We are having trouble controlling our Festo Solenoid from the Analog Breakout Card. It appears the Festo runs off of 12V control signals, but we are only able to generate 5V outputs from our breakout card.
Currently we have the controller outputs directly connected to the PWM inputs on the Festo. Do we actually require a Spike relay in between in order to control with 12V signals? Or is there a way in LabVIEW to change the outputs from 5V to 12V instead?
In the FRC documentation we see the connections straight from the Analog Breakout Card to the Solenoid, however in their connections they are actually using an SMC as opposed to our Festo.
I know exactly what you are talking about. we just hooked our slot on the crio to an output that you would hook up a spike to, so it is on its own breaker. it seems to work fine so far.
The Festos that have come in the Kit the past few years are 24v devices.
Solenoids connect to the Solenoid breakout, NOT the Analog Breakout.
Note that the Solenoid Breakout is shorter than the Analog Breakout, and the Solenoid Module has two rows of green status LEDs.
The Solenoid Breakout can be wired with either 12v or 24v directly from the Power Distribution Panel. Pick the right one for your solenoids.
The 24v Festo looks like this:
If you really have a 12v solenoid (not a Festo) then it can be wired to a Spike and controlled in code as a Relay.
We discovered that we actually received two Analog Breakout Boards instead of receiving a Solenoid Breakout Board. As a result, our outputs were 5V. If we were able to use a Solenoid Breakout Board as in Mark’s response I believe it would resolve all of our issues.
Mark,
Festo dual solenoid valves can have either 12V or 24VDC solenoid coils. There is white lettering calling out the required activation voltage. Most (all?) of the KoP valves were 24v and Andymark was selling 12v ones (only?) for some time.
I glossed over that possibility, as this is a rookie team who probably doesn’t know the difference yet. They have limited experience with FRC solenoids and I conjecture that they’ve only ever seen the Festo 24v solenoids that came in this year’s kit.
The coils will be marked as 12v or 24v so you can double check.
Were having trouble with one of our double solenoids as well, we believe its wired correctly and have the same code that’s working on our practice robot, using the double solenoid. We believe we can feel vibrations when we power it but the valve does not change.
The connection of the solenoid wires at the Solenoid Breakout could be reversed.
Do the green status lights on the Solenoid Module respond to the controls correctly? That’ll guarantee that your code is correct.
Do the status lights on each of the solenoid coils light up when you activate each?
The lights there should correspond to the Solenoid Module status LEDs.
Do you have pressure in the system?
The solenoids are pilot pressure driven, meaning they must have ~30psi to operate.
Is the solenoid plumbed properly?
Input goes into the single-fiitting side in the photo above. Two cylinder outputs come out the double-fitting side.
There are indicator LEDs on each of the solenoid coils. There are also indicators for each of the 8 channels on the solenoid breakout in the cRIO. If they are all going green, solidly, then I’d guess the wiring and programming are correct. You can also try manual activation of the valve(s) by pushing the blue “button” on the valve. If nothing happens when you do that, there is an air circuit problem.
