Compressor will not turn on.

[tragic]

As the title I am having issues setting up the compressor to run on the robot. I have compressor fully wired up with the spike relay with the PWM going to the relays on the Digital Sidecar, then I have the pressure switch hooked up to the signal and ground wires of PWM coming from the GPIO on the Digital Sidecard but I can't get the compressor to turn on when I turn on the robot.

airCompressor = new airCompressor(1,1);
airCompressor->Start();

I have the object creation in BuiltinDefaultCode and the start call in RobotInit

I have checked the cables with a multimeter and they're all working, I checked the pressure switch with a multimeter it is not broke as well, I tested the compressor and it is not seized.

It would be greatly appreciated if someone could tell me where I went wrong with setting up the compressor to run on board the robot.

[Joe Ross]

Are you enabling the robot on the driver station?

If you remove the db-37 cable from the digital sidecar, are all 3 power LEDs brightly lit?

[tragic]

Thanks for the reply I am enabling the robot through the driver station, I have also tried using autonomous as well to start the compressor but with no luck. I will check the cable tomorrow and get back to you on that.

[chris.boyle]

Try this:

Compressor *airCompressor;

airCompressor = new Compressor(1,1);
airCompressor->Start();

The code you supplied has an inadvertant error, you have declared a "new" of your variable, not of the base Compressor class. This should have given you a compiler error.

[tragic]

I have that code in the program I just forgot to put the Compressor *airCompressor up in the post. Thanks for the reply though.

[Jon Stratis]

Is the LED on the spike changing color? If so, the the problem is between the spike and the compressor.

Look at the DSC - is the LED next to the relay output lighting up when the compressor should turn on? If so, then the problem is between the DSC and the spike.

Is the pressure switch plugged into the correct DIO port? Using the console to output the state of the DIO in that same slot to make sure it's working correctly (carefully and safely pressurize the system using a shop compressor, which has it's own feedback loop to ensure safe operation!).

These are all leading questions to try and figure out where the problem is - there's a long chain of stuff that has to work (pressure switch, wire to the DSC, code, relay output on the DSC, spike, and finally compressor) to get the compressor to turn on/off at the right time. Your best bet is to start at the beginning of the chain and work your way down until you find where it stops working as expected.

[Trent B]

Another point worth checking is whether or not the fuse in the spike has blown out. You can legally (and it is advised) to put a 20amp circuit breaker in its place.