Overview: MagSwitch Sensor for Airvac/Flovac Valves

Knowing whether a vacuum valve is open or closed is one of the most basic — and most important — pieces of data in a vacuum sewer network. It is also one of the hardest things to measure directly inside a valve pit. MagSwitch is the sensor we built to solve exactly that problem, and this post focuses on the Airvac/Flovac variant (MS-AR-PL-01), which feeds the valve-state data you see in every Airvac and Flovac station's IPCLOUD dashboard.

What MagSwitch does

MagSwitch is a magnetic reed sensor that detects the position of a vacuum valve inside the sewer chamber. Airvac and Flovac valves have a permanent magnet built into their moving part. As the valve opens or closes, the magnet passes the sensor and flips its contact — giving a clean, reliable signal for "open" or "closed" with no moving parts of its own to wear out.

The output is a potential-free changeover (Form C) contact, wired into the VC-2 LoRa station device, which reports the valve state to IPCLOUD along with the rest of the station's data.

The sensor housing is fully encapsulated in polyurethane resin with a hermetically sealed cable gland, rated IP68, and compliant with REACH and RoHS.

Built for Airvac and Flovac valves

The Airvac/Flovac variant (MS-AR-PL-01) uses a PP housing and an adjustable mounting range of 12–24 mm, so it fits the varying valve wall thicknesses found across Airvac and Flovac installations. Its pull-in sensitivity is tuned to the magnet strength used in these valves: 15–20 AT unmodified, 75–110 AT modified.

MagSwitch also ships in Roediger and Iseki variants, built for those manufacturers' valves with different housings, fixed mounting, and pull-in ratings. The variants are not interchangeable — fitting the wrong one to a valve will simply fail to trigger reliably — so if your network includes Roediger or Iseki stations, make sure the matching variant is specified. See the MagSwitch documentation for details on all three.

Key specifications

Contact type — reed switch, Form C changeover
Ingress protection — IP68
Max switching power — 10 W
Max switching voltage — 175 V DC/AC (peak)
Max switching current — 0.5 A DC/AC (peak)
Max continuous current — 1 A
Operating temperature — −40 °C to +80 °C
Cable — LiYY 3 × 0.14 mm², PVC jacket, 3.4 mm diameter
Mounting range — adjustable 12–24 mm

Installing it correctly

Mounting screws must be non-magnetic (stainless steel or plastic) — magnetic screws near the sensor reduce its switching distance and can cause missed detections.
Use the adjustable 12–24 mm mounting range to match the wall thickness of the specific Flovac or Airvac 3" valve you're installing on.
After installation, always verify the sensor by manually cycling the valve from open to closed and confirming the contact flips — checked with a multimeter or directly on the VC-2 LoRa device.

Why it matters for your data

Valve state is the anchor point for interpreting everything else a station reports: pit level rising with no valve activity, or a valve opening without a corresponding drop in level, are exactly the kind of deviations that MagSwitch data makes visible in IPCLOUD's station timeline and alert log.

For the full installation manual, datasheet, and wiring diagram, see the MagSwitch documentation.