Thread: Help with air trigger for cannon

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Doing my first air cannon and was planning on using a lightning box to trigger the cannon off a sound track. Well have found that the lightning box keeps the sprinkler valve open and doesn't shut it off. Here is a pic of my setup. Need some help figuring this out!

ok, I have figured out whats happening... the AC adapter I am using for the Lawn Genie is keeping a charge. When I unplug it, it still has juice and is keeping the circuit open... does anyone know if I can plug it directly into the lightning box or will that fry the solenoid? The specs for the lawn genie say 18v ac minimum at the solenoid...

solenoid voltage is on or off. When power is applied it opens and thus the sprinklers turn on. when there is no power they go off. if the lightning box supplies 18v then go for it. it will not affect the operation of the solenoid. i have built several air cannons using sprinkler valves and i use 3 9-volt batteries and a push button to trigger them. 18v ac or 18v dc the solenoid cant tell the difference.

That's an issue with AC adapters, it's always fun when your LEDs stay on long enough after unplugging to be a bit creepy. Unfortunately it doesn't matter where you plug the adapter in, it'll still have the same issues. The best way to do a quick kill of power is to splice into the cord after the power block/wall wart and do all the on/off control with the lower voltage DC side and not with the main AC power.

I figured out my problem... 1st off, I can run straight from the lightning fx box to the solenoid, secondly... the reason the valve was staying open..... It made a loud noise thus re-triggering the lightning fx box and then it would just stay open... relocated the fx box so it cant hear the valve opening and wala!!! It works!!!! Whew and WOO HOO!!!