Wiring 6 prong rocker switch

[Rooster Carpentry]

Hi,

I won't bore you with the back story, but I need some advice on how to connect a rocker switch for a Stanley Fatmax vacuum (please see photos below). It is meant to have three settings: Off, On, and On through the power take-off plug. Through a lot of trial & error (& tripped breaker resetting), I can get it to run in positions 1 & 2, and the power take off works in both, but it doesn't stay off until the tool plugged in is in use; instead, it runs continually in both positions.

Having tried to approach it logically, I thought that if I switched the wires around for long enough, I'd get it working correctly, but no joy after many hours. I need someone who's not a DIY muppet like myself to lend some advice

 

[Rooster Carpentry]

The back story: I have a woodworking shop in my back garden. I purchased this vacuum to connect to a dust collection system of pipes, which run to machines, each with a blast gate. All the machines are plugged into the extension, which plugs into the power take-off on the vacuum, so it automatically kicks in when I run a tool.

This worked fine, but I got fed up with having to try to get to the rocker switch when I wanted to turn the vacuum on to clean the shop, then back on to power take-off mode. So I took the rocker off & extended the cables so I could have the switch attached to my workbench for easy access. This worked for about a year & then the wires overheated, melted the insulation & shorted.

I'd had the foresight to label them 1-6 to match the prong numbers on the switch, but as the cables melted together, there was no way of working out which went where after removing the damaged extension wires. I realise now that the wires I used were too light for the load running through them. Thankfully, I didn't burn the workshop down!! Yes, I'm aware I'm a dangerous fool!!!

Now I just want to put it back to how it was when I purchased it & abandon the extension idea. I have a separate vac for cleaning the shop & will leave the Fatmax permanently in Power take-off mode.

 

[Avo Mk8]

I don't know this product, and can't immediately see how this should be wired.

One possibility is that the melting of the cable and subsequent breaker tripping has caused a switching component on the circuit board to become short-circuit, so that it's no longer detecting the load when you turn one of your machines on, ie the power take-off is providing power all the time.
It looks like pcb pin P6 has a CT coil sensing current through that connection, so that is presumably the neutral feed to the power take-off, which I think is what your diagram suggests. If that is the neutral to your machines, I fear the board may now be the reason the power take-off is on all the time.

I was going to ask if you could post a photo of the other side of the circuit board, but without knowing what the RoHS sticker is on (presumably a heat sink?), and what components are on it, I'm not sure that would help!

 

[Rooster Carpentry]

Thanks for the reply Avo. I did wonder whether I might have fried a component on the board. I'm pretty sure live and neutral connect to the middle pins of the switch, so the number of combinations for the other four isn't astronomical & I can either get it to run on either setting or blow the trip.

If that's the case, then I have another (less optimal) fix, which is extending the wires again but with a thicker gauge wire that won't melt the insulation & will just have to have the switch mounted on the workbench & manually switch it on when I want to use a tool.

I could try to buy a replacement circuit board, but even if I can locate one, without knowing the correct layout of the rocker I'm likely to immediately fry the new board. I'll have to chalk this one up in the loss column & retire from electrical tinkering before I burn something down!

I'll post a photo of the back of the circuit board, on the off-chance it helps, but my gut instinct is that your assessment is probably correct. I appreciate you taking the time to reply : )

 

[Rooster Carpentry]

I have a follow-up query I hope someone can help with. I decided to give up on the power take-off function and use the vacuum normally, with the on/off controlled by one of those remote control plug sockets. I got it set up and it works fine......except now it will only blow air out the rear air intake port, so no sucking/blowing (oh Matron) from the two ports at the front where the hose plugs in.

It appears the motor is running in reverse. I've tried swapping the connectors around on the plug but it doesn't make any difference (ie swapping live & neutral). I'm wondering if I could bypass the damaged circuitry altogether & just wire the motor to the live & main incoming cable, as all I want it to do is turn on and suck, forgetting all about the power take-off plug etc... as it's now redundant with the remote control. Does that make sense?

 

[James]

If a single phase motor is running in reverse (you have a single phase motor)
the method of changing direction is normally printed on the inside of the motor terminal lid.

 

[Rooster Carpentry]

Thanks James. I'll take a look at that now

 

[Rooster Carpentry]

I couldn't see any diagrams on the covers. I've disassembled the vacuum to get the motor out. The M1 & M2 cables from the circuit board are all that run to it. If I wire the existing incoming live cable to one and the incoming neutral to the other, that should spin the motor, right?

Hopefully, that would eliminate any of the nonsense going on with the (possibly damaged) circuit board.

I've just been checking if swapping the live & neutral would change the motor spin direction, but that doesn't appear to be the case with a single-phase motor, which makes me wonder if the issue I now have is with something besides the electrics & is mechanical. There is a float valve inside the vac for when you're sucking up water. I wonder if this may somehow be stuck on & causing the issue.

I'm determined to get this bloody thing to run lol

 

[Rooster Carpentry]

It seems like a fairly basic bit of kit, bar the circuitry for the power take-off plug.

Just for the record. I have no plans to use it in future for sucking up water or the blowing function. All I want it to do is suck up sawdust from my tools.

 

[Avo Mk8]

Assuming that is a typical vacuum cleaner "universal" motor, ie runs from ac or dc, then the direction is determined by the internal wiring of the commutator in relation to the field coils - I don't think anything you could have done external to the motor would result in the motor reversing direction.
If the 'suck' is not where you expect it (!), that must be due to some other problem .

 

[Rooster Carpentry]

Thanks Avo. I've just watched a video that comes to the same conclusion. That's good, as it means I can eliminate that as a potential cause & start troubleshooting elsewhere.

I've just found a local Electrical Appliance Repair guy on Google. Think I'll give him a call tomorrow. Might cost me a bit to get it fixed, but it'll teach me a lesson. No more DIY bodge job wiring.