Which timers do you use?

[Trickee]

One of my old Arlec analog timers has come back to life. What could cause a timer to stop working but then come back to life after being off the power for a few days?

I would've thought once they stopped working they'd be out for good. The timer wasn't hot when it stopped working either, so I'm guessing it wasn't a matter of just cooling down.

[brick]

Sounds like you have got either electrical cable problems or power problems in the house. Or loose connections somewhere along the line. Going through the amount of timers you are, you need to look beyond the timer. The timer is the symptom but may not be the cause of your problems. Are they new timers you have bought off ebay or second hand? Timers don't fix themselves like you described, it is power problems by the sounds of things.

[Trickee]

Sounds like you have got either electrical cable problems or power problems in the house. Or loose connections somewhere along the line. Going through the amount of timers you are, you need to look beyond the timer. The timer is the symptom but may not be the cause of your problems. Are they new timers you have bought off ebay or second hand? Timers don't fix themselves like you described, it is power problems by the sounds of things.

 

Yes that is definitely something I should look at. Or at least get someone who knows what they're doing to look at it. And yes they were all new timers, only 1 was from ebay so far. The 2nd hasn't arrived yet.

[darryl d]

https://cannabis.community.forums.ozstoners.com/topic/20165-timercontactor/

 

[The Claw]

I use the JBL 30 amp timer, never had a single prob. You can get them for $50 @ Glandore Hydro

Vrod

[Trickee]

darryl d: That doesn't look like something I would want to try myself, looks kind of dangerous if done wrong, but it is still something to think about. Thanks.

 

Vrod: I might have to try that 30 amp timer next. I've just bought a new extension cord though, so I'll see if that could have been the problem. It was getting old...

[wayno86]

Thanks. I didn't try the HPM timers because I heard they're bad, but I've tried most of the other brands. The problem is not that it doesn't work when I buy it, all of them except one have worked at least once, so the problem is that they are burning out very quickly for some reason. I've done all that testing with other appliances. And like I said I am only trying to run CFL from these things... its not like I'm trying to put 1000W or more through them, so I just don't know what to do. Luckily the on/off time is at a time when I can be around to check it, but I bought these timers so I wouldn't have to check.

 

Anyway, you're saying you use a HPM timer now and it works?

 

 

Have you considered buying some new lights? If you are burning out timers quickly it could be a ballast, starter, internal wiring fault

 

I run two 400W HPS on separate hpm analog slimline timers, fans on another, no probs

[Trickee]

Wayno I have thought about that, since someone else suggested that it could be the starter in one of the CFLs causing it. But then... they both seem to be doing it. Could I really get that unlucky and have 2 faulty starters on 2 CFLs? Anything is possible.

 

So for this weekend's new setup I got a new extension cord, new HPM timer, and I'm running it from a different power point.