(New)matics advice

[Ari423]

Originally Posted by euhlmann

We use mostly double solenoids. Last year, everything fit the model. Intake arm up and down, cheval/portcullis wedges up and down, shifting up and down (yes, vex 3-cim ball shift gearboxes).
So if you have something like shifting, it doesn't make sense to use two single solenoids when you can simply use a double solenoid.

I don't think you understand what "single solenoid" and "double soleniod" means. It doesn't mean that a single solenoid only has one output. It means that when you apply power to the solenoid, one of the outputs gets air and the other doesn't. When you don't apply power, a spring returns the solenoid shaft and the output switches ports. This compared to a double solenoid, where a second solenoid forces the return of the inner shaft, not a spring. For a standard double solenoid, one solenoid is on and the other is off at any given time. Otherwise either the solenoids will be fighting each other or the shaft will be free to slide around and change outputs at will. You can see whether you're using a single or double solenoid easily because a single solenoid has one pair of input wires where a double solenoid will have two pairs. In FRC (as far as I've seen), there is generally no reason to use more complicated double solenoids over single solenoids unless you are working with 3-position solenoids, in which case you can't use the manifolds posted above either.*


*That isn't to say that you can't**, just that it usually isn't necessary.
**I have a number of times because we had them in storage. They work fine and are basically the same to program. They are just a bit more complicated electrically, more places for things to fail, and more expensive.