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Looking at the Grizzly controller I assume that round whitish part is the IR receiver? If so, it's wide open and not covered up. I would try to find some cheap plastic made to block out visible light and allow infrared to pass through. There may be a reason that TV's and such use a dark plastic.
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10-21-2024, 02:01 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-21-2024, 02:03 PM by Brian in sunny FL.)
To add to my post, I looked up the wavelength of both visible light and IR and found this. Notice they are very close and I doubt that IR sensor has a very steep bandpass so I'm going to assume it's being saturated by your visible light.
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The bottom line is it never worked very good you had to be within a small angle from the box for it to work and the RF signal will be much better.
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Don's woodshop
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I have the relays (like Fred showed) on a couple set-ups in the shop. They work great and avoid the proprietary switches, etc. They can be built for less than $20 IIRC. I do the same with the following exception, instead of the 120V power tool remote, I use a 120V smart plug to control the relay on the 120V side that works with my phone or even Alexa. LOL Like any smart plug, you can also put something on a schedule , timer, etc. but you do need wifi available in your shop otherwise it's just a push button switch. Just something else to think about when putting one together.
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10-22-2024, 12:47 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-22-2024, 12:48 PM by fredhargis.)
Don, this may (or not) help some.
Here's a link to a guy who was inspired by Dom (the old thread here) to build one. He did things a little differently so it may give you some other ideas as you ponder the choices. One warning, he has a link to Dom's web site (which is now defunct). Do not click on it, it turns into all kinds of warnings about your computer is now locked, blah, blah, blah. It's this phrase ":Shop-Built Wireless Dust Collector Remote" in the 3 rd paragraph. Anyway, though it might be of use.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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Life is what you make of it, change your thinking, change your life!
Don's woodshop
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Lo0ks good, glad that solved your problems!
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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I built a couple very similar to Fred’s.
Used the same packard contactor.
I added an induction voltage sensor parallel to the remote switch so that it comes on automatically when I power up the saw.
I also have 120v out so it kicks on the dust collector that’s 220 and the shop vac that’s 120.
I rarely use the remote as that DC and shop vac are dedicated to the saw.