Master night shutdown switch for shop

OccupantRJ · Jan 3, 2015

I have a main workshop area along with two side rooms. One room is the machine shop and the other is a tool storage/compressor room. I was continually walking back across the shop at night shutdown to turn off various things before going in the house. I decided to take care of that situation, so I created a master switch for shop shutdown.

A standard light switch was installed near the front door to act as the master. It is powered from the panel and runs from the switch to a junction box in the ceiling at the center of the shop. This box also hangs and powers the ceiling fan.

The circuit continues on to control the switch for the lights in the back compressor room. Another run from the junction box goes to a box containing a small relay I installed at the air compressor. The wiring from the pressure switch for the compressor is run through this relay.

In practice, at shop shutdown time, the master switch is shut off and the ceiling fan, back room lights, and air compressor all shut off simultaneously. I am now thinking about wiring in the stereo, HVAC thermostat, and machine shop room lights to it. The switch cover is grey to differentiate it from the normal light switches. The measuring tape clip at the front door was also one of my better ideas, as I was always going inside the shop for one to use outside.

Norcal · Jan 3, 2015

The way my shop was wired is that I used 2 panels, one was for all the shop power, receptacles, air compressor, & such & has a main breaker, the lights are all fed from another panel in the back room, that way the power can be shut off to all the equipment & not affect the lighting.

The main is at the lower right.

Radio Ron w4ron · Jan 3, 2015

I like master switches, I have one on the outlet circuit in my garage
workshop and also one on the outlet circuit in my radio collection
display room. All the outlets in the room run through one master switch.
I like knowing everything is off when I leave.

Cyberbear · Jan 3, 2015

Just check to make sure that relay has the current carrying capacity to handle all your needs. Also, think about a smoke alarm that rings in the house, it may save you from grief one day.

toplessHO · Jan 3, 2015

multipole lighting contactor will do the same.
Or splitbuss panel with a shunt trip breaker.
2nd option will leave you in the dark until its reset.

Radio Ron w4ron · Jan 4, 2015

Speaking of smoke alarms I have an idea for a smoke alarm,
with modern electronics I'd like to have a set of smoke alarms
that communicated with each other maybe via blue tooth or 2.4ghz
like routers use, so that when one alarmed they would all alarm.
Maybe the one sensing the smoke would make a different sound.
I have 2 smoke alarms that are far enough away they wouldn't wake
me from a deep sleep. There's one in my mini workshop and the other
is in the display room for my radio collection and they're a good ways
from the upstairs bedrooms.
I know I could do this with a wired alarm system, but I would prefer
wireless.

tipsdime · Jan 4, 2015

Radio Ron said:
Speaking of smoke alarms I have an idea for a smoke alarm,
with modern electronics I'd like to have a set of smoke alarms
that communicated with each other maybe via blue tooth or 2.4ghz
like routers use, so that when one alarmed they would all alarm.
Maybe the one sensing the smoke would make a different sound.
I have 2 smoke alarms that are far enough away they wouldn't wake
me from a deep sleep. There's one in my mini workshop and the other
is in the display room for my radio collection and they're a good ways
from the upstairs bedrooms.
I know I could do this with a wired alarm system, but I would prefer
wireless.

Look into the Nest smoke alarms, That is what I have. App on the smartphone, they send emails, and if one goes off they all go off, and they will tell you which one caused the alarm. Plus they have CO built into them.

https://nest.com/smoke-co-alarm/life-with-nest-protect/

newbinga · Jan 4, 2015

tipsdime said:
Look into the Nest smoke alarms, That is what I have. App on the smartphone, they send emails, and if one goes off they all go off, and they will tell you which one caused the alarm. Plus they have CO built into them.

https://nest.com/smoke-co-alarm/life-with-nest-protect/

If you get a false or nuisance alarm like burning something in the kitchen, is it easy to silence them? Can you do it from.the app or do you have to access the device?

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

OccupantRJ · Jan 4, 2015

Cyberbear said:
Just check to make sure that relay has the current carrying capacity to handle all your needs. Also, think about a smoke alarm that rings in the house, it may save you from grief one day.

The relay only carries the coil current for the air compressor contactor. I will be trenching for several different things to the shop this year. An alarm zone for the shop will be one of them.

PhantomEB · Jan 4, 2015

Lots of good ideas here! I not sure how a 110v switch (I assume ) would do for 220v compressor though.

theoldwizard1 · Jan 4, 2015

Norcal said:
The way my shop was wired is that I used 2 panels, one was for all the shop power, receptacles, air compressor, & such & has a main breaker, the lights are all fed from another panel in the back room, that way the power can be shut off to all the equipment & not affect the lighting.

