Rookie Pneumatics Help

[mrwright]

We have a couple of rookie questions related to our pneumatics system. We are trying to use spikes to control a couple of solenoid valves and we are using LabView.

We have a cylinder that needs to be retracted at the start of the match in order to be within the frame perimeter. At the start of the match we want to push a button to extend the cylinder and it remain there for the remainder of the match. We currently have a single 12 V Festo solenoid for this application.

We have got it working with the spike but it will not stay in place. We can trigger the spike but when we let go of the button it retracts. We think we need to have the button on the joystick programmed as a toggle switch. Does this sound right?

Our concerns are that for this to work correctly the spike will constantly be pulling power which will drain our batteries quicker.

So my questions are:
1.) Is it a good idea to use the spike to be constantly "on" to hold a cylinder in place?
2.) If not what should we do instead?
3.) What is the best way to program a toggle switch in LabView to keep the spike "on"?

Thanks!