Timer recommendations?

I feel like it’s not asked much, and probably because it’s a basic question, but I have had 2 mechanical timers of different brands and quality shit out during my first grow. The first tripped to “always on“ during veg, so I bought a slightly better one. The better one has been working, but in the past 2 months it has drifted 3 hours.

As in, my original lights off time was 10pm. Now it’s 7pm. No power outages, everything is on a battery backup, and it’s just slowly drifted.

i guess it’s not the worst, but what should I be using if I want a timer I don’t have to fuck with for a year or two? I’ll be honest I don’t trust the digital Chinese ones much either, but I haven’t tried.

I am also looking for a short cycle timer for irrigation if there’s something that would fit both...?

I got this one for a short cycle but it's been good as a normal timer so far. Trying the short cycle next run

Checkout the nearpow timers off amazon. I have bought several (lost count) of their timers, the dual timer and the single timer version and they haven't had one problem.


Another neat timer is this one:


It will monitor power usage and has a great timer, I have a couple of these and they are now my new go to timer (they will work on 120 and 240 volts) the only thing is they put the plug and outlet upside down lol so you have to pigtail it but it's a great timer.

Nearpow is where it’s at, hands down. The ability to control 2 different timers independently is what sets this timer apart from all the others. Had mine for over a year and its never skipped a beat.

Renfro said:

Checkout the nearpow timers off amazon. I have bought several (lost count) of their timers, the dual timer and the single timer version and they haven't had one problem.

Outlet Timer, NEARPOW Dual Digital Light Timer with 2 Independently-controlled Outlets, 18 ON/OFF Programs, 24-Hour and 7-Day Programmable, Indoor Heavy Duty Electrical Timer Switch, 3 Prong, 15A/1800W - - Amazon.com

Outlet Timer, NEARPOW Dual Digital Light Timer with 2 Independently-controlled Outlets, 18 ON/OFF Programs, 24-Hour and 7-Day Programmable, Indoor Heavy Duty Electrical Timer Switch, 3 Prong, 15A/1800W - - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Another neat timer is this one:

ZHURUI PR10-E US15A Plug Power Meter Energy Voltage Amps Electricity Monitor Analyzer - - Amazon.com

ZHURUI PR10-E US15A Plug Power Meter Energy Voltage Amps Electricity Monitor Analyzer - - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

It will monitor power usage and has a great timer, I have a couple of these and they are now my new go to timer (they will work on 120 and 240 volts) the only thing is they put the plug and outlet upside down lol so you have to pigtail it but it's a great timer.

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Thanks Renfro! I went with the first, and so far I am impressed. The dual outlet control is perfect for a single tent and irrigation setup.

I also saw your thread on the second timer and am trying to find one, but it looks like Amazon Canada needs to restock. Looks like a nice piece of gear.

I use a cheap smart plug from amazon. I can turn it on or off from anywhere via my phone and check to see if it’s on or off after a power outage. Also has a built in kill-a-watt meter to monitor energy usage. It was like $15 for a pack of two.

Walmart has timers for $5 and $10. I use it, its doesnt make noise like my ipower timer. I have a dual link timer too, quiet and no led light so I put it in my tent.

sf_frankie said:

I use a cheap smart plug from amazon.

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imreadyfortheend89 said:

Walmart has timers for $5 and $10.

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I wouldn’t trust either of those with my crop... the smart plugs are notoriously unreliable, and the cheap mech timers fail on. And are susceptible to bumping.

I use an rPi and relay module now, previously had great luck with GE and Honeywell timers. They are at least made to run at 60hz...

The ones at Walmart are GE and Honeywell brand, with dual and single outlets. But yeah they are the mechanical one. So far no problems but I do understand these things are not entirely foolproof and will malfunction. Just don't go buying cheap timers online. My GE mechanical timer been going for while now in my mother tent. Only had set it up the one time, quiet too; no loud ticking.

