Long Ranger Remote Starter Replacement and Upgrade

[retired2]

There are a number of remote start/stop systems available for dust collectors.  Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.  The one I chose is Penn State Industries' Long Ranger Multigate system.  One of the disadvantages of this system is the frequent cycling of the blower as you move from tool to tool.  As a result, I have had four Long Ranger units fail in as many years - the relay seizes and then the blower won't shut off.  The Long Ranger is just not up to the task of cycling a 1-1/2 HP motor frequently.

Despite the problems, I like this system and do not want to change to another, especially since my blast gates are already wired with switches for this system.  So, I decided to build my own improved version of the Long Ranger using heavier components.   

Before I share the details of what I've done, I need to make this disclaimer.  I am not an electrical engineer, controls engineer, or electrician.  If you choose to duplicate any part of this design, you do so at your own risk.  If anyone reading this thread is qualified to critique this design and fabrication, I welcome your comments.

Just for reference, here is a photo of the old, actually brand new, warranty replacement Long Ranger Multigate system. Inside the metal enclosure are all Asian solid state components.  I'm thinking about using this one to control a 7W night light, it should be able to handle that service!





Below is a photo of the unit I built.  All components are housed in the hinged-door NEMA enclosure approximately 7"x7"x5"deep.  The first improvement can be seen on the door.  It is a simple spring-wound timer that controls all power to the system.  It is time-selectable up to twelve hours, and its primary purpose is to provide peace of mind by ensuring that the system will be without power when I am not in the shop.  Although it has never happened, the micro-switches on the blast gates could vibrate loose.  If one were to move just a small amount, the blower would start and continue to run.  That would not be a good thing if I were away on vacation!




The next photo is the enclosure with the door open.  Inside is a 120V contactor with a 120V coil, and a small white device which is an adjustable stop-delay relay.  This device is the second improvement in my design.  It allows me to set a delay interval in the shut-off.  This provides time for me to move from one machine to the next without cycling the blower.




Here is a close-up of the inside of the box showing the wiring details, and a better view of the delay relay.  On the relay you can see the pot for adjusting the delay interval and a bank of dip-switches that control the numerous functions of the relay.  This relay also simplifies the triggering of the unit because there is no transformer required to provide a low voltage circuit for the blast gate switches.  The relay is triggered by the "dry" closing of any of the micro-switches; no voltage is required.




And finally, here is a copy of my wiring diagram.  As I said, I am not an electrical or controls engineer, so the symbology may not follow standard convention, but it makes sense to me.




So far, the unit is performing exactly as planned.  Only time will tell about the long term durability.  The total cost for the various components is about $150, cheaper than buying a Long Ranger every couple years, or replacing a blower motor prematurely due to repeated cycling.  If anyone is interested, I will provide a parts list, prices, and sources.

[tvman44]

I don't see any pictures?

[tvman44]

Possible the campground we are in is filtering them out????  Will try again when we get back home next week.  I just looked at a couple of older post & they don't have any pictures either.  So probably the network here in the state park.

[JonWho?]

I'm curious about the turn off delay.
How will that help clear the line once you close the blast gate without airflow?

I used a 240v contacted with a 24v coil & used micro switches on 2 of my blast gates & magnetic switches on my other 3. (I like the magnetic switches better as there's less chance of them working loose.) I also added 3 switches in my shop 2 3-way & 1-4-way wired in with the blast gates to keep the unit moving between machines or for floor sweeps.

[retired2]

I'm curious about the turn off delay.
How will that help clear the line once you close the blast gate without airflow?

I used a 240v contacted with a 24v coil & used micro switches on 2 of my blast gates & magnetic switches on my other 3. (I like the magnetic switches better as there's less chance of them working loose.) I also added 3 switches in my shop 2 3-way & 1-4-way wired in with the blast gates to keep the unit moving between machines or for floor sweeps.

