Heavy Duty Timers

[Roadblock]

hi

 

Go to a electrical supply and buy a contactor , its a heavy duty switch that a timer can turn on and off , there is no load on the timer at all as it just triggers the contactor which takes all the load , so your timers give no problems , contactors are the guts of those expensive multi plug units for powering grow rooms .

Contactors are not that hard to wire up , no more lights not going on or off because of fused contacts in a timer .

 

Rod

 

http://www.engnetglobal.com/images/companies/S/SAS001_610.gif

[New Holland]

I gotta run 3x 600's of a 16 amp power circut. Says on the ballast that start up current is 5 amps, running current is 3 amps. I thought that if all 3 lights came on at once it would draw 15 amps, and trip the breaker?. I was going to use 3 cheap 10 amp timers, one on each light and stagger there start times by 5 minutes. This way I wouldn't draw all the start up current in one big hit.

 

But then I had a look at those LMU's on ebay and they have 4 outlet 16 amp ones there. wouldn't 4x600's draw 20 amps at start up and trip the breaker?

[Tom]

A contactor or "relay" is the way to go if you are worried about running heavy loads, however the timer pictured is rated at 16 amps and has run 4 x 600w's with no problems, a lot also depends on the quality of the parts used in the construction.

 

I was going to use 3 cheap 10 amp timers, one on each light and stagger there start times by 5 minutes.Those cheap 10 amp timers will let you down, if you are going to run multiple lights then get the good timer from the start, the cheap ones have a habit of fusing in the "on" position, I know one newbie grower that trusted them completely and didn't check they were turning off and is still flowering the crop he was due to harvest at Christmas, the "low cost option" (and not checking things properly) has ended up costing him far more than a good timer would have.