The Hall Effect Vane Switch

The Hall Vane Effect switch used on Post ’80 machines is a Honeywell 2AV54. It is a reasonably reliable device and should last for the life of the machine, however, they can fail and are vulnerable to damage if they are wrongly connected or subjected to physical or electric misuse.

The component is, in actuality, a complex device consisting, not only of a Hall Effect Sensor but also a voltage regulator, an Amplifier and an electromagnet. For the technically minded, I would recommend the Honeywell Electronics website at http://www.honeywell.com/ where the full technical specification can be downloaded. For those of a less technical ‘bent’, all you need to know is that the black lead is a ground, the red lead requires a positive voltage and that the resistance of the green lead to ground varies from very high to almost zero dependant on whether there is a metal vane in the slot between the electromagnet and the Hall Effect Sensor. This gap is directly in front of the metal wedge shape on the following picture.