Sorta defeats the purpose of having a timer in the first place.
I am very picky about timers.
First, the mechanical ones, if the power goes out they stop running so the time is going to be off. Major PITA. I prefer a RELIABLE digital timer that remembers the proper time and the programming settings after a power outage. Reliable is the key here. I have had timers that just end up flashing 12:00 with all the programming cleared for no good reason. The timer I use is one that goes in where a wall switch would go, like for outdoor lighting. It is programmable in 30 minute increments, very simple. I don't know the model, I had a different one in there from Leviton that would reset for no reason, so I replaced it with this one. I have heard so many horror stories about people using the programmable plugin timers from the hydro store.
I used to get this little square one that was reliable, had a shit ton of them, they were made by intermatic, sold at home depot and the like. I used them for many things but flood and drain pump timing was a critical one that they never let me down on. They don't sell that one anymore though.
One of the worst timers I had were the digital version of intermatics 30 AMP 240 volt timers, metal boxy job, normally a water heater timer. I had bought some to use in a grow back in missouri and they all had the issue of flashing 12:00 and losing programming. I had 3 in that setup and they were all random, so one timer here and one timer there, sometimes two at once. Defeated the purpose of having timers, ended up running things on a contactor bank with one of the little plugin intermatics that was reliable. lol Two timers, same brand, one great, one sucks.
So what timer is super reliable? Off the shelf right now I will have to defer on that question as I haven't bought a new one in many years. I will add a pic of my lighting timer thats done me good since about 2009. Zero issues, just 100% reliability.
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A timer like mine can be wired in a two gang box with a receptacle that it controls. Then you can plug your lighting controller trigger cord/s into that. I am sure that you can find a reliable digital timer that is a simple plugin option though. One could make a thread asking about the most reliable digital programmable timer currently available.
One thing I never do is buy a controller that has a built in timer. If the timer goes bad it's a much bigger hassle. Use the lighting controllers that have trigger cords, very flexible setup.
