"power" drop when trying to control solenoid?

Other Hardware General Electronics
1

Hi,
Let me start by saying, new to this and just learning electronics :astonished:
I have a Uno and have wired up an IR emitter and IR receiver, to act as an electric eye. When the beam is broken, I have a LED turn on. This all works fine. However, when I change out the LED for a 12vdc solenoid, there doesn't seem to be enough "power" to pull the solenoid in? I have the solenoid wired through a TIP 102, also have a diode across the solenoid. Using the same TIP 102 setup, but triggering with the Uno (instead of the IR receiver) it works fine? I am also doing all of this on a breadboard, so don't know if it was permanently wired, I might have better results?
Any thoughts or input is greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Mark

2

Do you have a schematic, or just a drawing with a pen ?
Or can you make a photo of it ? so we can check the wiring.

A resistor is needed from Arduino pin to base of the TIP102.

3

This is the circuit that I have;

Thanks
Mark

Screenshot (1).png
Screenshot (1).png1366×768 63.4 KB

4

So it works with the Arduino driving the transistor, but not with the IR receiver driving it directly.

That is not surprising. Most IR receivers are active low, and sink current. They are an open collector output. The transistor needs something that sources current.

So you'd need something to invert the signal between the IR detector and the TIP102. Like the Arduino.

Are you wanting to drive the solenoid directly from the IR receiver, or are you just curious and trying things out?

5

Yes, the solenoid fires fine when driven by the Uno using the TIP 102 circuit.
And the IR receiver worked fine, for turning on a separate LED.
I need to fire the solenoid, once the IR receiver has it's "beam" broken. It can go through other steps, etc. I don't care about immediate action...if it takes a couple of seconds or whatever, that is not an issue.
Again...keep in mind, I don't know what I am doing :stuck_out_tongue:
Mark

6

First, can you send us a link to the datasheet for the IR sensor? Is it an IR phototransistor, or a remote control receiver module?

Schematic of how it is connected when it lights the LED.

7

I got my project to work...I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone for their time and trying to help out.
Turned out that I had some bad test leads :roll_eyes:
One more project that I am working on....so you may see me back soon.
Thanks again
Mark