+1 !

OccupantRJ · Jan 4, 2015

PhantomEB said:
Lots of good ideas here! I not sure how a 110v switch (I assume ) would do for 220v compressor though.

My compressor is 240 volt on both motor and controls. There is a switch on the unit along with my master switch being in play. The master switch controls the relay, which in turn cuts the pressure switch circuit and unit control switch to prevent or to allow operation. The relay has a 120 volt coil, and the contacts control the 240. In use, the master switch has to be on to allow the compressor to run at all through it's own control circuitry.

kbs2244 · Jan 5, 2015

I like your idea, but I would leave the overhead fan on 24/365.

OccupantRJ · Jan 5, 2015

kbs2244 said:
I like your idea, but I would leave the overhead fan on 24/365.

I have a lot of experience with moisture in a shop. See

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50169

23 CHIEF · Jan 7, 2015

Can some one explain how this done with the relay I would like to do this but not sure how it done correctly

Milton Shaw · Jan 7, 2015

As suggested above a lighting relay would be ideal for this. Its basically a 12 to 20 circuit relay with each circuit able to be breakered individually and then controlled from one 120 volt switch (or 3-4 way switch). They could be used for 120 , 240 and 277 volt circuits up to the rating of the relay. As they are rated continuous duty they would not cause any problems being left on for 8-12 hours like you would in a shop. Any other solution would not work as well or be as easy to troubleshoot some time down the road when things don't work.

972500 · Jan 7, 2015

Has anyone seen a set up that uses a key to control power? We had one in high school shop class only the teacher could turn it on and to shut it off you smacked the big red buttons around the room. Seem to remember It was fun at the end of the day to shut the power off as silly as that seems ha ha.

OccupantRJ · Jan 10, 2015

23 CHIEF said:
Can some one explain how this done with the relay I would like to do this but not sure how it done correctly

Compressor needs to have it's own motor starter (starting relay) on it. Motor starter relay electromagnetic coil is normally controlled by the compressor's pressure switch to turn compressor motor on or off. One of the wires going to the pressure switch is rerouted to your "master relay" and back to the pressure switch allowing it to control the pressure switch, thefore controlling the compressor.

An electrical relay generally is controlled by an electromagnetic coil, which is activated by electric power being applied to the coil. The coil then activates one or more sets of electrical contacts to do other functions for you. These secondary contacts can usually carry higher currents than a standard light switch, and are used as normally open (N.C.) or normally closed (N.C.) This would indicate the status of the contacts when power is removed from the actuating coil. N.C. would then go "off", and N.O. would go "on" when the relay coil is activated.

By running the wire from the pressure switch to the N.O. contact set and then back to the pressure switch, the pressure switch would be cut out of the loop when the "master relay" is off. When on, it of course allows the pressure switch to do it's job of turning the compressor on or off. That is it in a nut shell.

The master relay coil could be powered by a convenient overhead light fixture, thereby shutting the compressor down when lights are off in the shop if desired, instead of installing a separate master switch.

In my case, the rest was pretty simple. The ceiling fan is on the same circuit as the back room lighting so when the master switch is turned off, the fan goes off, and also power is shut off to the back room light switch. Power for the compressor over ride relay also comes from this same circuit. One switch is shut off and back room lights, compressor, and ceiling fan shut down.

Hope this helps you and others.

Showkey · Jan 10, 2015

Radio Ron said:
Speaking of smoke alarms I have an idea for a smoke alarm,
with modern electronics I'd like to have a set of smoke alarms
that communicated with each other maybe via blue tooth or 2.4ghz
like routers use, so that when one alarmed they would all alarm.
Maybe the one sensing the smoke would make a different sound.
I have 2 smoke alarms that are far enough away they wouldn't wake
me from a deep sleep. There's one in my mini workshop and the other
is in the display room for my radio collection and they're a good ways
from the upstairs bedrooms.
I know I could do this with a wired alarm system, but I would prefer
wireless.

Post that talks about fire and general alarms...........

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=275984

23 CHIEF · Jan 10, 2015

OccupantRJ said:
Compressor needs to have it's own motor starter (starting relay) on it. Motor starter relay electromagnetic coil is normally controlled by the compressor's pressure switch to turn compressor motor on or off. One of the wires going to the pressure switch is rerouted to your "master relay" and back to the pressure switch allowing it to control the pressure switch, thefore controlling the compressor.

