Yet another Solenoid  Valve + Arduino help request

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
1

Hey guys,

I don't do much with electronics, but I'm trying to drive a solenoid valve with the arduino. I know there are a bunch of posts on this in the forum already, and I've read all of them, but I'm still too incompetent to get this circuit to work :-[.

Here is what I'm working with:
Arduino Uno,

using the circuit displayed at:

power supply: 12v @ 1 amp

solenoid valve: 10.6 Watt, spec sheet can be viewed here: http://www.indautomation.com/pdf/asco/8262h.pdf

diode D1: 1N4004 (RadioShack.com Official Site - America's Technology Store)

resistor R1: 2.2k

transistor: TIP120 (RadioShack.com Official Site - America's Technology Store)

The solenoid does work if I connect it directly to the power supply. The arduino is running the simply Blink code that turns pin 13 on and off every few seconds. It could easily be a problem with my wiring too if all of these components look like they should work together... Perhaps I will post a picture of my circuitboard if these components agree.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

2

A 12volt coil is a special order according to that datasheet. If you are sure your coil is a 12vdc one (you do state it works if directly wired to +12vdc) then it must be current starved (if you have no wiring errors).

Reduce the ohm value of the base resistor to say 330 ohms. The resistor sets the base current, the collector (and thus solenoid) current is set by the base current times the current gain of the transistor.

Lefty

3

The resistor helped, and I also had my transistor pins wrong. It works now, thanks for reading!

4

Its super easy you can use a micro 5vdc or if its under 25 vdc you can use a transitor but if it need high amp youll need to use a 9vdc relay along side a 5 vdc transitor.