Light Timing Switches.

[bigcheed]

hi everyone, can anybody advise me on some decent timing switches for my lights. I have three tanks and am looking into getting some. well that is some better ones. I recently went on holiday for a few days and bought some digital timers from asda. but they keep reseting themselves every few days. ive read that this is because of fluctuations in the current and that they are cheaply made. can anyone point me in the right direction for some decent ones. the only ones ive managed to find so far have been for U.S plugs. (im in the uk).

 

[KirkyArcher]

I've binned 2 Digital time switches in the past 6 months, and since bought some cheap mechanical ones from B&Q 
 

 
they're not shown on their website but are on hangers beside the electrical aisle I'm pretty sure they are still less than £2 each

 

[levahe]

You can get a pack of 3 digital timers from Argos for £10 and they are pretty good with loads of options and so on.
But for reliability the mechanical ones like in the post above are better.

 

[Mamashack]

I have recently changed from the Asda ones you mentioned to their mechanical version which is similar to the one Kirky shows. Think they are £3 each.
They seem to be more reliable and less complicated so unless you are wanting a variable setting every day I'd go for something mechanical.

 

[coolie]

Sorry to disagree with others, I bought cheap mechanical ones from Wilkos and they have so far ALL failed, I can't get one of them to work at all. I now have 2 different brands of
digital that I picked up on a car boot sale.

 

[TaurineLittle]

Yeah, I don't trust the digital ones, I prefer mechanical timers. I'm running 4 mechanical ones on my tank and all are working as they should. The ones that I have are the ones that have the 15 minute interval buttons that you push in around a dial, and when the dial turns and hits the pushed in buttons, it turns the switch on. Those are good ones that I picked up from Bunnings 2 for $10 which is cheap as!

 

[daizeUK]

I use mechanical Kingavon ones from Amazon, you can get them silly cheap and I've had no problems with them yet.
 
However they take up a lot of space meaning I can't fit two next to each other on an extension socket.  I'm trying to find some thinner models that would at least let me fit a regular plug in between two timer sockets.  Anyone recommend something that makes better use of space?

 

[KirkyArcher]

The cheap mechanical ones from B&Q are nice and slim and will fit side by side on an multi gang trailing extension lead
 

 
they're not shown on their website but are on hangers beside the electrical aisle I'm pretty sure they are still less than £2 each

 

[TaurineLittle]

I use mechanical Kingavon ones from Amazon, you can get them silly cheap and I've had no problems with them yet.
 
However they take up a lot of space meaning I can't fit two next to each other on an extension socket.  I'm trying to find some thinner models that would at least let me fit a regular plug in between two timer sockets.  Anyone recommend something that makes better use of space?

 
I know that there are some either slimline ones or curvy ones with a timer on top and the socket that only takes up room of on socket, so you can at least fit a plug beside the timer.

 

[SamB]

Just another vote here for mechanical. I also use plug extenders in combination with the timers for my more bulky light plugs. (so i can fit two in one plug etc.. my plugs are an electricians nightmare..)

 

[bigcheed]

thanks for the input guys. would you believe I had two of those mechanical things up to about a month ago. got them for when we went away well before I started keeping fish. couldent get them to work back then. pretty sure my mrs threw them out last time we did a deep clean. paid £6 a pop for those digital things as well. she'll got nuts if I go out n buy more. rock and hard place. the joys of fish keeping.lol

 

[SamB]

I found some really cheap mini ones in my local walmart.. poundland or something similar might even have them honestly.

 

[SLIM]

Im going to go against the grain here and say Digital. All mine are digital, never had a problem and always been reliable and I find them very easy to set. You can program different times each day if need be and they display the time which makes it alot easier to sync em all. There a little more expensive than the mechanical but hey I guess it just comes down to what you prefer.

 

[SLIM]

These are the ones I use

http/www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002P7RF9A?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

Never had a problem with them and I have 4.
And they fit side by side

 

[DrRob]

I'm with SLIM on this one. I have those as well, never had any trouble and I've always found that the mechanicals start to skip after a while. Plus the wife has silly high frequency hearing and complains about them ticking.