that 8A solenoid... is that really 8A to its coil (to control the thing) or 8A rated contacts to feed an 8A load?

 

The coil is here:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G15X91N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
If you look at the comments on that page, the question "is it .8 or 8 amps?" comes up and someone answers ".8". I don't think that's true because if you look on eBay and elsewhere there's lots of people selling one that looks exactly like it and they all describe it as 8A, and it's about 4 times as big as the Adafruit 1A solenoid I have.

My gut feeling is that with the 10-20ms burst I give it that it will never approach anything close to 8A. I know that's not real scientific but I don't have an ammeter. I have seen it advertised other places as using 9-24VDC. I am used to not taking specs as the final word.

Later this week I'll receive some of the 15A mosfets so that will be the first time I will get to see what the unit actually is capable of with 12V. It's not a piece of junk and I was able to get it useably quiet with some padding.