2008 Festo Solenoid

[Kevin Thorp]

I'm not familiar with the 2008 valves but most solenoid valves need very little power (~1 Watt) because the solenoid itself is not shifting the valve spool. It opens a tiny port to let pilot pressure do the work.

Look at the valve symbol (usually printed right on the valve). If the operator is shown as a small box with a diagonal line, it's a solenoid. If it also has a triangle it has an air pilot assist, so the solenoid is doing almost no work.

As a side note, if it also has a little "top hat" that's a manual operator. Great for troubleshooting without bothering those pesky programmers.

Here's an example of a 5-way, 2-position double solenoid valve with pilot assist and manual overrides: