Frustrating solenoid valves won't open

[jnaranjo]

Our rookie team is building a pneumatic T shirt cannon in the off season.
We have a 24V FESTO double sided valve, and a 12V CKD single sided valve.
We are using standard components from the Kit of Parts.
On the 24V FESTO, we are using a 12V battery on the power distribution board, and we are wiring the solenoid to the 24V port on the power distribution board, but we don't know how 12V are magically turning in to 24V, or if they even are.

We have a simple pneumatic circuit set up, with a compressor, relief valve, pressure switch, and solenoid. We just want the solenoid valve to open when we energize it.

I've uploaded pictures of both of the valves. We are currently manually completing the circuit for each solenoid we test. For both of them, we hear clicking but no pressure is being released.

Both are 5 hole solenoids (3 on one side, 2 on the other).

We have the tube from the compressor to the #3 hole in the solenoid (the only one that does not let air through when not connected. It is the one on the side with three holes on one of the sides).

We have nothing connected to the output holes.

On the FESTO, we hear clicking when we power it, and we see a light come on.
We've tried flipping the polarity, and we've tried both sides of the double action solenoid.

On the CKD solenoid, we just hear clicking.

We've played around with the buttons on both solenoids (twisting, turning, pressing, depressing, etc...) and nothing happens. We've tested two FESTOs and one CKD.

If anyone has any suggestions on anything we could try to get these to work, we would be very grateful. We've been banging our heads against the wall for 3 days trying to figure this out.

Thank you!