digital timers

[schuey]

can anyone recomend any decent digital timers to me,ive seen loads of cheap ones on ebay etc,but i want ones i know they are going to be reliable and dont mind paying more if they are decent,thanks guys

[MellowYellow]

Go to your nearest electrical wholesaler / plumbers merchants and ask for a digital immersion heater timer, preferably one that will handle an inductive load that way there's no need for a contactor with a sensible sized lighting setup.

[nuube]

Got mine from Tescos no problems and easy to use and cheap.

[schuey]

thanks guys,i forgot to mention i have a digital ballast,so i would not need a contactor,seem 3 for £14 on argos website so might check them out

[MellowYellow]

It dosen't neseccarialy matter about the balast. Those cheap timers are designed for table lamps and the like and won't handle much current. My Flower room runs at about 600w, I wouldn't like to run it of a cheap timer, and when you can get a decent timer for just a few quid more why waste your time with the cheap shite ?

[schuey]

good point mellow,daft to spend all this dosh on a good system and then get cheap timers which like you say are desiigned for table lamps etc,for peace of mind i want to know the timers wont maybe be unreliable

[starchild]

Go to your nearest electrical wholesaler / plumbers merchants and ask for a digital immersion heater timer, preferably one that will handle an inductive load that way there's no need for a contactor with a sensible sized lighting setup.

Interesting that chap. Does that mean that say for example a 250w hps, could in effect be wired through this immersion heater (16amp) timer, without the use of a contactor? I ask because i use the envirolite heavy duty timer (8Amp) and that doubles as a contactor for a single light up to 600w, so in effect with the immersion timer having an ampage double that ofthe envirolight, could you in effect run 1200w from the immersion timer? Or when you say sensible lighting set-up do you mean well wired, or small?

Cheers chap, love a bit of DIY me, i built a fan controller using a variac fan dimmer and a junction box, works a treat, and quieter than some pro models, and i want to add another hps on a diff light schedule so if this is safe, most important, then its a goer, immersion timers are as little as £20, even the envirolite timers are nearly £30 with postage these days, Screwfix, and £20, Bargain.....

[MellowYellow]

Your right to compare the ampage, but ou also need to bear in mind the inductive load. Each timer is differant. Mine for example is rated at 13A (3kw), but the inductive rating is 5A (1150w). If you assume that the lights will use 1/2 the power again on startup (and you need a margin for error here because they do vary) my 500w of HPS will need an inductive load of around 750w, so I'm covered there. For your 1200w, you would need around 8a of inductive load on startup. What you could do though is run a timer for each light, and you would be covered.

By sensible setup, I mean everything well wired and rating's calculated. There's some more info in the electrical 101 thread :)

[starchild]

Your right to compare the ampage, but ou also need to bear in mind the inductive load. Each timer is differant. Mine for example is rated at 13A (3kw), but the inductive rating is 5A (1150w). If you assume that the lights will use 1/2 the power again on startup (and you need a margin for error here because they do vary) my 500w of HPS will need an inductive load of around 750w, so I'm covered there. For your 1200w, you would need around 8a of inductive load on startup. What you could do though is run a timer for each light, and you would be covered.

By sensible setup, I mean everything well wired and rating's calculated. There's some more info in the electrical 101 thread :)

Nice mate. When i referred to 1200 w i was using that figuratively as that was simple double the numbers math. To be fair i have only been considering a 250w MH for my veg cab, i had/have no intention of running 1200, the Mrs would never have it lol.

However on researching a bit, its easy to find the ampage of these timers, however the cheaper ones dont list the induction rates, would it safe to calculate that as a rule of thumb heating elements draw more power than a lightbulb? I'm sure that depends on the bulb, i only say that cause i have a kettle with a 1200w element, sure it boils for about 90sec full, so assuming that if a kettle packs that, an immersion heater must be packing the same or more, otherwise the water wouldn't heat. So a standard timer would have enough 'contactorness' to be used without a dedicated contactor? And plenty for a 250w hps if required?

I also assume for versatility you would run a 3pin plug for the socket, and wire in a single socket the other end for the ballast line?

[MellowYellow]

Nice mate. When i referred to 1200 w i was using that figuratively as that was simple double the numbers math. To be fair i have only been considering a 250w MH for my veg cab, i had/have no intention of running 1200, the Mrs would never have it lol.

However on researching a bit, its easy to find the ampage of these timers, however the cheaper ones dont list the induction rates, would it safe to calculate that as a rule of thumb heating elements draw more power than a lightbulb? I'm sure that depends on the bulb, i only say that cause i have a kettle with a 1200w element, sure it boils for about 90sec full, so assuming that if a kettle packs that, an immersion heater must be packing the same or more, otherwise the water wouldn't heat. So a standard timer would have enough 'contactorness' to be used without a dedicated contactor? And plenty for a 250w hps if required?

I also assume for versatility you would run a 3pin plug for the socket, and wire in a single socket the other end for the ballast line?

If it dosen't list the inductive rating, it dosen't have one and may cause problems. Mine cost about £13.00. For your 250w, it would do fine.

A 3kw heating element (about average for an immersion heater) will draw more power than a 250w lightbulb, but a 250w heating element will draw exactly the same as a 250w light bulb. The only difgferance being in the start up or inductive load being drawn initially. I've heard people say that a heating element is differant to a HID light. It's not. The timer dosen't know what it's connected to, all that matters is that the cable, timers and connectors are of a high enough rating to handle whats being used.

My setup is hard wired in, no plugs. A fused spur runs to a central heating wiring centre, Feeds then go to switches 1 for veg and 1 for flower. Anything I want on all the time such as extraction comes off before the timers, and the lights and intakes come off after. Not a plug and socket in sight. It's the safest way to do it. Though if the plugs and sockets are wired correctly there is no problem doing it that way if you want to. It really depends on how you have your setup. If you do use plugs, you limit any part of the circuit thereafter to 13a (3kw) though that should be more than enough for anyone growing on here.