Solenoid Power Supply

 Just a short post while I wait for the mini-solenoid housing to be printed.  

The 37V Boost power supply board I am using is based around a XL6019 IC.  The spec sheet for it doesn't list the performance when fed by 6V, but it does for a 12V input voltage, and lists the output at 0.8A.  Therefore, I am presuming it can only output around 0.4A to 0.8A at 37V, ie: not much.  As an example, the 4 hole solenoid would like around 16A at 37.5V, so we need something to help supply a temporary source of electrons.  A large capacitor will help with that.  I have an 18 Farad capacitor that I am using for the moment that seems to do a job of supplying a surge of electrons into the solenoids.

This is a small chart to show the difference the capacitor makes in firing solenoid number2:

 Volts    Capacitor    No Cap.
--------------------------------------
12V            40               30
15V            55               30
20V            80               30
25V            110             35
30V            170             35
35V            240             45
37.6V         280             50 

Note: distances are in mm.  Voltage is the output voltage of the boost board, with a fixed 6V input.

You can see that it makes for a huge difference in solenoid firing power.  More current, stronger solenoid action!