[ay2b]

Originally Posted by Otaku

You could do what 675 is toying with: A T-valve between the tanks and the pump. Add all 4 tanks. Charge in the pit, close T valve, disconnect pump (which ISN'T mounted to the robot), go to compete. As long as you have the regulation valve for the system at 60psi, you could charge the tanks at a higher pressure (we've been using 110psi for testing) which gives you more use out of the actuators.

Be sure to check the rules closely before doing this. In recent years, they've been making it harder to do this. I don't know what the rule is this year, but last year the rule was that everything had to be on board the robot, except for the compressor itself. That means all the plugs for powering the compressor, the sensor, the spike, etc. The software had to control turning the compressor on/off. Also, be sure that you have no leaks in your system. This is especially important if your compressor is off-board.

As long as you're not using too much air, I think it's a good idea to have the compressor off-board, to save weight. Two years ago(?) we used pneumatic shifters, which were the only pneumatics on the robot. It used two of about the smallest cylinders available, and two air tanks. This was plenty for us for a match.