# Remote AC Switch for vacuum cleaner



## GailInNM (Sep 6, 2012)

I am posting this in the Machining with Disabilities but after using it for a while I wish I had done it before I had trouble walking. Like many others, I use a shop vacuum cleaner to keep chips under control while machining, particularly while millling.

The Problem:
Turning the roll around vacuum cleaner on and off.  With it close enough I can reach the switch but it often puts me in an unstable position. Also with the cleaner where I can reach the switch it is most often in my walkway as like many of our shops floor space is limited.

The Solution:
An inexpensive radio controlled AC switch to turn the vacuum cleaner on and off.  I mounted the transmitter near the nozzle end of the hose and the receiver plugs into the wall power outlet and the vacuum cleaner plugs into the receiver.

Now the vacuum resides behind the mill table on the floor where it is out of the way.  I have an eight foot hose on it and a holding clip for the hose on the mill table.  When I want to luse the vacuum I just pick up the nozzle and hit the on switch as I pick it up. Putting it back is just as easy.  And I can move it some place else and use it with out hassle.

Precautions:
All the switches I saw while looking are rated at 8 amps maximum load.  My vacuum has big 2 Horsepower sign on it.  Now 2 HP is about 1500 watts, or 12 Amps at 120 volts. Way out of range, or is it?  Getting my magnifying glass out and reading the fine print I find the vacuum is rated at 7 Amps.  So I guess Shop Vac has figured out how to make 850 watts do 1500 watts worth of work. Or their marketing genius rounds up so 1-1/8 HP rounds up to 2 HP for marketing purposes.  No matter.  Just make sure that the receiver can handle the load you intend.  If you use this for any other purpose don't use it where an accidental unintended operation would be hazardous.

Implementation:
I used a Stanley model 31164 whic cost me US$25 from Amazon.  There are lots of other manufacturers of similar equipment.  The package consisted of one transmitter and 3 receivers.  I only needed 1 receiver but someday I may figure something else I need to turn on and off with the vacuum nozzle. Until then I have 2 spare receivers.

The photos show the transmitter with zip ties holding it to the hose.After about a month the belt clip that one of the zip ties went through broke. I am sure that my dropping it (again) had nothing to do with it.  So the current mount is a nest of epoxy putty with a single zip tie holding it in. Much more solid and I don't expect any problems.

Gail in NM


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## Herbiev (Sep 6, 2012)

What a great idea. So simple and a huge benefit. Thanks for sharing


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## itowbig (Sep 7, 2012)

i use those for varius lights around the house there great.
never thought of using it for shop tools GREAT IDEA  thank you for posting that.


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## GailInNM (Sep 12, 2012)

Ain't technology wonderful.  

In my introductory post for this thread under precautions I noted that Shop Vac was using such advanced technology that they were gegging 1500 watts of work from 850 watts on input energy. 

Today I needed to use the other Shop Vac that I have that I use for household chores.  I bought it several years after buying the one for the shop. Instead of 2 HP like the shop one, this has 3HP written all over it in big letters.       I wonder ???   

Getting out the magic pocket magnifying glass I read the small print on the vacuum. Wonder of wonders.  This high power vacuum still only takes 7 Amps at 120 volts, same as the 2 HP unit.   So now Shop Vac is getting about 2200 watts of work and only using 850 watts of electrical energy.  

How much more can we repeal the laws of thermodynamics??

Gail in NM


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## AussieJimG (Sep 13, 2012)

Great idea Gail, now all I have to do is to remember it at the right time. Thanks for posting

Jim


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## jollykards (Jun 21, 2013)

I  have never seen this type of system before in my life. I think this is a  great  idea. This  information will be helpful to those people who have already used the vacuum cleaner machine at their home.


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## Ryan (Jun 24, 2013)

Metal chips don't clog workshop vacuum cleaners?


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## aarggh (Jun 24, 2013)

Ryan said:


> Metal chips don't clog workshop vacuum cleaners?



