Festo 2012 Double Solenoid

[jbsmithtx]

So, our team is re-prepping our old robot, just trying to get ready for this season... After tinkering around for a little bit, we can't seem to get our solenoid to work. The LEDs signaling which side the air should be coming out of are working, and switch when we hit the button on our controller that used to switch them. However it simply keeps putting pressure into one of the valves. Also, the manual override features works well and is the only way to make the solenoid work. What's up with this?!

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by jbsmithtx

So, our team is re-prepping our old robot, just trying to get ready for this season... After tinkering around for a little bit, we can't seem to get our solenoid to work. The LEDs signaling which side the air should be coming out of are working, and switch when we hit the button on our controller that used to switch them. However it simply keeps putting pressure into one of the valves. Also, the manual override features works well and is the only way to make the solenoid work. What's up with this?!

A couple of questions:
1> has this valve worked before (do you know it was good)
2> Is it a 12 or 24 volt valve (and is it plugged into the proper voltage)
3> are you supplying the common port with air (this should be port 1). If you are not then when the valve switches the pressure might not go where you want it to
4> are you giving the valve more than 20 PSI (I believe the shuttle of the Festo will not move with less than ~20PSI)

[Andrew Bates]

If the manual over-ride works then it's either an electrical or programming issue.

[jbsmithtx]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

A couple of questions:
1> has this valve worked before (do you know it was good)
2> Is it a 12 or 24 volt valve (and is it plugged into the proper voltage)
3> are you supplying the common port with air (this should be port 1). If you are not then when the valve switches the pressure might not go where you want it to
4> are you giving the valve more than 20 PSI (I believe the shuttle of the Festo will not move with less than ~20PSI)

Yes, we have all of these, and I will double check on the voltage. I know from working on it the past few days that the valve has worked, we have it into the proper pressure port (1), and we have had the valve at 30 PSI regularly (5 above the 25 minimum), but we put it up to 40 just to be sure this wasn't our problem.

I suspect our problem may be electrical thought, because we recently rearranged wires to look "better", and thought we put them back into their correct voltages, but will check.

[feverittm]

Originally Posted by jbsmithtx

...

I suspect our problem may be electrical thought, because we recently rearranged wires to look "better", and thought we put them back into their correct voltages, but will check.

Famous last words "we just cleaned up some wires" In 2011 we had things working relatively well and then proceeded to clean up our bot. Nothing worked right after that!

Specific to your problem I would first check the voltage and the polarity of the connection to the solenoid. Put a voltmeter on the connection and check that the correct firing voltage gets to the valve. Firstly however, I would hotwire the valve from a battery/voltage source and make sure it fires. This will give you a baseline to work from electrically.

I hope this helps.

Enjoy!

[jspatz1]

I have lost track of how many teams I haved helped with a valve not firing that turned out to be be 12v being supplied to a 24v solenoid, even when it was working at one time. A very common error that is often due to following an out-of-date KOP wiring diagram with 12v wiring. If you did some rewiring work, definitely check this out. If there is any doubt about whether the valve is getting power or functioning, use a power supply or two batteries in series to provide 24v directly to the solenoid wires. If the valve functions and the breakout led's are lighting, the you have a power wiring error.

[jbsmithtx]

Still having troubles with the solenoid. Finally got it hooked up to 24v and it still doesn't work. Solenoid lights up, solenoid breakout lights up but valve will not move. Looking into the magnets as they seem to have just quit working altogether... Is this a possibility?

[Andrew Bates]

Originally Posted by jbsmithtx

Still having troubles with the solenoid. Finally got it hooked up to 24v and it still doesn't work. Solenoid lights up, solenoid breakout lights up but valve will not move. Looking into the magnets as they seem to have just quit working altogether... Is this a possibility?

Well, one way to check is to try another solenoid. What's the model number of the solenoid you're trying to get working?