Cyclone dust bin level sensor

From what I saw the McRabbet system uses garage door sensors across the flex hose at the bottom of the cyclone. I made my own cyclone from Pentz plans so it's essentially the same as a clearvue, but due to ceiling height there is not any room to put it. I was thinking of putting a window in the lid and installing a photocell about 8" down inside the dust bin so when the dust covers the photocell it signals me.
 
I ended up buying a oneida dust sentry, I was about to mount it in the dust bin lid when it stopped working. I had tried it out a few times just to see how far the sensor was set for and I was explaining how it worked to my wife and plugged it in to show her and nothing happened. I called oneida and they sent me a new one right away, I didn't even need to send the old one back. This was my first purchase from Oneida and I am happy with their customer service. One thing that was weird was when I was on tech support asking about how to remote mount the strobe light the tech guy said to make sure I ground the sensor or static can build up and zap the circuit inside of it. The instructions didn't say anything about that.
 
Nothing, I've only overflowed the bin three times in the last month so I must like vacuuming filters :rofl:

I was looking at the dust sentry with a slightly more clued friend last week and we found this:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/242
As best as we can tell this is pretty much the same thing the oneida uses. It appears that with that and a $20 relay and some salvaged parts a bin full sensor may be in my future (I haven't ordered any parts yet because he says he has some parts that we can probably use but needs to find it),
 
Bought oneida sentry- have problems- only 90 day warranty

I bought an Oneida sentry bin sensor and the had problems with it. The second one is now not working consistently either. It flashes when the barrel is half full and the sensor is dialed in to blink when the dust is 3" from the top. For $160 and only having a 90 day warranty, something seems wrong here. Oneida is not very confident in their product apparently.
 
Is there dust buildup on the sensor? I noticed some buildup on mine. When I am planning wood the sensor will flash periodically before its full, but just 1 flash. Maybe try grounding the sensor? A tech support guy told me to do that to protect the sensor from static.
 
The McRabbet Bin Sensor

I've not been on the site for several months due to some family illness, including me (much better now) and so I thought I'd update interested members here on my Bin Sensor system mentioned in this thread. I have recently upgraded the bin sensor design with a high quality fire alarm strobe/horn unit in a sturdy metal enclosure. I have sold and/or installed about 20 of these units on both ClearVue and Oneida Cyclones. The system features a pair of infrared safety sensors for a garage door placed each side of the flexible duct at the bin that are tied to a custom circuit board in a wall mounted enclosure that senses blockage of the dust collection bin when full. Since most ClearVue owners use a Fasco H230B 240 VAC contactor, I have a relay included with the system that connects to the 120 Volt side of that relay (the user adds a segment of 14/2 non-metallic cable between their Cyclone Control Box and my system, separated by up to 50’) and it will provide automated shutdown of the cyclone when the bin fills (this interconnect can also be done on other cyclones). Simultaneously, the strobe will flash and the horn will sound (the user can select if the horn is actuated). I include a Bypass switch that the user can move to the Bypass position to keep the cyclone running in situations where immediate shutdown is not desired – e.g., when planing a long board, one usually wants to continue collecting chips until the planer pass is completed. When the planing or other process is complete, the user can move the switch back to the Normal setting and the cyclone shuts down if it is in alarm state. Once one of these units is installed, you’ll never have an over-filled bin or a clogged filter again! The bin sensor system is $175, plus shipping and insurance cost of $15 ($35 to Canada).

The alarm units are new-in-box industrial quality fire alarm strobes with white light output and 80-90 dB audio output on the horn (i.e., bright and loud!). I've included a picture of the components that I ship with each system and a second picture that shows (1) On/Off Switch with LED; (2) Horn On/Off Button; (3) Cyclone interconnect [NM cable not included], (4) Normal/Bypass switch, and (5) Strobe/Horn unit. I can provide additional detailed pictures or address any questions by return email.
 

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