. I’ve replaced a fair number of motor contactors over the years. Although this one I am using is used it does work better than the one that was on the compressor.
I do stuff like this all the time with mag locks and electric strikes. We protect the relay contacts with diodes for DC applications and MOVs for AC applications.
FYI: Low current AC switching does not tend to arc as badly as DC switching, and in some cases can be fairly self cleaning like in a household light switch. I just like to build things to last forever.
Bob, read your write up. Yours was in even worse shape than mine.
I noticed you are concerned about the cutoff valve carrying the current.
It shouldn’t be directly carrying the motor current. It only interacts with
the relay
Take a peak at the wiring diagram I have in this thread
http://www.talonairgun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=34635#p357143
The gauge should only carry the relay’s coil current.
Thanks you guys for posting the info.
It is important people have this information before they make a purchase so they can do so being fully informed.
I am reviewing my own experience here with one. Too much to repost.
http://airgunguild.com/index.php/topic,318.0.html
It arrived with parts broken. Still waiting for replacements. I was told tracking shows they arrived yesterday, and then later that tracking shows they arrived and where signed for yesterday. Maybe, but they didn’t arrive here. I did review my e-mails to make sure I didn’t accidentally type the address wrong or something like that. UPS was never in my driveway yesterday. I also have decent video surveillance around my shop. I ran a motion review on the primary driveway cam. It shows Fed-Ex and US Mail dropping off, but no UPS truck. I was in the shop all day yesterday, and my wife was in the house all day. Neither of us signed for anything from UPS. I think I may be on my own at this point.
Fortunately, I was raised by an electrician, and I’ve got a little bit of experience with electrical and electronic control systems having been a licensed communications contractor for more than 22 years. It was a matter of getting over my irritation at receiving a brand new broken part, and sitting down to see how it was setup. I had a spare relay base and contactor in my used parts bins to replace those that arrived broken. I used those just to figure everything out, and test run the compressor, but I have not actually run it to fill anything yet. I didn’t want to get “blamed” for using those substandard used Allen Bradley parts (LOL) if anything happened to it. Since it looks like I may never get those replacement parts, and it looks like I may get blamed if something goes wrong anyway I guess when I have time to finish mounting my air drier I’ll just use it.
P.S. I do have a Freedom 8 compressor.
greg that is a great quote…thanks for posting it.
Because of this, I will never buy anything from Mrodair, if u do your feeding the wrong wolf.
. …. ……. coping and uploading this tread link into my cloud drive to paste it everywhere iSee fit !
~ Greg
He is to busy over preaching on the yellow how the Hubans are on there way and that there’s a big price increase. But the people that put there money up will get them at the presale price.
Joe B already has them in his hands. No deposit was reguired and he is only asking $1595 for them. Seems like some one is telling a story so they can justify charging more as soon as the poor people that put there money up front around a year ago get theres.
I agree. If it was my product introduction, I’d have taken care of this differently.
I can’t see a mechanism by which an end user would cause a melting of the contactor, by running it on 120 v.
This is especially true since we are now told it was the contactor (not the relay) that became fused. That thing is
capable of really high loads. Only a direct short could create that kind of damage.
THAT is only going to happen on these if the electrical components are not properly mounted.
When mounted on their rail, there isn’t a direct short circuit route.
It would be entirely illogical to suspect someone of intentionally knocking them loose.
If they weren’t originally mounted, it’s a problem with the builder.
If they popped off during shipment, it’s a problem with the mounting system.
It isn’t a customer’s fault if electrical components in the compressor are not secure when delivered.
At this point, we can safely agree Mmassa’s experience is a PR nightmare for a product launch.
Instead of creating a shining example of how a customer gets taken care of, the opportunity
was squandered.
When you own a company that’s receiving good hard earned money and that’s placing food on your family’s table from the customers for the products you sell.
I believe you’re at liberty and obligated to help them out even if it means swallowing the whole cost of, without them you have started your own grave if you don’t give a shit.
Besides he might have gotten a (1 in a 100) lemon/bad one, and with no packed instructions ….. REALLY ……….. . not his fault if u as me.
~ Greg
It’s really unfortunate how this episode has unfolded.
There really seemed (and continues to appear to me) that there is a gap in the HPA compressor market to fill.
I wasn’t willing to go with the cost of a Bauer. I didn’t like the slowness of a Shoebox. The Omega appeared to have robustness problems coupled with a difficult rebuild. What MrodAir offered looked like exactly what I needed. I was offered up as a Chinese built unit, but with USA post build improvements quality control and customer service. A nice compact unit that one could just plug in and use. The USA support and upgrade part was a huge reason to go ahead and take a chance. I’m continuing to document my adventure with the unit — good or bad.