Good catch "JonWho"!  Unless I have leaks the airflow should stop with the closing of the gate.  However, this could still be a benefit for someone who does not have their switches mounted on their blast gates.  I like them there, but some people do not, maybe the location is inconvenient.  In any case, I have removed that statement from the original post, to avoid any further confusion.

I hope people realize they do not need blastgates with microswitches to use this device.  They can put toggle switches to control their DC anywhere they like with just bell wire.

I've had this device in service now for about a week, and the delay relay is working out very well for me.  It is currently set to about 10 seconds.  If I am not at another machine doing something else in that period of time, then I most likely intended to turn the blower off anyway.

[phil (admin)]

Very nice work, retired2!

[retired2]

Very nice work, retired2!

Thanks Phil.  My only regret is that I did not build this in the first place, it would have saved me some money.  In fact, even this unit could be built for less than $100 if the timer and stop delay relay were eliminated.

[JonWho?]

I'm curious about the turn off delay.
How will that help clear the line once you close the blast gate without airflow?

I used a 240v contacted with a 24v coil & used micro switches on 2 of my blast gates & magnetic switches on my other 3. (I like the magnetic switches better as there's less chance of them working loose.) I also added 3 switches in my shop 2 3-way & 1-4-way wired in with the blast gates to keep the unit moving between machines or for floor sweeps.

Good catch "JonWho"!  Unless I have leaks the airflow should stop with the closing of the gate.  However, this could still be a benefit for someone who does not have their switches mounted on their blast gates.  I like them there, but some people do not, maybe the location is inconvenient. 

I hope people realize they do not need blastgates with microswitches to use this device.  They can put toggle switches to control their DC anywhere they like with just bell wire.

I've had this device in service now for about a week, and the delay relay is working out very well for me.  It is currently set to about 10 seconds.  If I am not at another machine doing something else in that period of time, then I most likely intended to turn the blower off anyway.

Still a great setup Retired2. Now you've got my wheels turning.
Gimme a bit & I'll so I if I can figure a way to use the delay to control actuators closing blast gates.
Would be cheap & easy with a 12VDC setup. But I've gotta figure integrating & controlling that with 120v.
A bit may be a few days to a week..
Pretty snowed under at work right now.

[retired2]

I'm curious about the turn off delay.
How will that help clear the line once you close the blast gate without airflow?

I used a 240v contacted with a 24v coil & used micro switches on 2 of my blast gates & magnetic switches on my other 3. (I like the magnetic switches better as there's less chance of them working loose.) I also added 3 switches in my shop 2 3-way & 1-4-way wired in with the blast gates to keep the unit moving between machines or for floor sweeps.

Good catch "JonWho"!  Unless I have leaks the airflow should stop with the closing of the gate.  However, this could still be a benefit for someone who does not have their switches mounted on their blast gates.  I like them there, but some people do not, maybe the location is inconvenient. 

I hope people realize they do not need blastgates with microswitches to use this device.  They can put toggle switches to control their DC anywhere they like with just bell wire.

I've had this device in service now for about a week, and the delay relay is working out very well for me.  It is currently set to about 10 seconds.  If I am not at another machine doing something else in that period of time, then I most likely intended to turn the blower off anyway.

Still a great setup Retired2. Now you've got my wheels turning.
Gimme a bit & I'll so I if I can figure a way to use the delay to control actuators closing blast gates.
Would be cheap & easy with a 12VDC setup. But I've gotta figure integrating & controlling that with 120v.
A bit may be a few days to a week..
Pretty snowed under at work right now.

You might want to investigate the Macromatic timer relay functionality further, because it has a great deal of flexibility, including multiple voltages.  Here is a link to their website.  Look at the "Catalog Pages" and Instruction Sheet".  Also, under Technical Support, look at the KnowledgeBase - a lot of good info there.

http://www.macromatic.com/products/products.php?series=THR-381

I paid $49 for my Macromatic THR-3816U from Zoro - shipping was free.

