JEN H Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Hey Gang, Glad to be back in Austin after taking a Christmas break up to St. Louis, long drive. Anyway, I need to purchase some timers so my lights go on and off at a certain time. I have been to Lowes and Home Depot many times and purchased those cheap 10/15 dollar timers that never work. Can anyone here please provide some sort of advice or guidance on what i should purchase? I was told by an electrician that I should go with one of those mechanical timers, like the ones people use for their pools, but I do not have that level of electrical expertise to install this. So, i will take all the information and support everyone is willing to give. Thanks again everyone, Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rjohn Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Coralife makes two timers that work very well as long as you don't get any water on them. They are available at most any pet store, even Petco or Petsmart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teg Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 (edited) what kind of problems do you have with those cheap timers at lowes or homedepot? I've used those cheap mechanical timers from lowes to run 2x250w metal halide and 2x94w PC before and they worked perfectly. Edited December 29, 2009 by teg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEN H Posted December 30, 2009 Author Share Posted December 30, 2009 We have tried a few different kind of timers. We did try the Coral Life timer strip as suggested above.... It stopped working in about a month. We have the basic timers that only allow you to turn something on for up to 8 hours or at dusk/dawn that are mainly from outside......Those do work. However, the other timers were dual timers from Lowes and were probably $12 - $13. They function, but they don't turn on as they are supposed to all the time.... There are times where they will just choose not to turn on or off and we have to reset them. It's just a pain. We want to have timers on all our tanks, but need a suggestion on something better than what we have now. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razataz Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 You could get a basic rkl control lights and temp plus more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 I have some Grasslin timers that have worked for years and are reliable, they are about $25. You can get them at Brite Ideas in south austin, its near ben white and south congress. Its a gardening store and they have a few different options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teg Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=148373-207-TM09DHBL&lpage=none This was the one that I use. It seem to turned on/off on time each day, I only used for about 1.5 months so I don't know how long it last. Make sure whatever you're plugging these timers in have constant power, because it needs power to run the clock on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEN H Posted December 30, 2009 Author Share Posted December 30, 2009 We actually just had new outlets installed by an electrician for our 210 gallon tank. Two new outlets that go directly to the fuse box. No breaks in power with those!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teg Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 What's the wattage and amperage that are running through those electrical outlets? these cheap timers can't handle very much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEN H Posted December 30, 2009 Author Share Posted December 30, 2009 razataz, How does the rkl install? I was reading the manual but it did not indicate how the head unit is wired into the electrical outlet. I see that the head unit controls 4 outlets but how does the head unit receive power? Thanks, matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 I bought a few of the new digital timers from HDepot for about $18 each and couldn't be happier. I can have them turn on and off as many times a day as I would care to have them, and I can control them to the minute. They were GE brand, I posted something about them in my DIY thread about going automated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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