light timers

[bawater]

would like to know- for those who use timers.

what kind of timers do u use?

what kind of duration is your lighting on.

I use the theben analog timer, it ran for 6wks then 2 days ago blew my extension(when it switched off)& wall socket which tripped the external HDB safety box as well as the in-house switch box. Had to break the lock to switch on again. (took me 6hrs to troubleshoot)A bit weary on re-hooking up another set.

Now the wall socket can't be used- & i have extension wires running all ard my room for my power needs.

[Achilles Tang]

Sorry, had to move this post here as it is a more appropriate forum.

Ba.

You sure it was the timer that caused the trip? Or was is it the extension plug itself?

Sounds scary to cause such a big trip that the outside fuse blew too!

[bawater]

soz, was thinkin which one to put in... couldn't figure.

yep- was the timer cause i was downloading from net so was watchin tnk. saw the pop & flash from the plug.

i'm now back to manual on/off while looking for new one.

[dfstan]

ba, did u overload the timer with other plugs? or is ut the ben timer fault? has anyone here in forum has such accident ?

[Achilles Tang]

Actually, I have read on other overseas forums that you should get timers for high amps equipment like MHs, chillers etc. Not ordinary ones.

[Phang]

Hi Achilles,

Do you have recommendations for this kind of timers.???

What to do personally use for your reef???

I using the ben....

[chanbi]

I'm also using the ben for all my timers (including my MHs) except one (digital timer) that i want to make use of the random function to create random wave (to turn on my eden power head).

Btw most of the timers that are commonly found are built to withstand 13A max. The highest so far that i come across is 15A (for air-con?). Given 230V and 13A, by right the timer should be able to support ~3000W. And for normal MH (eg: 2x 150W), it should consume lower than 2A. But this is for under normal circumstance. If there is a power surge or high instantaneous current when the timer turn on, it is still possible to "blow"!

[hongqixian]

I'm using one theben timer for my 36 watt PL..

Working well for a few months already.... touch wood

[robe]

I've been using Theben for the last 4 years and they are still working fine. Used them for MH lighting. They are quite reliable my only problem is that after 4 years the ratchet on the timer turning the switch on and off has worn out but i just set the off time again to another time and it works fine again.

[hongqixian]

It sounds pretty reliable!