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Digital plug timers that work?

Wulfen

Wulfen

Member
Joined
18 Jul 2018
Messages
174
Location
UK
Hi all.
I have been looking up digital plug timers to use in conjunction with Co2 and Lights.
From my research, I have read quite a few reviews and most of them have had people whose digital timers had only worked for a few weeks then either stopped working or set themselves to come on randomly.
Has anyone got a digital plug timer that they can recommend that has no problems?
Cheers
 
Got these from Argos few years back, seem to have done well

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Yep, mechanial ones work for years, and then stop.
No random on and off, potentially while you're not around to spot it, no reprogramming themselves, and I've never known on to fail after just a few weeks.
As it happens, I binned one today, but it was over 30 years old, and I could have fixed it with a strip and clean, just didn't bother, as they are so cheap and I had a spare in my cupboard. :)
 
What I find hard to understand is how the prices of digital timers can vary so much. The Masterplug one is about £6 but the one in Ian's post is over £20. Surely they're all much of a muchness inside, this seems to happen a lot with electrical goods.
 
I'm using TP Link Smart Plugs for my C02, power head and lights.

They are on offer at the moment for £20 on Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-Re...r=8-1-spons&keywords=tp+link+smart+plug&psc=1

You download the Kasa app and set up all of your schedules. You can check and control these away from the home and it also links with any smart home devices you have (e.g. Alexa). "Alexa - turn on the fish tank" turns on my lighting etc.

For £20 these are a no brainer for me.
 
BarryH said:
The Masterplug one is about £6 but the one in Ian's post is over £20.
Click to expand...
I bought the expensive one after suffering numerous failures from much cheaper, B&Q timers. Most common failure was just resetting to 00:00:00 and losing all timings, followed by just locking up. Once locked up with air pump being on 24/7, which didn't kill anything like 24/7 CO2 or 24/7 lights or even worse 24/7 ferts dosing.
 
I have used a number of digital timers but returned to using mechanical timers. Digital timers are quieter and more accurate, but programming and revealing what has been programmed is not intuitive, requiring pressing multiple buttons to desplay the digital info. When I had all digitals, each has a different design due to frequent model change. I hate to read instructions on how to retime timer.

Mechanical lose or gain a little time daily, no big deal as retiming or revealing what has been programmed is straightforward, simply advance the wheel forward or change the pin locations. I retime my mechanical weekly anyway when I do WC as I need to turn off the power strip that runs my co2 timer.

Digitals don’t last longer than mechanical, 3 to 4 years maximum for both. Even figuring out that a digital no longer works isn’t intuitive, requiring waiting time after time to confirm. When a mechanical is dead, it’s obvious, either the wheel stops turning or makes loud noise.
 
I also tried wireless sockets, switched from a timer handset and really just confirmed, as we all know from WiFi, wireless can never be 100% reliable. Lost a lot of fish due to a timer not turning off one day.
 
Iain Sutherland said:
Mechanical is the way forward, 10 years still going strong. Couple of quid on eBay.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
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I agree - it's a pain with the digital ones if you've programmed say two banks of lights for the whole week and then you get a power cut and the timer forgets all the setup. None of the ones I had came with a battery back up for memory.

Mechanical timers do have faults too though - namely the dial sticking on the cheap ones.
 
HiNtZ said:
I agree - it's a pain with the digital ones if you've programmed say two banks of lights for the whole week and then you get a power cut and the timer forgets all the setup. None of the ones I had came with a battery back up for memory.

Mechanical timers do have faults too though - namely the dial sticking on the cheap ones.
Click to expand...
All digitals I used have battery backup, so power outage won’t deprogramme the set up. But the battery runs out in 2 to 3 years and throw programming off with no warning.

Mechanical has issues such as losing and gaining time, noisier, and power outage can throw the programming off. But reprogramming is no big deal as it’s so easy. Noise is tolerable when new, but it gets noisier with age and loud noise is a warning for imminent failure. I count on mechanical to last for 3 to 4 years before replacement, and cheap mechanical costs about the same as digital battery.

The biggest advantages of digital is that they keep time and programming precisely even with power outage, and makes no noise. But I don’t need the precision, and reprogram digital is a pain.
 
I use these on my light and co2
They let me have the co2 and lights turn on and off twice a day to combat algae by reducing light hours in the middle of the day.
Watch out that if you use an extension lead, they are too wide to plug next to each other. I plug the heater in the gap as it does not need a timer
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0043JDVPK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_iEjABb4652C54
 
Many thanks all for the great feedback.
I have quite a few of the mechanical timers used for past projects. I will get one of the digital timers recommended and run them side by side and see how it goes.
In the long term, I could always start saving for a PLC controller.
 
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