I'm not sure if this should be under pneumatics or electronics... I noticed today that two of my solenoids are closing slower than the other three. The three that are working well have a nice quick open and close, super fast. The other two open fast but then there is a noticeable lag on the closing time. It has affected my shooting speed on those turrets. I don't believe that it is a symptom of having buttons on my controller, because the other three are working great. I have noticed a slight improvement when there are BBs in the cannon, which makes me think that the BBs cause a back pressure which helps the solenoid close. But again, I would be seeing the problem on the other faster solenoids. Not sure where to go from here. Ideas? Oh! One other obersvation, one of the solenoids that is closing slow is partnered with another solenoid for the twin sterns. One of the twin stern solenoids is firing fast/normal and the other is slow.
I’d unwire them from your RC switch and manually “flick” the valve leads on the battery terminals. That way you can completely eliminate everything other than the solenoid.
I agree with isolating the variable. What type of solenoids and what voltage? You can always disassemble them to see if something is off but generally they are very simple without much to fail mechanically. You can also interchange sub components from a known good one
Bad spring / worn out spring? That's the return mechanism so that's what I'd check first. Could have also gotten gunk in them somehow and the added friction is slowing them down.
UPDATE: I swapped the connectors so the slow solenoid was on a completely different firing board and it was still doing it.
These are the spartan solenoids. I run an 11.1 V system. One of the solenoids is brand new and the other is slightly new. So you're suggesting I take the bad one apart and see if a spring is stuck or bad?
UPDATE: I have isolated the problem to the specific solenoid. 1) I swapped out the problem solenoid with a different brand. It worked flawlessly. 2) I took apart the slow spartan solenoid I was having issues with. I blew it out with clean air, puts some lube on the piston and it made a HUGE improvement. I am speculating that some burs from the manufacturing process got broken off in the course of use during our first battle and jammed up the piston. After cleaning and lubing it, it seems to be working properly. I'll know more when I put some BBs through it.
