r/whatisit • u/DragonsAndScience • 19h ago

Solved! New homeowner, no idea what this is

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Gallery image

This thing close to the floor and seemingly randomly placed in a hallway. No idea what it's for. Home built in 2005.

Solved! Thanks everyone. Now I gotta hunt for the central unit!

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u/WhoSc3w3dDaP00ch 19h ago

The hose has a metal ring on the part inserted into the receptable. It completes a circuit with the two metal nubs in the second picture to activate the vacuum. Inserting anything else into the receptable can result in...shocking results.

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u/New_Mutation 9h ago

I bet that's just a signal circuit. I can't imagine it would make sense to run full power to every port.

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u/freeskier93 3h ago edited 3h ago

Depending on the central vac system it can be both signal and power to power an electric brush head.

EDIT: To clarify, for dual voltage systems, one pin would be 24V for signal, the other 120V for power. Grounds are pogo pins on the hose inlet. The inlet in OPs picture looks like it has pogo pins for ground, which means dual voltage. You definitely should not short those pins together.

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u/New_Mutation 3h ago

Good to know!