PowerPlant Heavy Duty Timer -Powerplant Heavy Duty 24 Hour 15 Minute Grow Light Timer 600W Hydroponics
Normal household timers are not built to take the high inductive loads produced by HID ballasts. If used with an HID ballast – the contacts inside the timer that open and close the timed circuit will overheat and weld together – breaking the timer and leaving your grow lights permanently on.
The PowerPlant Heavy Duty Timer is different. It is designed to take high loads and has no problem dealing with the inductive loads produced by a 600w ballast.
Usage:
This means no separate contactor is required and saves you money. It has a 96 switching operation within a 24 hour period (every 15 minutes).
This timer is suitable for timing one 600w HID ballast. It has a robust case design with socket and timer dust/moisture covers.
This unit is ideal for timing 400w and 600w ballasts. Do not use more than one 600w ballast per timer.
Please seek professional help if you do not know how to use this timer.
Conversions: 1 Teaspoon = 5mL | 1 Tablespoon = 15 mL | 1 Ounce = 30mL | 1 Cup = 240 mL
Timers can be important in hydroponics. You have light cycles that plants have to be exposed to, and you don’t want to be manually turning lights on and off by yourself. That would be entirely too labour-intensive. So manufacturers have created easy tools that you can use to set light cycles up and let automatic timers do their work. These are typically low-cost, simple electronic appliances that you hook into an outlet. Then you put the plug for the hydroponic lights into the front of the unit.
Here are some steps for effectively using the hydroponic timer.
Figure out light cycles
Before you buy a timer, you want to have a plan of roughly how you’re going to set light cycles. Do you want a ‘12 and 12’ cycle of 12 hours light and 12 hours dark? Or do you want to have 18 hours of light with the remaining six hours of darkness? At some time, will you move to a 24-hour full light scenario? It’s helpful to have these answers in place and make sure that the timers support the range of hours that you’re planning for.
Different readouts
Timer models are different. Some are just a dial – others have handy LED digital readouts. Decide whether you need an analogue or a digital readout for a hydroponic timer.
Install the timer
Plug your timer into the wall and plug the grow light plug into the timer. Set the timer for a few minutes and observe it, make sure that it works. You’ll be able to give your plants specific light/dark cycles that will help them to thrive. It’s important to make sure that in the dark cycle, you have effectively sealed out light so that your plants have true darkness.
