This is our first year using pneumatics and we have some questions about the pressure switch. When the psi in the tanks gets to 115 the compressor turns off, so how does it turn back on? Do we need another switch to tell the compressor to turn on when it drops to around 90 psi, or is it a matter programming the pressure switch.
The pressure switch automatically turns it off when full and turns it on when empty. You do not need a secondary switch to aid this switch. If your compressor is turning off too early, check to make sure that the pressure cutoff is right and not low. That can typically solve many of these problems. If you still keep having these problems, check the FRC manual’s section on how to set up the pneumatics circuit. Use that as a guide for your current pneumatics circuit and fix what you see isn’t working properly, or differently affixed. That will get rid of most of your problems!
The pressure switch should be connected to the DIO on the digital sidecar. The pressure switch will open at around 115 psi, and close again at around 95 psi. You need to program the cRIO to turn on the compressor when the switch is closed, and off when it is open.
WPILib makes this real easy.
Compressor compressor = new Compressor(*Pressure switch channel*, *Compressor relay channel*);
compressor.start();
Is all you need if you’re using Java. C++ should be similar, if not identical.