iVACAutomated Switch Box (SB-NA)

The Ivac is great! I used it a dozen times or so & worked perfectly for automated dust control. I cannot comment however for long turn service life as of yet. This is the only automated unit where if you are running a high amp tool, or two high amp tools you can split the lines and run each tool on different outlets. The reason for this is obviously not to trip the breaker, or to over-load your tool by a deficiency in power. I have looked into other units, and they all run off the same outlet. This unit gives you the flexibility to do either. If you are using say a sander and vacuum, together under 15 amps, you're fine on the same breaker. However if you're using a heavy duty miter saw around 13-14 amps, there isn't much headroom on that same circuit for a vacuum, so instead of starving your expensive saw from ample power (or run the risk of tripping a breaker), you split the lines, each on there seperate breaker. Now sometimes just because you split them on two different outlets, doesn't automatically mean they are on seperate breakers, you have to check that yourself.This unit also has three different modes of operation: auto, ON, OFF. Bascially auto if the option why you buy this in the first place, so when you activate your tool, the vacuum turns on automatically. ON option I believe is where vacuum is on continuously, and off is where you can turn off vac, but still use your tool normally (on and off).The only downside is the plastic housing of the unit, I would have liked to have seen a metal shell, and the unit is a little larger for a mobil set up, like using it with a sander/vac going for room to room. Not a huge deal though, Great set up for a stationary shop. The unit also has four mounting holes for screws and you can slide it over the screws to mount on a wall or take it off just as easily without removing screws (has these slider tabs). Again the plasic issue, with repeated on and off over mounted screws,it could potentially crack the plastic screw holes. I would buy this again, and reccomend it to anybody elso who wants tool actuated dust control without buying an expensive vac like Festool, Wap etc.

I love this switch. I have my vacuum and miter saw hooked up to this switch so when the saw turns on, the vacuum turns on to collect the dust.

UPDATE: FAILED for no reason. Just stopped working. No odor of burnt electronics, no tripping of house circuit breaker, no tripping of onboard reset breaker. So, I contacted the company "ivacswitch.com" and my email was returned in less than 24 hours. They told me that they have manufactured and sold over 80,000 of these switches with a very low failure rate. They also said that "We have just recently, in the last couple of weeks, discovered a component that fails after some indefinite period of time but usually between 30 and 120 days of use. It never shows up in testing at the manufacturer and it doesn't happen in every component. We are taking steps to eliminate the problem." They then said that they would be happy to replace the switch. So, my original review below stands as written. And the customer service of iVAC is exemplary.Old Review: Plugged this thing into two different circuits, one 30 amp and one 20 amp, then connected my table saw and shop vac/cylone filter into it. It works great. So nice to be able to activate the vac when I turn the saw on - and the delay for the vac is nice as it runs the vac a few seconds after the saw is turned off for a bit of extra dust collection. The company stands behind their product and will honor the warranty without the slightest hassle or question. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. BUY THREE.

I love this thing. It turns on my vacuum every time I turn on my power tool, and it lets the vacuum run a few seconds longer after I turn off the power tool. One nice feature that this box has that others don’t is that it has two input power cords so you can have your vacuum running on a different circuit than the power tool itself. That’s handy if your power tool takes almost a full amperage of one circuit. you don’t have to run it that way though, you can just plug one cord in and use that one cord for both the power tool and the vacuum. The box has a switch on it so you can turn on your vacuum without turning on the power tool, or unplugging the vacuum to find another place to plug it in. I do have two things I don’t particularly like about this box. One is it has circuit breakers for both the tool and the vacuum, and they are lower amperage than my tablesaw. It sometimes happens, wondering when I’m making a deep cut in hardwood, that my tablesaw will trip the circuit breaker in this box. When that happens, I have to unplug my saw from this box and plug it in directly to the wall. Fortunately that doesn’t happen very often, but I wish the box could handle a higher amperage, at least for the tool. The other thing is that the box doesn’t last forever. I had one of these for four or five years, and it finally quit working… I guess the electronics wore out. I was annoyed, and I looked all around to find a different switchbox to buy, and ended up buying the same thing again, because it appears to be the best thing on the market. If they would change the amperage on the tool, I would be much happier. Nevertheless, this is the best thing I can find, and I am happy to have a new one working again.

working without any issues