Part Number: DRV101
Hi,
I am in great need of some help and advice with a solenoid project I am working on. I am using some 6V 300mA solenoids (Ref No: JF-0530B) to operate the keys on a saxophone that would normally be operated by the right hand (I can no longer use my right arm and am trying to adapt my saxophone to be played one handed).
The solenoids can depress the keys with about 6V, and hold them in place with 1.5 - 3V depending on the key being pressed.
I'm using a 9.6V battery to power them as this gives a much better reaction time and does not appear to have any effect on the solenoids so long as I drop the voltage to the holding voltage once they have activated.
I have tried using a basic circuit I found on the internet which can drive the initial higher voltage, then drop to the holding voltage (a capacitor in parallel to a suitable resistor), but this is not up to the job; the resistor gets too hot and the capacitor takes too long to discharge if I need to activate/deactivate the solenoid repeatedly (as I would need to do while playing the instrument).
I am a complete novice when it comes to electronics, but am very willing to learn what is required to solve this problem.
The DRV10x drivers look like they are what I need, but I am unsure if they can meet my requirements:
- Repeated activation without lag
- Output the activation and holding voltages I require - I assume from the documentation that this can be configured, but unsure if they can go as low as 1.5V
If anyone offer any advice / recommendations on suitable drivers I will be very grateful.
In addition, I also noticed in the spec for DRV102 that multiple solenoids can be operated using a single DRV102 in conjunction with an Octal power switch (Figure 17 in the data sheet); At the moment, I have 5 solenoids set up on my sax, but will l eventually need to operate 8, would the example shown in the data sheet be able to activate/deactivate 2 or more solenoids independently of each other?
Again, any advice that can be given will be a great help to me.
Thank you in advance.
Simon