[bhughes]

I'm no novice with the wpilibj or Java. I know how most of it works, and the logic required to do almost any task. The thing is, my team has never touched pneumatics. We just didn't need it. So I've become very frustrated lately because I've found it extremely challenging to get them to work.

The two things we're doing:

1. Gear shifting using supershifters
2. Loading with a solenoid actuated piston

So its not rocket science.

So far, I've been able to actuate the two sides of solenoids (ones provided in KOP by festo), verified by the lights turning on. I've also been able to switch the output of the solenoid twice, once on both systems, but seem to be incapable of doing it again. It seems to be complete luck.

Our current method to turn solenoids on and off (simplified for readability):

Solenoid s1 = new Solenoid(1);
Solenoid s2 = new Solenoid(2);
boolean shooting = false;

...

if(controller.getAButton() && !shooting) {
    shooting = true;
    s1.set(true);
    s2.set(false);
    Timer.delay(1.5);
    s1.set(false);
} else if(!controller.getAButton()) {
    shooting = false;
}

This seems to be correct. We have used the manual releases in a very similar way, and have gotten the solenoid to work. As for electrical, the lights show, and we've measured the output to 24v.

Now I know it looks as though it's the solenoid. But we have tried 3 different, OOTB solenoids.

I'd be happy to take pictures of the wiring if needed, or provide more context to the code. We're using a festo piston (couldn't find model number, just a standard festo one) and solenoid (VUVG-L10-B52-T-M7-1P3 –1).