I just reread the article and my original take on the current sensor was that they were commenting on the size of the donut and not if you could pass multiple circuits through it.
Well, he was. The limitation is physical: you can't get more than 6 wires through the little hole. But, and I quote from the article: One hot wire from each tool that is connected to a dust collector runs through the sensor. So he is suggesting exactly what I was - multiple "hots" through the current sensor, any one of which can turn on the DC when switched ON.
I contacted a sales rep earlier this week for an ac current sensor I found online. He thought you could only pass 1 'hot' circuit wire through the current sensor at a time because it would cause a false reading.
Well, yes and no… the current sensor sense the magnetic field surrounding a wire carrying current. If the other wires are connected to load then, yes, they would rob some of the magnetic field from the current-carrying wire. But that's not how things are usually wired. There is almost always a switch at the machine to turn it ON or OFF, so the other wires would not be connected to the load. The only time it might be a problem is if you use the breaker in the box to turn the machine ON or OFF and don't include a switch out at the tool.
Now, another case is if you have two machines ON at one time. In this case the magnetic fields would actually add. If both machines that are ON are on the same 110 line, then all is well, you actually see the sum of both currents. If they are on opposite poles of the 220 line, then you would see the difference of the two currents and it might not be enough to trip the current sensor. That's because US power system has two 110 volt circuits 180 degrees out of phase. Read on to the discussion below about two current sensors - that would actually solve some of these problems.
For exactly the same reason, you only run one leg of the power out to the tool through the current sensor. Let us suppose that you ran both the "hot" and "neutral" wires for a 110 volt tool through the current sensor. The hot would generate a magnetic field due to the current going out to the tool. The neutral would generate a magnetic field due to the current returning from the tool. Currents flowing in opposite directions generate magnetic fields in opposite directions and they sum to zero so the current sensor would see no current.
Since the current sensor is only detecting amperage, could both 120v and 240v 'hot' wires pass through the donut of the current sensor?
Yes.
I want to mount 1 current sensor on each side of the circuit breaker panel. Would I need a 2PST relay for the current sensors? If both current sensors were to trigger the relay at the same time would the relay contacts bounce?
Actually, mounting two separate current sensors, one on each 110V leg, would solve the multiple machine ON problem I mentioned above. Note that the article I referenced does not control the current going to the tool. Instead, it is used to switch power to a contactor (big ol' relay) that actually switches the power to the dust collector. I don't think there is a current sensor made that can handle the 20A-30A continuous required by larger DC's. In this case I would just wire the two current sensors in parallel - either one can supply the current to the contactor coil while the other would just be off.
Now, think through your current sense and wiring in the circuit breaker panel. If you are monitoring all current through the panel by placing the current sensors on the mains and your dust collector is on one circuit in that panel, what happens? Well, you turn on a tool, which causes the dust collector to turn on. The dust collector draws current through the current sensor too. Therefore the current through the dust collector will keep it turned ON!! You will never be able to turn it off! DAMHIKT. Similarly, I don't think you want just turning the shop lights on to run the dust collector.
Your best bet is not to monitor the mains (it seemed like that was where you were going). Instead, monitor the output of the breakers. As I mentioned above, I see no problem monitoring several circuits by running multiple wires through the current sensor. I would use two current sensors and make sure that all circuits on the same pole are on the same current sensor. Run separate breakers that are NOT run through the current sensors for the DC, lights and any tools that you do NOT want to activate the DC.
I been researching relays with built-in 'delay off' but most of them are rated for 15a or less. I will keep looking.
See discussion above about a separate contactor to supply the DC. The time delay relay should not really be supplying current to the DC. Instead, you use it to supply current to the contactor coil - much, much less than the current required by the DC. Think a little more… the time delay relay cannot provide power it isn't getting. Time Delay realys that have a power OFF delay require a separate connection to the power line to properly delay power OFF.
Hope this wasn't confusing. This post ended up a lot longer than I intended!