Electrical – Powering a solenoid valve with a relay and no external power source

power supplyrelaysolenoid-valvespdt

I have a solenoid valve (12VDC, 540mA) that I would like to control with a 12VDC relay (15A SPDT). Is it possible to power the solenoid without an external power source seperate from the one powering the relay board (12V, 0.41A)? In the image, I have a logic signal in the input screws and I know that the relay is working with that signal (switching on and off with sound and light). The solenoid though does not seem to be powered. Should the wall outlet (currently going in at the DC power port) be stripped and connected to the input power screw terminal about ground? Ground power screw terminal currently is connected to ground of solenoid, and the other end of solenoid is connected to NC. Thank you for your help!

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Best Answer

A relay is just a switch. You have to provide power to the solenoid through the relay.

You can wire the solenoid to be powered by the 12V from the relay board.

  1. Connect the red wire from the solenoid to the + pole of the terminal block beside the DC plug.
  2. Connect the black wire from the solenoid to the NO connection of the relay terminal block.
  3. Connect the COM terminal of the same relay terminal block to the - pole of the terminal block by the DC plug.

When you send a signal to the relay board, it will supply power from the DC powersupply to the solenoid through the relay.


  1. No schematic because the site's schematic software doesn't work on phones.
  2. The DC terminal block and the DC plug appear to simply be in parallel. If they are connected with a diode "OR," then this suggestion won't work. I don't see any diodes, though, so it should be fine.