Beginning Pneumatics Woes

Technical Pneumatics
1

Hello everyone,
We got our Pneumatics board all set up tonight but got stumped by the following direction in the pneumatics manual…

We assumed this meant bridge the connectors, but when we tried turning everything on to set ur relief valves, nothing happened.

After becoming frustrated, we left it for tomorrow, but as I read more, I am thinking that we just did not need to bridge the connections.

Is this true?

We are running python, but also can run Java. A solenoid was in the code and the robot was in teleop mode with no errors, just nothing happened (we did not try to actuate the solenoid seeing as there was no real pressure).
~Mr. R^2

2

As far as I understand you need to bridge connectors on the pneumatic pressure switch. This can be done with a screwdriver pressed to both wire terminals on the switch.

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3

Okay,
We did it with another wire between the terminals. The pump never started though.
Hmm

4

If everything is wired correctly your compressor should start when the code asks it to do so or stop.
Bridging the terminals is used to bypass the switch so compressor keeps going and this is done in order to calibrate the safety pressure relief valve.
At all other times compressor starts when instructed to do so and the pressure is below the cut off pressure in the pressure switch,

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5

Was the robot enabled?

2 Likes
6

Yes, Thank you all for your help. I am wondering if…
A) the pump works, and
B) if our code is correct.

7

Can’t help you with the code, do you get 12vdc from the PCM?

8

That is a great point. We did not even test it as we assumed it was working. We will check that tomorrow.

9

For the code portion, you just need to instantiate a solenoid and that takes care of compressor stuff.

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10

So, does this look correct for python?

self.exampleSolenoid = wpilib.Solenoid(0)

Edit: Thank you. It was totally a code issue. While the code above works, it was not what was on the robot at the time.