It may not clog them, but the dust can blow them! I have a dead Festo to prove that theory! Fine dust got sucked through and shorted the armature/field, it was a sudden and quite spectacular POP! And my trusty 25yo Festo extractor lay dead.

Cheers, Ian


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## GailInNM (Jun 24, 2013)

I have not seen any workshop vacuum cleaner that used any of the cleaning air flow to cool the motor for at least 25 years. I doubt that any of the wet-dry types ever did.  They all had an independent cooling fan for the motor.

Metal chip don't clog up the vacuum, but cutting oils do saturate the filters eventually. Long curls of metal will lodge in the hose and plug it up so it is best not to vacuum them up.  The hose gets heavy as metal dust and small chips collect in the ridges in the hose and are held there by the cutting oil residue.  I just flex the hose while the vacuum is running to break them loose.  I use a narrow tool most of the time for cleaning tee-slots and general purpose cleaning and it gets a layer of crud on the inside.  With the vacuum running, I just scrape it off with a length of rod that will fit in the nozzle.  

Gail in NM


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## AussieJimG (Jun 24, 2013)

Gail,
Like you, I have looked at the manufacturer's plates on domestic equipment and marvelled at their ability to extract more power out than they put in. And likewise at the advertisements for reverse cycle air conditioners that are claimed to be 400% efficient. Ain't modern technology wonderful?

Jim


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## Robsmith (Jun 25, 2013)

google 'dust deputy'  it attaches to the vac and creates a cyclone....hardly any dust gets to the vacuum bag...all the stuff collects in the dust deputy.   I use mine to clean up bondo dust etc.  only clean the vac filter once a year.


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## aarggh (Jun 25, 2013)

I couldn't recommend the Dust Deputy high enough, I paid $200 for mine, as in OZ we get ripped off locally beyond belief, but it is worth every cent and more. I spent a while researching all the various collectors when trying to decide on one, and Dust Deputy came out trumps in every test I saw. I haven't cleaned my dust extractor in over a year now.

cheers, Ian


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## don-tucker (Jun 25, 2013)

I have been using those remote switches for years,on my pond fountain ,my wifi and my home made house alarm ,they are great,be nice to know what others use them for
Don


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## russ57 (Jul 2, 2013)

Well,  optimistic claims aside,  reverse cycle air conditioning can be over 100 percent efficient,  considering only the electrical input,  because they are extracting heat from the environment,  not converting electrical to heat. 

-russ.


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## Cogsy (Jul 2, 2013)

Not so Russ. Electrical energy is used to pump heat but some electrical energy is lost when it's converted to heat and sound. Even if none were lost at all, the total effifficiency must remain at 100% or less, or energy is being created by the system and oil companies would go out of business...


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## russ57 (Jul 27, 2013)

sorry for late reply..lost the thread...
we are in agreement, no mechanical system is 100% efficient. There are losses in the 'movement' of the heat, so if you were able to measure the total energy input compared to the total usable output, there are losses. But for normal (ie, advertising!)  use, the electrical energy input is measured, and the the heat energy output is measured, and find there is more output than input.  Energy is not being created, just 'borrowed' from outside. 
-russ


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## tornitore45 (Jul 27, 2013)

I too have a owerrated shop vac, I am plenty satisfied but when new I wrote an e-mail to the manufacture saying that the only way to get 2HP out of the motor was to jam a screwdriver in the armature, then for a few brief microsecond the rotational energy stored would actually deliver a couple of HP.

They responded "If you are not happy with the product take advantage of the generous return options"

Marketeers are the dumbest and most dishonest folks in the production chain, beside having no sense of humor the bloke did not address my statement.

He could have explained that as a result of exhausting elaboration, the "Industry" arrived to a standard defining the power of a vacuum cleaner that, albeit not scientifically correct it does convey a psicological "metric" of "action" (two words favored by marketeers) to the gullible consumer masses.

That would have been an honest response.


Sometime the hose gets clogged with stringy chips, that is when the 1" x 3' bar of 10L18 get bouced vigorously until it clears the clog.


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