Digital is popular and overall most desireable. Wally's has best price, and best timer. A couple of things to look out for: 1. Keep the receipt. All digital timers are not equal, and can have problems. Buy at Wally's, easy to return, even w/o receipt. 2. Contrary to what I said, all digital of any brand do seem to be equal. I think they all are made by the same Chinese factory. Features will be slightly different, but when you start [rogramming them, voila - they all look the same. 3. The internal filtering is not "equal", I bought one at Home depot and hooked it to a Tom's dosing pump. Every time it triggered the pump (dosing) the timer would reset due to an electrical impulse from the pump. Swapped it. for two others. They all did the same. Would not handle the inductive load of Tom's dosing pump, but worked ok with lights. Returned one, kept one for the lights. I had to buy one from Wally's that - you guessed it - had the identical programming steps, but worked the dosing pump and lights ok. Internally I am sure that they were using the same electronic chip. Any digital timer must be run and watched carefully for a week or two before one trusts it to operate while going away a few days. And even then I am skeptical due to my problem finding one that doesn't reset itself involuntarily. If multi and different daily settings are not required, such as typically lights for example, the mechanical units with the tabs are much more reliable. But of course if one wants to dose for one or two minutes, it cannot be done with a mechanical type. Buyer test carefully. And buyer still beware!
Light Timers
- Thread starter Taysius
- Start date
And always use one with built-in rechargeable battery (from Wally's). If not, and the battery goes dead while away... you know the rest. Unfortunately digital timer mfgs have no concern about what an aquarium with no working timers can look like after a week vacation.
I really don't see any benefit to digital timers. I've used tons of them with no problem... until the battery dies. Mechanical timers have no batteries, less chance for a problem. And mechanical timers are cheaper.
IME, mechanical timers have moving parts.
I have a time that produces an audible and annoying sound, say slightly louder than an air pump.
It's possible (Don't ask me how I know how) for a cord or something else to get stuck in the rotating part of the timer if you aren't careful (oh yeah... that's how) preventing the timer turning, and possibly leading to a potential fire.
and digital timers tend to still be set correctly after a power outtage, so no bedroom tank lights coming on at 2am.
We're using digital power strip timers on all 6 of our tanks. It's almost identical to the Zoo Med timer, except it was far cheaper at Lowe's. It does have a back up battery that is easily replaceable. Wouldn't use any thing else.
I have used both mechanical and digital timers, and I prefer the higher quality mechanical ones like Grasslin T35 and Apollo 10. T35s are becoming much harder to find, and the Apollo 10 seems to be a good replacement for it. My Grasslin T35 has outlasted 2 digital and 2 other mechanical timers I have bought in the past. I bought several used UPS from office reclamation stores, recharge the lead acid batteries, install the software for them on my computer to turn off the alarm sound when the power goes out; and then plug all my electrical stuff for the aquarium(s) into them. No more worries about short-term power outtage.
