Same problem I ran into , I got rid of all the smart timers and went back to mechanical.
1 Like
I use mechanicals because I just trust them more with higher loads but I do prefer the ease of use of homeassistant for my other smart outlets tho I always reflash my smart devices with tasmoto so I can locally host them I dont like relying on outside servers
4 Likes
I cant get a passport, I am on no fly list. I am a prisoner and cant leave the USA.
2 Likes
Lol they aren’t worried about former grunts.
2 Likes
That’s a good tesr for me to try on the amazon kasa plug…i thought it has a capacitor for short term outtage and if it resets it should try to pull the last programming from wifi and even over internet if it comes back up to pull from cloud asap. Ill have to test this
1 Like
I used to run a few mechanical timers, the ones with pins.
When I got my temperature gun, I checked everything around my grow for hot spots and those timers were at 100 degrees F.
So I switched to digital timers. Not wifi controlled. The one I have can run 8 programs. I like them.
2 Likes
Definitely test ahead of time. I got surprised by mine unfortunately. Power around here is pretty shoddy, and I’ve seen it fail during both phases of the cycle, always sticking to whatever was happening during the failure when power comes back.
2 Likes
I know that was more of a joke than anything lol
I like the digital one i have way better than the Mech timers, but the damn thing is still a hassle to set and to change. I am very much a make everything as Simple as humanly possible kinda guy, hence wanting a timer with 3 buttons that is set and forget and is as simple to change as pressing 1 button.
1 Like
Honestly I love the idea of a wifi app controlled timer, I seem to do much better setting up things with an app than I do things I have to set up on the device itself, If I had the money I would simply get an AC infinity auto set up and call it a day lol.
1 Like
I have 2 more in the running now, both reviewed well by Popular Mechanics website.
they are even a bit cheaper and one is rated for up to 1800w my light is only 400w so shouldnt be an issue at all.
I have several wifi plugs, they don’t go away when lights out, can change light schedule from my sofa, do savings with my water heater, let my fans take a brake (burnt once one 
) and go to sleep in a heated bed, we are in the 21st century… 
2 Likes
Which brand of smart plug do you use?
Well, I noticed Tapo (USA) only works with the TP-link app, so I mostly buy Chinese ones in Amazon so they can work with the Smart Life app I use, they are cheaper and reliable… 
5 Likes
I was always under the impression that because the digital timer uses a microprocessor that it was more efficient than the mechanical timers like the Dayton style water heater timers, but this is purely assumption on my part. I’ve never checked them on a kill a watt meter.
1 Like
I have sent my Timer Idea to three companies, lets hope one of them makes a simple 3 button timer that you can just press one button and change the schedule.
1 Like
The digital infrastructure and digital display all consume power a mechanical timer does not. If you only use one timer you wont notice the extra draw. And their are no batteries in a mechanical timer which equals less operating cost over the lifetime of the timer. I would only use digital timers if I was turning something on and off multiple times an hour.
2 Likes
“The Little Gray Box” is getting expensive.
https://www.intermatic.com/Product/WH40?setcontextlanguagecode=en
1 Like
And its still not what I want. I mean Honestly, with all these companies making lights targeted toward Cannabis growers, How hard is it to get a Timer with 3 buttons, One that says 24 hours on, One that says 18 on 6 off and one that says 12 on 12 off, and make it as as simple as pushing the button you want to change the light schedule. You would think that it would have to be far easier to make that the complex automated set ups, and it would sell like hotcakes to new growers just on the simplicity alone.