Uploaded February 2018 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This is a simple and inexpensive way to get a warning when your woodworking or other dust collection drum is getting full. The parts list and connections are below. It's easy to put together and you can mount the lights anywhere that you can see them. I used a piece of melamine and some ply to build a wall mount for them. This is basically a copy of the Oneida Dust Sentry Automatic Dust Bin Level Indicator, part number AXB999110B.
The sensor is the most expensive part, and I picked it up on eBay for $32 shipped. It is Banner part # QS18VN6D. This is a negative-switched sensor (NPN), meaning that the negative leads are the ones controlled by the sensor. There's a positive version (PNP) which costs more, and would just have to reverse the negative and positive connections. Stick with the NPN version unless you understand this.
The red flashing strobe is a generic alert light used for many purposes, like alarms. It was $10 on Amazon, if you want to wait you can get it for $5 on Amazon from China. smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IIFHAPC
The green light is optional. The commercial system by Oneida, which costs about $150, does not have the green light. I think this is bad, because then you can never tell if the system has failed or become unplugged. This is basically a safety indicator telling you it is working and clear. Any LED light works, I went with a huge one to see it across the shop. $6 with free shipping. smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HU06OYY
Then the power supply. You probably have old wall-wart power supplies, and just about anything 12-15v will work fine. I have a pile of them and chose a 12v 500mA model, but anything 200mA or higher will work. The voltage should stay at 12v, but you can go higher in the amperage rating since that doesn't affect anything.
The positive lead from the power supply should be twisted with the positive (brown) lead from the sensor and the positive lead from the strobe light (red typically). Insert that into either socket on the green light and tighten down the connector. The green light is not polarity sensitive (if you bought the same one, others might be).
The negative lead from power goes only to the negative (blue) lead on the sensor.
The sensor's black output lead goes to the negative on the strobe, which is normally also black.
The sensor's white output lead goes to the other terminal on the green light. This is certainly optional, and you could go with just the red strobe, but you won't have any indication of power or that the system is working.
This is a simple and inexpensive way to get a warning when your woodworking or other dust collection drum is getting full. The parts list and connections are below. It's easy to put together and you can mount the lights anywhere that you can see them. I used a piece of melamine and some ply to build a wall mount for them. This is basically a copy of the Oneida Dust Sentry Automatic Dust Bin Level Indicator, part number AXB999110B.
The sensor is the most expensive part, and I picked it up on eBay for $32 shipped. It is Banner part # QS18VN6D. This is a negative-switched sensor (NPN), meaning that the negative leads are the ones controlled by the sensor. There's a positive version (PNP) which costs more, and would just have to reverse the negative and positive connections. Stick with the NPN version unless you understand this.
The red flashing strobe is a generic alert light used for many purposes, like alarms. It was $10 on Amazon, if you want to wait you can get it for $5 on Amazon from China. smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IIFHAPC
The green light is optional. The commercial system by Oneida, which costs about $150, does not have the green light. I think this is bad, because then you can never tell if the system has failed or become unplugged. This is basically a safety indicator telling you it is working and clear. Any LED light works, I went with a huge one to see it across the shop. $6 with free shipping. smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HU06OYY
Then the power supply. You probably have old wall-wart power supplies, and just about anything 12-15v will work fine. I have a pile of them and chose a 12v 500mA model, but anything 200mA or higher will work. The voltage should stay at 12v, but you can go higher in the amperage rating since that doesn't affect anything.
The positive lead from the power supply should be twisted with the positive (brown) lead from the sensor and the positive lead from the strobe light (red typically). Insert that into either socket on the green light and tighten down the connector. The green light is not polarity sensitive (if you bought the same one, others might be).
The negative lead from power goes only to the negative (blue) lead on the sensor.
The sensor's black output lead goes to the negative on the strobe, which is normally also black.
The sensor's white output lead goes to the other terminal on the green light. This is certainly optional, and you could go with just the red strobe, but you won't have any indication of power or that the system is working.
