A cheap digital timer can have you hating life real quick around here. Even not so cheap timers... Mechanical are pretty reliable. Albeit not the most accurate, and the best you can really find is 15 min intervals. I can mod the real cheap 30 min interval timers (remove a gear, and bond in a spacer) to make em roughly 40 min cycle with roughly 50 second intervals. That can work for certain things. Haven't busted open any of the 15 min ones... Anyway, I use digital. Cheap even. Been burned too. With pumps that is. My multi-function controller (that's what Imma call it)... ...ticks right along. Faithfully. It's Isolated circuits though. 12vdc timers firing separate relays, which in turn fire some big ass contactors. I also built in over temp protection, scrub timing, co2 disabled during scrub, time delay for lights firing in the event of momentary outage, and it also signals a relay that turns on a big ventilation system I've built for my lights. I like building stuff. You can also see my water cooled mini-split hanging up there... Back to pumps. I kinda need the advantage digital brings. Up to 20 cycles at as low as a minute per cycle on most of them. Since I top feed some plants, I need short feed times. Not necessarily so many, but the option is there. I've gone through three to find one that is currently working proper for what I'm needing (2 mins 4 times a day). I keep waiting for it to fail. When they fail, for me anyway, they don't really fail. Well, they obviously failed, but they still work. They get reset for some reason, and lose all settings. I'm thinking (that's not always a good thing) that, when the pump turns off, the magnetic field is collapsing and inducing enough voltage back through the wires, causing the timer to do a reset. So, I figure I'll slap together a controller, of sorts, and put one of the ones that failed through a workout. It's been faithfully switching away for two days now. 5 mins on every two hours. No, I didn't just sit and watch it. That'd be some major couch lock! lol It hasn't reset though. Next I'll hook it to a mag drive pump, in a bucket, for shits and giggles. The pumps circuit will no longer be part of the timers output circuit though. So, I don't see it doing any different than what the light bulb has been doing. Will test though. As for what, how ... huh? I'mma just rattle off parts and pics. Box, dual grounded outlet (break the bridge to isolate each Line), length of cord, 12vdc automotive type relay (I cut the mounting tab off), and a small random 12vdc power supply. I need to get a cover. Timer controls 12vdc power supply, which fires relay. Relay controls Line to pump/switched outlet. Questions, or just bullshittin'... all is good. I'll pry throw other crap in here anyway. May be better in DIY, but I find myself hanging in here. -Ken
I have a few hobbies that require timers, and seems everyone hates digital timers. I myself use the analog (correct?) Timers, the ones that click... I ordered an instaspark timer meant for heavy duty, it came with 2 timers, only 1 actually works. Timer technology isn't really progressing for some reason... Though I expect it to since horticulture, reef, and aquarium hobbies are starting to get advanced.
You would think there'd be some damned reliability with them by now. Maybe one day. I think they're just too cheaply built/designed. No protection against spikes, or what I'm suspecting from collapsing magnetic fields. Edit: Yes I'd call the other an analog or mechanical.
So many horror stores in the reef forums when their timer doesn't perform and crashes the tanks parameters. I d planted aquariums, at most if my timers fail, I'll either get a dark tank or a tank lit all day and algae will bloom.
Yep, I've read many a horror stories as well. Some timers may very well just be junk, but I might have narrowed down what's been giving me grief. Time will tell. I need to run a pump on it for a while. I can't say I've had problems running lighting. Although I'm not using these cheap digital on any HID.
Been cycling this thing 5 mins every hour now with a 650 gph mag pump. Prior, it ran a 260 gph twice before failing. That was with the pump connected directly to the timer. I don't particularly want to hook it direct, again, to verify it'll fail. Don't want to end up frying it completely. I'll just let it keep cycling over night. I'd like to use it on a little E/F deal I built, that I'm sexing a bunch of bagseed clones in. I hate flooding for 15 mins. I mean it works, but totally unnecessary for me. This little deal will flood, and drain, in under 3. I figure 5 mins is plenty, and I'll be comfortable flooding a little more often. Totes from Home Depot like $10 each. One for res, one for flood table/chamber/pot/whatever. Above mentioned 260 gph pump from Harbor Freight for like $15 I have tubing. If one didn't, tubing ain't very much at the hardware store. Fill/drain kit $7, netpots $1 each, from local hydro shop. Hydroton I get online $50 for 50 liters. I've got a bunch... However, I'd say there's maybe 25 liters in there. Could put some drain stack extensions (.70 cents per 1.5" extension @ local shop) on, fill it up, and grow 2 decent or 1 massive plant. I may lose another closet in the near future... The totes have convenient little channels for drainage, but I took a heat gun and convinced the tote that it was gonna go ahead and sag a little. Drains completely like a champ. Although, I guess the res is trying telling me this is the Devil's lettuce.
Over 24 hours of cycling the pump. I'm callin' it good. It's gotta be like I suspected, something to do with reverse voltage. Likely induced from collapsing magnetic fields. Like an ignition coil on a car. The coil gets juiced up by the battery, creating an electromagnetic field. Take away power to that coil, and that magnetic field collapses, and wants to go somewhere. It induces itself into the nearest conductor as a voltage and seeks the path of least resistance to ground. With a car coil, that'd be into the secondary winding and on to the plug... yada yada yada Anyway, that shit happens with motors too. They're running off magnetic fields. Same with old skool mag ballasts. I would think the bulbs would soak up anything, but that shit is going to take the path of least resistance. So, I don't know. Pry fuck the timer just like the pump was doing. Long story short... Timer works beautifully when it's switching a few cfl, or basically hardly any load. As is the case with the little 12v power supply. It's only drawing 0.03 amps. Whereas the pump draws almost half an amp. A little more on start up. Plus my theory of what's causing the timer to get reset and lose all settings. Because, honestly, a .5 amp draw shouldn't even pose a threat to the timer. It's gotta be reverse voltage finding ground through the timer's clock circuit, and hosing it. So, there you have it. In case anyone else wants to nerd out over digital timers fucking up... I'm gonna use this bitch on my clones that are gettin' their sex on!
Awesome thread I had (have) one of those little mech timers nice little timer. Also the gray box mech timers. Good if you like hearing that TAP when it energizes lol Nice info, that little timer is what 2” square if that At least mine was️ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk @ I love growing weed