A system and a method for controlling a set of bi-stable solenoids for locking applications which eliminates the direct connection of the power supply and solenoid by introducing a capacitor and a switch between the power supply and solenoid, thus eliminating the need of a dedicated h-bridge for every solenoid, and reducing the control lines required for each solenoid such that after the initial control lines, every subsequent solenoid requires only one control line to select the appropriate solenoid.