When rolling out a new product, the initial impressions and reports of how well it works greatly determine its reception. It’s easy to completely lose customer confidence – and I mean current as well as potential ones. This episode, regardless of the exact details, isn’t positive or encouraging. Talk about a tarnishing opportunity to take strong hold of the HPA compressor market with a mid-price, fast, robust, easily serviceable, turnkey unit. I think MrodAir has gotten quite a ways along, but things were missed. The compressor is not as turnkey as one would expect.
There will be naysayers who deride any decision to try a new product. Just go for a sure thing. This was a risk to be sure. I went into this with the full realization that this could be a total loss. Even so, I’m lucky enough that I can take on that risk and report how things go.
This is my take on the compressor as delivered by MrodAir…..
Mechanically I like the ease of tear down and metallic piston ringed design. It has the ability to pump at a rate in between that of a Shoebox and a dive compressor. Pushing 100 units out the door probably overwhelmed their ability to fully QC each unit as fully as needed. Sadly, that can mean pretty big problems if the customer expects the unit to be “plug and play” like a toaster. It’s not. A better analogy would be buying a mini-lathe. You need to work on it to prep it for real work. That is not for everyone.
These units need complete going over before use. I have no doubt that my unit was test run before shipment. There was evidence of the test run. The carbon buildup on the high pressure rings proves the unit was tested. The pressure cutoff valve was indeed installed by MrodAir. The wiring needed to accomplish that was done. I’m told in future that much of this is going to be done at the factory instead of overwhelming the tiny crew at MrodAir. I think they bit off more than they could chew with the first 100 units.
Yes, one could conceivably receive a unit and have it function well enough to immediately fill a gun.
It SHOULD be able to do that. A customer should be able to have that happen with just filling the oil and cooling.
That is a reasonable, minimum expectation.
For me, I am treating this like a Grizzly Mini Lathe (aka a project before it becomes a tool).
I want mine to perform and last. I want to be able to fill a tank.
As delivered by MrodAir, it’s not ready to do that.
There are no printed startup and setup instructions. Yes, there is a video, but that doesn’t obviate the helpfulness of a manual.
We aren’t told what the oil change or tear down interval should be. We don’t know the CFM rate. Those would be nice
to have in a document.
Both my relay and contactor were unmounted and potential short circuit risks.
(I think that is what happened to Mmassa’s unit)
If I hadn’t taken mine apart to inspect the cylinders, I wouldn’t have discovered
my relay and contactor were loose. Yikes!
The unit is not electrically grounded. That’s shock hazard in my book.
The IEC power connector is servicing a potential amperage draw that is above spec.
Sure, the load MIGHT be brief, but if one is filling a tank, it’s going to be sustained.
The unit was shipped WITH oil in its crankcase and needed a tear down to clean out its cylinders.
It ships with regular oil. I’m replacing that with compressor oil to reduce oil breakdown and hopefully extend time between tear downs.
There is no air intake filter. That was originally a feature of the MrodAir upgrade package.
Nope, that got deleted somewhere along the line.
I’m replacing my low pressure cylinder head so I can screw on an air filter.
There are a lot of things that need work. It’s an interesting project for me. I can fix and upgrade a lot of things.
One can’t expect most consumers to do that. This is sold as already refined and tested
by MrodAir.
I still believe I can get this working to my satisfaction, but no doubt about it. It’s a fair amount of work.
I can tolerate a total loss and report the adventure. I consider it part of the “cost” of becoming a
contributing member of this forum.
Hopefully, future customers will enjoy better QC and build changes.
Until then, a confidence boosting degree of customer support is needed.
Without confidence in product and support, it’s a pretty tough sell.
WalkonKing,
I wanted to thank you for your support on this matter.
Without going into too much detail, I have contacted my credit card company about the restocking fee. Nothing is finalized yet.
I learned some good lessons through all of this, some expensive, and others enlightening.
I’ve never been a big forum participant over the years, but I found TAG. The information that is here is second to no other airgun site that I’ve seen. I never expected the support I’ve received. Other than to try to inform other TAG members about my unfortunate situation I just needed to vent to people who share a common interest. Maybe I’d get some helpful feedback. You all have come through above and beyond the call. Your support for a noob member is very humbling at the least. I look to passing this goodwill forward in the future.
A big thanks to all who have responded.
Keysor soze. Thanks for all of your Edgun information you post. It has helped a lot. As soon as I got my 85% refund check I purchased a Daystate HPA compressor. I know it’s not a Bauer, but it seems that it will serve me well.
GKU. You are very passionate about what you feel strongly about. It’s appreciated and reminds me of me when I was a little younger. Just don’t blow a gasket over the small stuff. I thank you.
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:suprisedn: Unbelievable! Can you imagine the fellows out there who bought these with no skills what so ever and are having issues.
I also notice Mrod has been absent in just about all of these compressor discussions on all boards. Unacceptable behavior!