Update:
JonWho, here's something that might help your brainstorming.  I don't know if you noticed the notation on my schematic that terminal #9 is not used and is hot when the system is off.  In fact, it is always in the opposite state of terminal #8 which turns the system on.  That might be beneficial for some added functionality or feature.  In fact, I have been trying to come up with some clever idea to take advantage of that unused terminal.  Maybe I could use it to activate a bottle opener - blower shuts off, bottle opens! ;D   

[TX_Lenador]

Retired2, Nice job and sounds like it will work for a long time. I have looked at adding a time off delay to the auto-start setup I am using to minimize the cycling of the motor when using tools like the CSMS and router. I do have an override switch I can use to keep the unit running as long as I remember to use it. As mentioned in another post I am working towards full auto design (start of the DC and opening of the appropriate blast gate with pneumatics) when a tool is started. I saw where you mentioned that it sounded complicated but I like to tinker with stuff so gives me a challenge between projects.

JonWho?, You might be able to use a current sensing relay with delay off to sense when the DC is running and then opening the blast gate. The trick will be to know which BG to open which you might be able to use the wiring associated with the microswitch to complete the circuit to the actuator for the BG. Just a thought.

[JonWho?]

Retired2, Nice job and sounds like it will work for a long time. I have looked at adding a time off delay to the auto-start setup I am using to minimize the cycling of the motor when using tools like the CSMS and router. I do have an override switch I can use to keep the unit running as long as I remember to use it. As mentioned in another post I am working towards full auto design (start of the DC and opening of the appropriate blast gate with pneumatics) when a tool is started. I saw where you mentioned that it sounded complicated but I like to tinker with stuff so gives me a challenge between projects.

JonWho?, You might be able to use a current sensing relay with delay off to sense when the DC is running and then opening the blast gate. The trick will be to know which BG to open which you might be able to use the wiring associated with the microswitch to complete the circuit to the actuator for the BG. Just a thought.

Look into current sensing switches for each machine. I'll be using something similar to this.

[JonWho?]

My setup is only on my table saw, router tables, & band saw. So all the machines are close together. Simplifies piping & wiring everything.
First pic shows where my routers, table saw, & DC are.
2nd shows the band saw. 3rd & 4th is where I rough cut with a jigsaw or sand which I thought may be a useful idea for others. It sits on a trash can so anything I cut off drops in.

[retired2]

My setup is only on my table saw, router tables, & band saw. So all the machines are close together. Simplifies piping & wiring everything.
First pic shows where my routers, table saw, & DC are.
2nd shows the band saw. 3rd & 4th is where I rough cut with a jigsaw or sand which I thought may be a useful idea for others. It sits on a trash can so anything I cut off drops in.

Looks like you could use Hawkeye's at each tool to sense current, and then wire the output to provide the "dry trigger" on terminals #4 and #5 of the Macromatic relay.  The Macromatic would then provide the 120 or 240 output at terminal #8 to a contactor which would start the blower and open the blast gate.  Oops, not quite that simple, you need to open just one blast gate and it has to be the correct one.   O.K.  so there is a little more design to be done here!   

I like the trash can dust collector, I may use that idea.

[JonWho?]

Retired2, I figured some of you could use that. Before the Dc I had a piece of MDF with a big circle cut in it sitting on top of the trash can. Trash drops in the can & no more cutting into your good tables.
We call it Oscar.

[TX_Lenador]

Retired2, you are on the right track to use a current sensor on each circuit that runs a machine. The sensor will need to trip a DPST (DPDT) relay. One set of contacts will go to trigger the DC and the other set of contacts will trigger the mechanism for the blast gate. The set of contacts on each DPDT relay that triggers the DC are wired in parallel so it doesn't matter which machine is turned on it will trigger the DC. If you add the delay off then you get the DC running after the machine is off to clear the line or keep it from cycling off if starting another machine (or multiple cuts on CMS). Hope this makes sense. If I get time in the next few days I will try to draw up a schematic.