Hello,
I am trying to control a solenoid valve using Arduino Uno. Here is the circuit diagram that I am following:
[url=http://http://www.arduino.cc/playground/uploads/Learning/solenoid_driver.pdf]Arduino Playground - HomePage
But I am not getting any response. Since I got no response when connecting through Arduino, I connected it directly to battery but it still did not show any sort of response.
Is there any way that I can troubleshoot this. Sorry I am a noob and this may sound stupid but my understanding was when I pass current the magnetic valve should open. Is that right? Am I suppose to see that reaction because right now I don't.
Note: This is not a gravity-feed solenoid. This means that you will need enough water pressure to fully open the valve. Check the datasheet below for exact details. It operates at a minimum of around 3 PSI, allowing around 3 L/min of flow.
In other words >> if it isn't connected to something (water, some other liquid) under pressure it won't work
Yes, I did read that description. But I live in college dorm and do not have access to water hose to test it in that way. I realize that without some liquid pressure it would not turn on but I was wondering if I am suppose to see something when just providing voltage. Because currently I don't.
if I am supposed to see something when just providing voltage. Because currently I don't
No you're not supposed
Use your lungs
Naaah seriously - put the inlet to your mouth and blow, then apply power to the valve (juste make sure it is 12V or more, two 9V batteries should do the trick). If it doesn't work (the max human lungs can produce is about 4 psi but you have to blow really hard) try with a bike pump/large syringe/anything that can produce pressure
Alternative method...
Use gravity - place your water tank high and run a hose from it to the valve.
If you have a 10 meter high pipe full of water the pressure right at the bottom is 1 atm (15psi). You need at least 3 psi, right ? so at least 2 meters of height difference
So if you put the tank on the second floor and the valve on the first it should work
Depending on WHY you want an electrically controlled way to make or stop water flowing, you may want to go around all of the solenoid valve issues....
I water my plants "electronically", and use a 12v pump sold for car windshield (windscreen) washer systems to "turn the water on", supplying the pump from a resevoir. (The overflow from the plant tray drains back into the resevoir... I just "overwater" once in a while. The soil retains "enough", and the surplus is "re-cycled". And the "return to resevoir" system gives me an element of fail-safe. If the pump (valve) gets stuck "on" (open), I don't get a flood. Probably a burnt out pump, but that beats a flood!
a) Pump (motor) or solenoid, be sure you know about (and include!) The Diode...
b) These pumps, while the 12v operation is nice, are designed for automotive use, and thus are not shy about demanding plenty of current. Of course you can't run one directly from an Arduino pin, but you may find that many wallwarts aren't even enough. (I use a lead/acid battery charger!... I had one anyway.)
c) Some self prime nicely, others need to be positioned so that the water from your resevoir doesn't drain back when the pump shuts down. This makes maintaining the "fail-safe" aspects harder... but not impossible... The pump goes into a "bucket", rim above level of resevoir. Leak in hose? (As I had.) Bucket fills to same level as resevoir, and then flow stops. And then next time the (now wet) pump is energized, it burns out... as mine did... but at least I didn't have a flood, and my power supply is properly fuzed, and so I didn't have a fire.
d) These pumps will not, of course, supply a huge volume.
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Alternatively... the pumps sold for garden ponds work well! That's a whole OTHER design choices story... especially issues of working with dangerously high voltages...
