Sander starts dust extractor when it is not turned on

[wapatowoodworking]

For information the ets ec 150/5 draws 24w when plugged in and not turned on. festool tech support will not tell me if that is "too much" or if that is the designed amount. makita tech support can't or wont tell me how much current is supposed to trip the auto start, but a nilflix repair manual says to attach a load of at least 60w when troubleshooting the auto start outlet. i did take the sander to a festool dealer and plug it into a genuine festool(tm) dust extractor and  it doesnt start until the tool is turned on.

 

[Peter_C]

I should have recommended bringing in your Makita dust extractor and plugging in a brand new ETS EC of some kind into yours to see if it worked normally. You could use your sanders cord to keep the brand new sander in as new condition. Gotta keep testing...to find a solution.

 

[Cheese]

FWIW…my ETS EC 125/150 draws from .029 -.032 amps (3.48 -3.84 watts) when just plugged into the outlet.

24 watts seems like a lot considering some of these may be plugged into a vac 24/7, year after year, at least mine is.

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[Paul_HKI]

For information the ets ec 150/5 draws 24w when plugged in and not turned on. festool tech support will not tell me if that is "too much" or if that is the designed amount. makita tech support can't or wont tell me how much current is supposed to trip the auto start, but a nilflix repair manual says to attach a load of at least 60w when troubleshooting the auto start outlet. i did take the sander to a festool dealer and plug it into a genuine festool(tm) dust extractor and  it doesnt start until the tool is turned on.

If the troubleshooting guide for the vac (assuming it's the same design) calls for 60W at 110V, that's just shy of 0.55A and 200ohms to present a qualified load for testing the auto-switch. 

24W at 110V is just under 0.22A and about 500ohms resistance presented and shouldn't necessarily fire up the vac, but it might, depending on the trigger threshold.

You could check out any wall-wart chargers, phone/tablet chargers you have, ranging from 5W through 10-12W and maybe a 15W, depending on what devices you have around.  That would at least help you figure out if the auto-switch is starting the vac at too low a load.

The 24W from the sander could be marginal, just too close to the cut-in, or it could be that the auto-switch sensitivity is really out of spec, indicating a fault.  That's not rubbishing your vac, or excusing the Festool.  It's just troubleshooting a potential problem so you know where you stand.