I bought a number of timers due to having a light leak with my LED and blaming it on the timers (it was reversed neutral hot) and one that I got was a smart etekcity outdoor 2 outlet smart switch. To be honest I have fallen in love with it. It has worked great, I can look at my phone from anywhere to determine whether it is on or off (each outlet individually) and see power consumption along with historical power consumption.

At Renfro's suggestion I also got a nearpow timer and I like it as well. No problems.

Cinco said:

I wouldn’t trust either of those with my crop... the smart plugs are notoriously unreliable, and the cheap mech timers fail on. And are susceptible to bumping.

I use an rPi and relay module now, previously had great luck with GE and Honeywell timers. They are at least made to run at 60hz...

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I wouldn’t trust the smart plugs if it wasn’t for the remote monitoring. I get a notification on my phone if power goes out and when it switches on and off. I’ve only got it hooked up to the 120v trigger on my light controller so I’m not passing a ton of power thru it either. I’ve got the same plugs all around my house and have yet to have an issue in the last 12 months

sf_frankie said:

I wouldn’t trust the smart plugs if it wasn’t for the remote monitoring. I get a notification on my phone if power goes out and when it switches on and off. I’ve only got it hooked up to the 120v trigger on my light controller so I’m not passing a ton of power thru it either. I’ve got the same plugs all around my house and have yet to have an issue in the last 12 months

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Which one do you use? It sounds like they’ve come quite a long way.

Cinco said:

Which one do you use? It sounds like they’ve come quite a long way.

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I’ve got a few different ones all over my house and they all work fine. Just make sure the one you get is rated for 15A. The cheap ones are only 10A. I just get whatever amazon has in special. I’ve got some from some brand called TOPGREENER, amazon branded ones and some gosunds. I’d probably recommend gosund. The only reason being is that I’ve got the most experience with that brand. I’ve got about 40 gosund smart bulbs and 4-5 of there smart switches around my house and they’ve all worked flawlessly for nearly a year now. I’m pretty sure they all come from the same factory though so it probably doesn’t matter. All of mine work fine.

You could always nerd out to the next level and use a Raspberry Pi to control solenoids using free software like MyCodo ( https://github.com/kizniche/Mycodo ). Then you could add other sensors for other functions (temp, humidity, VPD, PH, CO2, etc) giving you historical data for cheap! Want to see how long that temperature spike was? Just an idea, it is what I use and I like it. I also use 40amp solid state solenoids (for a 5 amp LED load) for safety and longevity.

Jesusgrowsmygrass said:

You could always nerd out to the next level and use a Raspberry Pi to control solenoids using free software like MyCodo ( https://github.com/kizniche/Mycodo ). Then you could add other sensors for other functions (temp, humidity, VPD, PH, CO2, etc) giving you historical data for cheap! Want to see how long that temperature spike was? Just an idea, it is what I use and I like it. I also use 40amp solid state solenoids (for a 5 amp LED load) for safety and longevity.
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I plan on adding this for future runs. Right now I’ve got a network connected thermometer/hygrometer that pushes a reading to my phone every couple mins. And when I’m in Bluetooth range it lets me download historical data. It was like $50 on amazon but is one of my favorite parts of my build. I check it religiously.

Of course this is operated through a web interface anywhere in the world with the correct open ports and proper DNS settings on your home network router. So when I go on my weekly Antarctic trip I can check what the stats are like in the grow, plus you can hook up a camera very easily (for time lapse, historical, and live).

Being able to customize graphs really helps figuring out where the problems lie.

I've got a nearpow on my water pump. I can't figure out what going wrong with it but I have it set up to run for 1 minute 5x day which should give me run off. But I'll come back two days later and the pots feel light and dry. I'll switch it to on mode and it works fine. I'll make up an event one minute in the future to test it real quick and it turns on and off fine. So why does it not seem to work when I'm not there! It's getting frustrating.