solenoid controlling issues

Hey guys and gals, I am trying to build a cylinder head that operates using electronic solenoids to open the intake valves. This is strictly experimental and need to construct a circuit that will give me these results...

cycle 1-10 Hz
supply higher amperage 1-3A? to pull in a couple hundred grams of steel.
control pulse width

I have constructed a signal generator from a 555 timer and am currently having issues testing it on an LED, but it simply does not supply enough current to operate the solenoid in the conditions needed.

I put together the circuit below w/ a 10uF cap

**broken link removed**

Im not a complete electronic noob, but I need help/suggestions on how to build a higher amperage circuit that incorporates a signal generator, or suggestions on how to use the 555 timer for this.

Poor NE555! You are going to fry it.

The maximum current an NE555 can source is 250mA.

Connect an N-channel MosFet transistor (e.g. BUZ10) to the output via a 100Ω resistor. Connect the source of the transistor to ground and the solenoid between drain and V+.

Decouple the timer IC well because of high back EMF from the solenoid.

Boncuk

thanks for the reply!!!....what are C2 and C3? more capacitors?? i do not understand the notation 10n and 100n

C2 and C3 are capacitors.

Notation 10n means 10nanoFarad and the 100n means 100nanoFarad

Here is the calculation

1000pF = 1nF
1000nF = 1uF
1000uF = 1mF
1000mF = 1F

Most electronic circuits use the capacitor in the range of pico, nano and micro farads only.

If you use the ceramic capacitor the 100nF will be noted in the capacitor as 104 and for the 10nf will be 103.

It will take a lot of current to operate a solenoid valve at the speeds required by an IC engine. At 3000 RPM, one crankshaft revolution is 20ms. If you emulate a 270 degee cam, that's only 15ms to open and close the valve, which is not much time for a solenoid to move such a heavy valve mass.