An electrical relay generally is controlled by an electromagnetic coil, which is activated by electric power being applied to the coil. The coil then activates one or more sets of electrical contacts to do other functions for you. These secondary contacts can usually carry higher currents than a standard light switch, and are used as normally open (N.C.) or normally closed (N.C.) This would indicate the status of the contacts when power is removed from the actuating coil. N.C. would then go "off", and N.O. would go "on" when the relay coil is activated.

By running the wire from the pressure switch to the N.O. contact set and then back to the pressure switch, the pressure switch would be cut out of the loop when the "master relay" is off. When on, it of course allows the pressure switch to do it's job of turning the compressor on or off. That is it in a nut shell.

The master relay coil could be powered by a convenient overhead light fixture, thereby shutting the compressor down when lights are off in the shop if desired, instead of installing a separate master switch.

In my case, the rest was pretty simple. The ceiling fan is on the same circuit as the back room lighting so when the master switch is turned off, the fan goes off, and also power is shut off to the back room light switch. Power for the compressor over ride relay also comes from this same circuit. One switch is shut off and back room lights, compressor, and ceiling fan shut down.

Hope this helps you and others.

Thanks for taking the time to explain this

OccupantRJ · Jan 11, 2015

23 CHIEF said:
Can some one explain how this done with the relay I would like to do this but not sure how it done correctly

Another thing I should mention is that depending on the situation, a relay may not be needed. It depends on the wiring situation of the building. A standard house light switch could be installed near the shop door with a devoted run of wiring to the compressor pressure switch to control it directly by simply cutting power to the pressure switch as desired.

OccupantRJ · Jan 7, 2019

I have a fluorescent light inside the vent hood Installed over my welding table, along with a fan to vent air from the hood. I went back after initial installation and tied these two items into the master switch so they also both go off on shop shutdown.

Strouty · Jan 7, 2019

Looks like a great idea, thanks for pointing me to the link, I will be doing something similar for my compressor.

ScottsGT · Jan 7, 2019

We have similar setups in studios. It a sequencer that shuts off different branches of power to certain racks one at a time to prevent surging the breakers. We have some that we can remotely trigger to have systems on when people arrive.

Itsjustdirt · Jan 7, 2019

kbs2244 said:
I like your idea, but I would leave the overhead fan on 24/365.

Just curious, why?

OccupantRJ · Jan 7, 2019

Itsjustdirt said:
Just curious, why?

Fans running in a workshop work to control humidity condensing on machined surfaces, helping to prevent rusting. Tablesaw top, for example.

klassenl · Jan 7, 2019

I have a small shop 26x19 and I have my compressor tied to the lights. When the lights are on the compressor is energized. When the lights are off the compressor can't run.

LXCam · Jan 7, 2019

That's a great solution RJ. I would offer up a couple considerations. I would use a latching relay so there isn't a chance of the relay opening on you at a bad time. The reality is the coils are robust and it normally takes years of use before they fail but a latching relay would last forever. The other thing would be an a nightlight in each area just in case. I'm sure no one else has access to the shop except for maybe the wife. But losing light right in the middle of something can really be an issue. I've been in my machine area that has no natural lighting and lost power on a couple occasions, luckily I know the space like the back of my hand but I did install an E fixture in it after the last time.

OccupantRJ · Jan 7, 2019

LXCam said:
That's a great solution RJ. I would offer up a couple considerations. I would use a latching relay so there isn't a chance of the relay opening on you at a bad time. The reality is the coils are robust and it normally takes years of use before they fail but a latching relay would last forever. The other thing would be an a nightlight in each area just in case. I'm sure no one else has access to the shop except for maybe the wife. But losing light right in the middle of something can really be an issue. I've been in my machine area that has no natural lighting and lost power on a couple occasions, luckily I know the space like the back of my hand but I did install an E fixture in it after the last time.

The room lighting is not tied into the relay in any way. I changed my mind on controlling the room lights. The master switch controls everything it does with line voltage from the switch. The relay is just another device controlled by the switch, and only controls the compressor.

cbacres · Jan 7, 2019

This is a great imformitive write up on the remote control of a compressor.

I'm fixing to order a coil operated starter for my compressor as I'm moving it out in my shed. I'm also installing a electric motorized ball valve to use on air compressor tank. I'll set up two switches, each with their own color LED light, I'll call them idiot lights, because some idiot sometimes leaves the compressor on. :lol_hitti

The lights will be mounted on the outside of the shop, under the porch, so I can see them from the house.

OccupantRJ · Jan 7, 2019

cbacres said:
This is a great imformitive write up on the remote control of a compressor.

