# digital timers



## distrbd (May 16, 2006)

HI.
For those who are still using mechanical timers and are willing to upgrade to good quality digital ones,Canadian tires is having 50% off on GARRISON 7 day timers # 52-8817-6 for $12.99.
I bought 3 of them and they seem well made.what a difference it makes as far as reliability ease of use,convenient back up batteries.
I know this is one of those things that you would say why spend money on digital timers when you have the good old mechanical ones? I don't know what to say to that except once you go digital you won't regret or won't go back to analog


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## Grey Legion (Mar 20, 2006)

Very True, but if people are still cheap ( like me ) Ikea has the best mech timers around and they sell for 3-5 dollars !?!

I have been using some for years with no issues, BUT if I had a choice when I bought them I would have gone digital..


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## Fins of Africa (May 21, 2006)

What are the advantages of going digital?what do they do better?


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

nice! thanks for the tip...

here is the link... 
http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortme...4442459563&assortment=primary&fromSearch=true

Grey, I use those Ikea ones too... last time I went they said they were discontinued  Not sure why!


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## MT-ED (Apr 4, 2006)

distrbd said:


> I don't know what to say to that except once you go digital you won't regret or won't go back to analog


Well, I'll accept that there are different quality units out there, but I used digital years ago and went back to the mechanical ones because the digital kept dying after a short period. No doubt there are more reliable units around now, but my old-school ones are still working well.

Martin.


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

personally i'm with martin on this.. i dont like the digital ones cos they die on you and you dont know. The mechanical ones i find are more reliable. they can take more water damage than the digital ones.. cost less.. and dont need back-up batteries. maybe its just old school thinking but personally i trust the mechanical ones more.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Total begginer question.. LOL

how do you set up a timer when you have 3-4 different lights on one socket? I have no idea on how to use them but they would really make my life easier...


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## MT-ED (Apr 4, 2006)

Ciddian said:


> Total begginer question.. LOL
> 
> how do you set up a timer when you have 3-4 different lights on one socket? I have no idea on how to use them but they would really make my life easier...


I'm guessing you mean that you are currently running 3 or 4 lights off of one power bar? To continue with that sort of operation you'll need to make sure that you get a timer that has a 3 prong outlet on it.....some only have 2. If your power-bar is a long extension from a socket, get a short length power-bar just for the lights. Plug your timer in the long extension, the short one into the timer outlet and then plug in your lights to the short extension. In this sort of use, make sure the timer can handle the wattage demands. A heavy-duty one designed for stuff like extension cables to engine block heaters will work.

If the lights are all on one tank, it's better to phase them into operation. Less shock to the fish. I have a tank with two double-tube 4 foot shop-lights over it. Lots of light. It has two timers and the lights switch on and off with around 30 mins between each.

If you want to run two lights off one timer, again make sure that you get a 3 prong outlet type as all double/single/triple adapters are 3 prong.

Hope that helps.

Martin.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

that does help me out so much.. thank you


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## Grey Legion (Mar 20, 2006)

Here are some simple pro's and con's for both digital and analog timers

Digital Pro's

- Usually offer more settings ( can adjust tank to suit you needs ) 
- No moving parts ( you can cram them into small spaces ) 
- Settings can remain if power goes out ( will not alter time ) 

Con's

- Usually take a battery to maintain settings
- Electronics fail
- Can be expensive

Analog Pro's

- CHEAP !!!
- Simple to use
- low failure rate

Con's

- Larger than digital ( sometimes ) 
- Contain moving parts
- Those stupid pins !?! ( if you have one like that ) 


So now you have some simple facts to base your choice on, I am sure this list can go on and on but I thought I would keep it simple..

Thoughts ??


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

GL pretty much covered it. The timers in question, have 3 pronged plugs. This allows the use of a power bar or tap. The one addvantage of digital is that you can have varied light periods with one unit. For example, you can light a planted tank for 5 hrs, turn off for 2hrs, and back on for 5hrs. This is supposed to help reduce algae growth. I'll have to get over to CTC and buy a couple more.


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## Fins of Africa (May 21, 2006)

*Analog timers*

Just went to Home Depot and picked up a mech timer for $0.75 after taxes!!!!!!They have a coupon out for $5 off!! Go to home depot people!!!

Just in case you didnt know!

Derek


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

I'm a regular Value Villiage / Goodwill visitor for art projects and always see oldskool mech timers there, picked two up today for $1.99 each here on Queen East. A regular item at those joints..


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Some thing to add to the pros of digital lighting.

Digital timers offer time shifting during the weekend where mechanical can't. By that, I mean you can shift the light to turn on later during the weekends and shift back to normal during the weekdays.
Depending how expensive you're willing to go. You can have a remote control to manualy turn on and off the timers. You can have random settings. These, ofcourse don't mean much until you decided to add moon lighting to your tank. The random setting will simulate clowdy nights where the moon shines on and off. You can even pick the day to have clowdy nights like Monday and Wednesday are clowdy nights and Tuesday,Thursday and Friday are clear moon nights. You can even control that down to the hours.
With a remote control, you can be sitting in another room and you can turn on the moon lights. This is good for in wall tanks.

Plus, I don't know why, but I had 2 mechanicals ones broke down on me, spining wheels just doesn't work in my opinion. They get stuck, they jam easily and you have to fix it everytime there is a power outage.

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## sunjwd (May 31, 2007)

The reason I use digital timers is because they are silent.
I have a mechanical timer with the black and white pins and it makes an electric motor-y grrr sound - didn't like that so I bought the digital timer from Canadian Tire.


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