Solenoid actuation problems
 

We are using pneumatics for our kicker this year as many are, but we are having problems actuating the pneumatics.
Every time an actuation command is given, nothing actuated. The lights on the solenoid light up when the commands are given, so the signal seems to be getting through.
Manual actuation works fine, so nothing is wrong with the actual valves.

Thanks!

Re: Solenoid actuation problems
 

You said lights. Are you actuating both sides of the solenoid at once?

Re: Solenoid actuation problems
 

Nope, they are actuating one at a time.

Re: Solenoid actuation problems
 

We have also been having double solenoid problems, both on the ones we have wired to the Solenoid Breakout and on ones powered off of Spikes and programmed as relays.

The Solenoid Breakout ones:
Solenoid breakout port 1 goes to the B side of the solenoid
Solenoid breakout port 2 goes to the A side of the solenoid
When no buttons are pushed, port 1/B side is lit, and air comes out the A port (we stop this with a T connector looping in on itself so we can get the minimum psi to attempt to switch)
When our assigned joystick button is pushed, the light switches to the other side (both on the solenoid and on the Solenoid Breakout) but the air flow doesn't switch
Regardless of which side of the solenoid is lit, the manual switch buttons on the solenoid do make the airflow switch to the other port.
We swapped in a different solenoid and the same thing happened.

The Spike/Relay ones:
M- goes to the A side of the solenoid
M+ goes to the B side
When no buttons are pushed, the spike is red, the relay light on the DSC is red, we get voltage going out from the M- and none from M+. Air comes out the A port.
When the button is pushed, the spike turns orange, the relay light on the DSC goes green, but we get no voltage from M+ nor M-.
The manual switching buttons on the solenoid do not switch the air.
We swapped in a different Spike and the same thing happened.

Additional info: Both solenoids in the above cases are SMC ones from previous years with 12v fuses.

Re: Solenoid actuation problems
 

my team is using the SMC's i think they are called. if you want to check make sure that on the soloide wiring the M- and M+ go to one side of the spike and then its wired normaly on the other. then you have to combine the black wires and got to the power supply. if it wont work corretly check the programing and the connections.