Omega Air Charger Review

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hawkeye69

hawkeye69

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Sep 2, 2017
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Mesa, Arizona, United States
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I bought the Omega Air Charger on Saturday from AOA off the showroom floor. It wasn't boxed and they said it had been prepped and tested and ready to go, although they would have to mail the maintenance kit to me. (I picked it up on Monday instead)
Now to the machine itself. It is the lower end compressor and lacks a metal cover, hour meter and auto bleed, but it does have an auto pressure shut-off. I'm not into a lot of extras (just more to go wrong) so no problem.
There are 3 buttons on the front control panel. The small button on the right labeled OFF-RESET which is actually the main switch, when that is switched on the pump and radiator fan start running and the lower red button labeled OFF will light. Pressing the red OFF button at this point does nothing, it only functions to turn off the compressor after you have pressed the GREEN ON button. The manual doesn't tell you this, it is somewhat vague IMO, but that seems to have become the pattern now days. 
The included maintenance kit contains extra O-rings, burst discs, wrenches, gaskets, etc. But other than including an exploded view of the compressor, the manual doesn't detail any installation procedures for the parts or give a suggested replacement schedule other than for the grease cup on top that should be turned one click every 6 hours of running time. It also includes two small bottles, Purple Ice additive and anti-freeze, both of which are added to the water tank and then topped off with non-distilled purified water. The manual says to fill to 1/2" below the flume. (What's a flume?) Again a bit vague but I assume that means where the return line meets the water tank allowing you to visually verify water flow before you start the compreesor.
The pressure gage on top of the unit has a small knob in the center, press and rotate it to set the shut-off pressure, in my case 220 bar for the FX-T12. Once the gun or air tank is connected via the hose, press the Green button and the compressor starts and the button will light. Once the compressor is running, the large RED button, directly below the Green, will stop the compressor manually if pressed.
Sound? It's nothing like a shop compressor, rather it reminds me of an old agitator style washing machine but not nearly as loud. You could stand right beside it while it's running and easily hold a conversation with someone. My shop compressor is far noisier.
While the compressor is running the manual recommends bleeding every 15-20 minutes to drain condensation. The same bleed is used to release pressure when the tank or gun is filled. The auto shut-off stops the comressor only; the pump and fan continue to run. (The manual says to run the pump for an additional 5 minutes to cool the cylinder.)
Sorry to say I don't have a tank yet to give you fill times (AOA is out of stock). When I do I'll update.
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My Super Charger had problems from day one ... a complete PIA. First tank took hours and hours and hours to fill. I got POed and shut it down after about 8 hours of running and let it sit pressurized overnight ... fired it up in the morning and it started filling right away ... went from 1800 psi to 4500 psi in about an hour. Called Todd on the phone and over the course of the next few months we got to know each other really good ... he's a fine fellow and as humble as a church mouse ... he'd give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. Anyway we started trying this and that and looking for leaks ... put a new air/water separator on it ... talk about trying to get in tight spaces ... that rear connection on it is almost impossible to get to. Found a nut over the burst disc that was leaking on the 74 cu ft Omega tank, fixed that by simply tightening it up. The sealing gasket for the bleed valve was out of specs and leaking slightly ... ya know ... first one thing then the next. The compressor started to take on a life of it's own and would be finicky every step of the way .. I didn't know what was going on and neither did Todd. It would take 10 minutes to even start to show any pressure building up and then go from 0 to about 1200 psi and stop building pressure. I would shut it off for a few hours and then fire it back up and it might start building pressure or it might not. I eventually would be able to get it to fill the tank if I would play the game with it and then one day I said "Enough is enough" and called Todd and told him it was being sent back to him unless he could tell me exactly what was wrong with it ... he said he was just as confused as I was and to send it in to AoA. I sent it in with a charge of about $120.00 for freight and insurance and took about a week to get there, a week to fix and a week to get it back. I fired it up, held my breath and crossed my fingers while my wife was rubbing the rabbit's foot. Lo and behold it started building pressure almost immediately and didn't stop till it got to 4500 psi. The wife started jumping up and down and singing the hallulah chorus while I was doing the "happy dance" ... I finally had a compressor ... it was actually freaking working. Called Todd up and told him that he was the Einstein of compressors, the guru of compressed air, the Houdini of high pressure, the Wizard of Oozing air. He told me that he still didn't have the foggiest idea about why it could start building pressure ... then stop ... then start again after a couple of hours being shut down. He said that he did find that the high pressure piston rod was chipped at the bottom and causing the air to recirculate rather than being expelled. I said that if that were true how could it ever build any pressure up in the first place ... he said he had no idea, that he had never seen anything like it and so he re-built the whole thing from the ground up replacing all the O-rings ... lubing and inspecting everything and that it should be just like brand new. That was about 6 weeks ago and haven't had a sputter out of it since he sent it back to me. Today I are a happy camper, living in hog heaven and prouder than a game rooster of my NEW Omega Super Charger.
 
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So I gave the new turbo Omega a test run a few days ago and WOW. Took a Great White 97 cubic foot tank from 3100psi to 4500 in 24min, not bad at all. Had one small air leak where the fill line connects to the compressor but one more turn off the wrench and that was history. Works great and is very quite for what it is doing. I let it run to cool down for about 15min after I filled the tank. I think shutting it completely off when it's warm could cause some shortening of life for orings etc. Wish the kit came with a male to male Foster fitting so I could fill my bigger tanks but one call to Air tanks for sale will cure that issue. Anyone thinking of buying an Omega should go for it. Gives you true freedom to shoot more and buy those guns that need filling all the time like .30 cals and higher pressure guns. I'm sure the wife will love that side effect.
 
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I am glad for you Hookster ... I wouldn't wish what we have been through for the past few months on anyone. Since yours is purring along like a silk kitty the only recommendation I could give you is to add an air dryer to your system like the Diablo ... it's about $185 but it is absolutely worth it if you have high end air guns. Water, O-rings, regulators and high pressure air don't get along too well together. Stay Chilly
 
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Glad to hear that yours is still working well. I am getting rather fatigued with the noise from my Yong Hengs. I have always liked this model Omega for it's simplicity too and will probably get this or the Hill after my next YH breakdown. I am not hearing that much chatter about the Hill so I am assuming that to be a good thing, but favor the Omega for tank filling.
 
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