Coding Relay with Compressor

[Poke2201]

Ok, Ive been working on getting the compressor working for 3 days now. Ive followed every example to get those relays to change colors from Orange to Green. This is my first year in FIRST (No Pun intended) and Im the team programmer. I use Labview.

[Alan Anderson]

Does it work if you use the Solenoid With Compressor Example?

[Mark McLeod]

Have you tested using the example program "Solenoid with Compressor"?

Use that program as a working baseline to look at the Relay LEDs on the Digital sidecar. If the Relay 1 LEDs are not lighting, then that argues strongly for a wiring problem with the pressure switch.

If the Relay LEDs do turn green, but the Spike light remains orange, then that argues strongly that there is a control cable problem between the Digital Sidecar and the Spike.

[Poke2201]

Ive only used the examples as references. How do you test one through an example?

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Poke2201

Ive only used the examples as references. How do you test one through an example?

Run it. Change the IP address first:

Originally Posted by Solenoid With Compressor Example

Note: In order to run this example, you will need to change the IP address of the cRIO in the Solenoid With Compressor Example project. You can do this by right-clicking on RT CompactRIO Target in the project, selecting Properties, and modifying the IP Address setting in the General Category to match that of your cRIO.

[Mark McLeod]

Make sure to run the Driver Station application in the Developer account where you are Running the example from.

[3286]

We have had two days off this week,one for Presidents Day and the other was for a snow day that we didn't use. Saturday we pretty much finalized the mechanincals and fixed some squawks from our test driving, so today I thought I could do some programming. I have been here since 9 am, its nearly 330 now and have done everything listed above to the best of my knowledge. All the lights were green, the robot works properly - well it moves properly - but the compressor still does not come on.

This is pretty discouraging, our goal in the next 5 days is to get the kicker cylinder to extend and retract, which would seem to need to inputs from a joystick since the buttons are either on or off, but if the compressor wont operate then the kicker part is pretty useless. Our other goal was to get the KOP motor we are using for our lifting arm to work, again a simple on-off set of inputs ...well ok, forward / reverse, but again these are simply on or off conditions. At this rate it will be next year before I figure this out.

My kingdom for a simple explanation of how to do this. Have read the manuals and the online helps from one end to the other, but Id give the world for something simple and visual like a flow chart or Labview for Dummies. My hat is off to all of you who can grasp the programming side so quickly.

Mike

[billbo911]

OK, we finally got it working!! As usual, the problem was our own. The key to making it work was to define the relay powering the compressor as a "Both directions". When we had it set to "Forward Only" it just would not work.

Simple, but quite frustrating.

[Poke2201]

I believe that I have done that, but the Spike would not turn on.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by billbo911

OK, we finally got it working!! As usual, the problem was our own. The key to making it work was to define the relay powering the compressor as a "Both directions". When we had it set to "Forward Only" it just would not work.

Simple, but quite frustrating.

I definitely wouldn't call a bug in the library a problem of your own. http://decibel.ni.com/content/thread/6131

[billbo911]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

I definitely wouldn't call a bug in the library a problem of your own. http://decibel.ni.com/content/thread/6131

I really want to use an expletive right about now.

This is the kind of information that "should" be made known and be easily found, not buried only on NI's web site.
Honestly, thank you for pointing this out Joe. Hopefully other teams that are struggling with this will find this info as well.

[Poke2201]

Ok I made a new code in Teleop with solenoids and Relay and compressors I cant tell if I did this right, and I just followed most of the examples around here and LabView.

Images of Teleop:
Compressor On, Solenoids Extended


Compressor On, Solenoids Retracted


Compressor Off, Solenoids Retracted

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by billbo911

[size="5"]The key to making it work was to define the relay powering the compressor as a "Both directions". When we had it set to "Forward Only" it just would not work.

Why are you defining an explicit relay for the compressor instead of using the Open Compressor vi? It's a lot less of a hassle to let the library code deal with reading the pressure switch and running the compressor as needed.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Poke2201

Ok I made a new code in Teleop with solenoids and Relay and compressors I cant tell if I did this right, and I just followed most of the examples around here and LabView.

Why are you enabling and disabling the compressor based on a joystick button?

Unless you're doing some fancy power-saving scheme, I don't see a need to do anything besides opening and starting the compressor in Begin (and closing it in Finish). Everything involved with turning it on when the pressure switch calls for it will be taken care of for you behind the scenes.

[Poke2201]

Ok considering I have never programmed before(That whole code took me 3 weeks to learn, and that was just the Tank drive) I don't understand what I should do with the Compressor.

I also have other questions such as the relays being in the right area. Ive done this on the Classmate, and then I gave up due to the tiny keyboard(Try typing at 60 wpm on that thing.)

If its easier for you do you want to contact through email?
j_arucan@yahoo.com