I'm fixing to order a coil operated starter for my compressor as I'm moving it out in my shed. I'm also installing a electric motorized ball valve to use on air compressor tank. I'll set up two switches, each with their own color LED light, I'll call them idiot lights, because some idiot sometimes leaves the compressor on.

The lights will be mounted on the outside of the shop, under the porch, so I can see them from the house.

Sounds like a good plan!

LXCam · Jan 7, 2019

OccupantRJ said:
The room lighting is not tied into the relay in any way. I changed my mind on controlling the room lights. The master switch controls everything it does with line voltage from the switch. The relay is just another device controlled by the switch, and only controls the compressor.

Sorry bout that, I obviously thought those were tied in as well.

Milton Shaw · Jan 7, 2019

There is a lighting contactor designed to run 12 circuits on Amazon for about $200. This has 12 different relays controlled by one 120 volt coil. Each pole is separate from the others as is designed to turn on all lights with one switch. The contacts are rated to handle up to 30 amps and should handle just about anything in your shop. This lets a shop have 12 different 20-30 amp circuits controlled easily and should work with machine tools as the motors would be off when relay switched.

Barnabas · Jan 7, 2019

If you want to control a lot of circuits, you could put a latching relay on each circuit.
Latching relays have two coils. Energize one coil and the relay turns on. Energize the other coil and the circuit turns off. This keeps you from having current running through the coil the whole time you are in the shop.

All of the relays need the same coil voltage. 12v is a typical voltage.
You need a 12v power supply to power all of the relay coils. If the coil operates on 12v AC, then you just need a 120v to 12v transformer, like the kind used for doorbells or model trains. The coils will not draw much current, but you should still size the power supply to handle all of the relays as well as future relays.

To control it, wIre all the On coils together and all the Off coils together. Install a momentary switch for each. You could have a momentary key switch or simple push button to turn it all on, and a simple push button ( or the big red ones) to turn everything off. You could have multiple On switches and multiple Off switches to place at multiple doors or other locations. Any of the switches send a quick signal to all relays to make them turn on or off. You have to run a low voltage wire between all switches and all relays.

Put the relays at each piece of equipment, or attach a box to/near your breaker panel to hold the relays. Interrupt each power line between the breaker and receptacle/equipment and install the relay.
You can be really flexible with this kind of system. You can mix in 120v relays as well as double-pole 240v relays. The key is to have the same control voltage on all relays so you can control all of them on one switch.

I would control the lights separately from the equipment. Have the panic/off buttons placed around the room to turn off equipment power in an emergency. It could also control task lights, but leave the main lights on so you can still see.

Strouty · Jan 7, 2019

You guys have brought up a completely separate point that I need to address as well, I have no safety or emergency lights. I think it would be smart as if all my lights go off, it is dark and it is dangerous for my shins at a minimum.

The latching coil is an interesting idea, more research for me!

LXCam · Jan 7, 2019

Strouty said:
You guys have brought up a completely separate point that I need to address as well, I have no safety or emergency lights. I think it would be smart as if all my lights go off, it is dark and it is dangerous for my shins at a minimum.

The latching coil is an interesting idea, more research for me!

There's not much to know bud. You'll use a momentary contact switch for both open or close. You can do it with two dedicated switches or one if the latching relay has both a normally open and normally closed set of contacts either dedicated or auxiliary. All that happens is you pulse the coil and after it changes state it's mechanically held into the opposite position. Kinda the nice part is there's no constant hum that can happen with some relays.

mike93lx · Jan 7, 2019

Strouty said:
You guys have brought up a completely separate point that I need to address as well, I have no safety or emergency lights. I think it would be smart as if all my lights go off, it is dark and it is dangerous for my shins at a minimum.

The latching coil is an interesting idea, more research for me!

easy fix. emergency lights aren't that expensive. a quick google search is coming up with a bunch at ~$20

kbs2244 · Jan 8, 2019

Many emergency lights are battery on during a no power.
Aim it at you door and let it shine.

Strouty · Jan 8, 2019

LXCam said:
There's not much to know bud.

Don’t ever underestimate my inabilities.

Will be looking into all this next week, some great info. I have just been getting into relays for 12volt stuff, they are new to me. I am used to just a switch, on or off, like lights, none of this on, but off, because a controller says so. I am also getting ready to wire up a decent sized rotary phase converter, it would be cool to have the idler up in the attic, but I think heat would be an issue in the summer. Either way remote mounting things would be nice and I think all of this is a similar concept.

Master night shutdown switch for shop

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