Driver Mode 10: Pulse¶
This page describes a mode of operation for a driver. See the Working with Drivers section of the FAST Serial Protocol documentation for details about how to use it.
Pulse the driver (up to 255ms) when triggered. Parameters let you control the PWM (both for the initial kick and longer value), as well as the rest time.
[DL/DN]:<driver>,<trigger>,<switch>,10,<pwm1_ms>,<pwm1_power>,<pwm2_ms>,<pwm2_power>,<rest_ms>¶
When a driver in Mode 10 is triggered, it will activate for the number of milliseconds defined in P1, with a PWM patten from P2. Once that time is up, it will activate the driver for the additional amount of time specified in P3 with the PWM power from P4. Once that time is up, the rest timer from P5 will start, and the driver will not activate again until this time expires. (The rest time is how you configure "anti machine gunning", which, for example, will help prevent a mis-adjusted switch from rapid firing a slingshot or pop bumper.)
<driver>¶
FAST driver number, in hex.
<trigger>¶
Controls how this driver should be triggered. See our Driver Trigger Flags explainer for details.
In almost every case, you would use 81 for this value which means this driver is enabled (e.g. it's available to be fired), but it's disconnected from any physical switches. This is usually what you want when you're initially configuring the hardware since you probably don't want this driver to fire if a ball was randomly on the playfield.
If this driver is for something that will be automatically pulsed due to a switch hit during a game, (pop bumper, slingshot, etc.) then you would use the TL: command to enable this behavior on ball start and disable it on ball end later.
If this driver will be manually controlled in the game (trough eject, plunger launcher, knocker, etc.) then you would also use the TL: command to pulse it as you need later. (You can also use the TL: command to manually pulse a driver that's set up for automatic control, like if you need to fire a bop bumper manually during ball search.)
<switch>¶
FAST switch number, in hex
<mode>¶
10 Pulse
<pwm1_ms>¶
Initial pulse time in milliseconds (hex)
<pwm1_power>¶
PWM power of the initial pulse time. See the pwm byte sequence table at the bottom of this page for details.
<pwm2_ms>¶
Pulse time of the second pulse in milliseconds (hex). This pulse time starts immediately after the initial pulse time expires.
<pwm2_power>¶
PWM power of the second pulse time. In most cases, this will be a less-powerful pulse than the initial pulse. See the pwm byte sequence table at the bottom of this page for details.
<rest_ms>¶
Time in milliseconds (hex) that the coil will not be able to be activated again after the second pulse time expires. Once this time is up, the process is "reset" and the driver can be activated again. If the activation switch is already active when the rest time expires, the driver will activate again immediately.
Real-world examples¶
Driver mode 10 is used for things like pop bumpers. We have real world examples in our programming guide, including the initial configuration, enabling, disabling, and manually firing the coil.
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