Ivac level meter

[Kurt Wyberanec]

Hey all, just installed one of these into my cyclone dust collector... installed it as far from the center on the lid as possible but that's only 3 or 4 inches. When I tested the unit before installation appears to work great and love that it has levels.

Started with an empty bin as soon as I turned it on the levels went up... ran just a few boards through the planer and the levels go up to the 1st orange which is supposed to be like 9in... the bin is virtually empty! What gives? And when I shut it off the levels still stayed at the 3rd level even though it's virtually empty.

I'm guessing that dust is on the sensor housing and clouds its judgement so to speak... how is this avoidable in a dust collector?

Does anyone have experience with these? Thought it was a great looking product at a reasonable price but so far not impressed.... thoughts? Thanks.

[Andrew More]

I've got a homemade version based on the plans posted here. I've seen issues with the chip bag getting sucked up when it's mostly empty tripping the sensor, since there isn't enough saw dust to keep it down. Guessing you're seeing something similar.

[Kurt Wyberanec]

I've got a homemade version based on the plans posted here. I've seen issues with the chip bag getting sucked up when it's mostly empty tripping the sensor, since there isn't enough saw dust to keep it down. Guessing you're seeing something similar.

Not using a chip bag, everything goes straight into the drum, drum gets transferred to bag when full.

[Darrell Bade]

Not sure what to do with a sensor like that. The eye I bought for mine that just makes when full I put a time delay relay in the circuit so the sensor has to show on for 10 seconds before shutting the system down but that sensor does not monitor actual level.

[Dwayne Watt]

No experience with this particular device but wondering if you have reached out to the IVAC folks directly. Perhaps there is something wrong with your particular sensor or at least they can offer some practical advice.
In the for what its worth category, using bags in the collector drum is a much healthier method of chip disposal. Much less dust to contend with as opposed to transferring material from a bin to a bag.

[Malcolm McLeod]

...

I'm guessing that dust is on the sensor housing and clouds its judgement so to speak... how is this avoidable in a dust collector?

Does anyone have experience with these? Thought it was a great looking product at a reasonable price but so far not impressed.... thoughts? Thanks.

No iVac, but lots of level sensors.... There are 3 basic types of these 'position' sensors: thru-beam, reflective, and retro-reflective. The iVac must be the latter - using a single sensor unit (transciever), it bounces IR light off the target, and measures the strength of the light reflected off of the actual material. More light :: less distance to target. They use IR light source to reduce sensing differences between materials - i.e. maple vs b.walnut reflect visible light very differently.

I would say you are exactly correct. To your point, dust on the sensor housing immediately reflects more light back to the receiver (= higher 'fill' level).

Fix? Dry air in motion can induce quite a static charge on the DC components (read the threads for PVC DC pipe grounding vs arc (shock)). Static charge on the plastic housing may attract more dust. Never tried it, but maybe some benefit to wiping the housing down with a dryer sheet? I'd guess this will get old fast. Or, wrap a fine bare wire around the perimeter of the housing (don't block the 'eyes') and ground it?

[Kurt Wyberanec]

No experience with this particular device but wondering if you have reached out to the IVAC folks directly. Perhaps there is something wrong with your particular sensor or at least they can offer some practical advice.
In the for what its worth category, using bags in the collector drum is a much healthier method of chip disposal. Much less dust to contend with as opposed to transferring material from a bin to a bag.

Hi Dwayne, in general I'd say you're right but it really depends on the type of unit you have... in my case I actually think I have less dust exposure... when I have a bag in I have to fight to wrestle the bag out of the drum which in turn I'm sure always spews some dust back out... by not using the bag I simply place a bag over the drum, secure it with bungee and turn it over... much less overall handling and seems cleaner not to mention don't have to mess with bags moving up the cyclone or bag retainer removal.

[Kurt Wyberanec]

So I spoke with ivac and they have a funny but interesting solution that appears to have worked fairly well. They sent me a sheet they haven't published yet where you basically use an aluminum pie plate sandwiched between the sensor and lid and a length of bare copper wire to hang in the bin attached to that and grounded and you essentially get some grounding to the plastic housing which reduces the amount of static charge which is causing the dust to build up on the unit and block the sensor from operating properly. Took me 15 min and gave it a shot.....BTW....one of the reasons I'm seeing this issue is because I use a plastic drum and lid as opposed to steel....with a steel one they said they really don't see this issue. All in all, it greatly has worked...not 100% but significantly better and so far well enough to do exactly what it's supposed to in stopping dust from overloading.