Adding a Central Vacuum Remote Control

Thread Starter

Dan Pressman

Joined Apr 19, 2017
19
I have a central vacuum cleaner where you close a switch on the hose outlet to start the motor. I would like to use a remote relay switch with a button attached to the wand to turn it on and off without going back to the outlet.

My remote switch requires power to operate and really seems designed for simply turning the power on/off to load rather than closing a circuit to a relay.

Will my proposed solution in GREEN work? I would actually connect the ground to the ground on an outlet near where I will place the switch and not to the the original outlet powering the central vac - but ground is ground right?

I would also like to retain the functionality of the existing switches. Or would there be a problem if they were both turned on at the same time (I think not but I need to ask).
 

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MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,617
One draw back I see is if the remote is activated without first confirming that the hose is present in the outlet, if it is not the motor will over speed and over heat.
Operating them in parallel does no harm.
 

Thread Starter

Dan Pressman

Joined Apr 19, 2017
19
Got it mine is a hide-a-hose so there is always a hose present.

That was great - thanks for the quick answer.

So using a ground wired to any nearby (to the remote) will be fine right???
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,617
As long as it is only used as a earth ground reference and not connected to, or as, a working conductor, although that may not really be a problem, depending on the Vacuum unit LV system. Which is most likely totally isolated.
 

Thread Starter

Dan Pressman

Joined Apr 19, 2017
19
My central vacuum LV is floating. You need to run both wires for a switch or relay contact.
View attachment 235778
Yes as is mine.

This worked but: I first added a remote switch that closed the circuit (dry contact) at the rightmost location on the diagram. That worked and I could either use the remote switch OR the door switch on the hide-a-hose outlets. Unlike standard house vac outlets the hide-a-hose has a red switch that must be manually extended when the outlet door is opened (and the hose pulled out). The problem was wifey would put the hose away and manually close the red switch leaving the remote switch still on. The vacuum itself is in the garage and could not be heard running in the house. The motor then burned out and I had to replace it.

So I went with method 2: I place the remote switch in series with the return line of the floating circuit. So both the remote switch and the red manual door switch must be engaged. Now when she closes the door the red switch closes (as it always did) guaranteeing that the motor in the garage is off. She only has to remember next time she uses it she might have to flip the remote too (if she turned it off last time).

So thank you for your help. Sorry about the long response but I thought I should close the loop.

The good news is that the $15 RF remote was a lot cheaper than the official hide-a-hose remote on-off switch on the tool. Their version was over $200!!!
 
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