On 25 Jan 2004 23:48:21 -0800, (Nick) wrote:

Hi,

I'm wiring up my shop. I have a total of 8 separate wall circuits.
One circuit is solely for the dust collector. Two of them are 220's.
The rest are simple 20 amp circuits. The lights are on completely
unrelated circuits. They will all come into the breaker box via the
bottom. I am interested in wiring them up so that whenever current is
being drawn by any of the seven, the dust collector circuit will
"sense" that a tool is on and then kick in the dust collector.
Finally, it would be nice to make it so that the dust collector
remains running for an additional 10 or 15 seconds after the tool is
shut down. I wouldn't need to have all seven circuits hooked up this
way maybe just four of the 20 amps and one of the 220's. With ample
instructions I think I can handle the job myself. I'm not that
familiar with relays but if you can point me to the parts I would need
and give me some wiring tips I should be able to do this. At first I
was just going to get one of those remote control gadgets from Penn
State or wire in a half dozen 4-way switches scattered around the room
but this solution would be neater and fully automatic.

Thanks,

Nick

Hi Nick,
Your idea is a good one, and I thought about similar approaches.
Finally, I just broke down and bought the LongRanger remote for my
PennState 220v. It installs in seconds, looks clean, not too
expensive and works great. There are two models, one for 120v and
another for 220v. Sure I have to push a button for On/Off, but it is
so much easier than walking over to the DC and turing it On/Off. The
remote has a belt clip on it, but I usually keep it on my Biesmeyer
table saw fence. I think what you propose might have a few drawbacks
and cost more than the LongRanger.