Are you looking for the best timer for grow lights for your indoor garden or any other part of the house? If the answer is yes, then you landed at the right place. We will be giving you a list of the best grow light timers that you’ll find.
A high quality grow light timer is essential to ensure consistent lighting period for your garden. Grow light timers save you the hassle of manually turning your grow lights on and off each day.
Advantages of Grow Light Timers:
Grow light timers are used to maintain a specific light schedule for your garden. Plants like cannabis are especially fickle with regards to their lighting schedules. Mess up the light schedule and you’ll stress the plants out or even worse.
One of the main downfalls of LED grow lights is that many do not come with timers included. If you’re spending potentially hundreds of dollars on a grow light setup, it makes sense for them to include a timer for you.
Luckily, grow light timers are quite inexpensive. (You can check prices here)
This article will give you some options that you can have when it comes to grow light timer brands and the various advantages that come with them.
What to look for in a grow light timer:
One of the main characteristics you want to check when purchasing a grow light timer is that it’s able to handle the wattage of electricity your grow light pulls from the outlet.
This can be a little confusing if you’re dealing with LED grow lights because LED grow lights use two wattage numbers – the LED chip wattage and the power consumption wattage, which is the wattage pulled from your outlet.
If you’re using an HPS or CMH grow light, there is only one wattage number.
1. Canagrow 24 Hour Programmable Timer – 120V
With this Canagrow Timer, you’ll be able to enjoy the automatic settings without having to worry about overusing the gadget. Features like the backup battery, maximum 1875 watts capacity, child protector, and inexpensive price make it a no-brainer.
Pros:
- Two outlets
- Doesn’t block entire wall outlet
- High wattage capacity
- Easy to program
- Very inexpecnsive
Cons:
- 1 year warranty – No downside!
Click here to see reviews and prices for the Canagrow Timer on Amazon
2. Century 7 Day Heavy Duty Digital Programmable Timer – Dual Outlet
The Century Timer is one of the best selling timers on Amazon. It’s truly a set-and-forget timer with 2 total outlets. It has 8 settings you can use to ensure you get the exact amount of light and darkness you need for your plants. This timer has a 1725 watt capacity.
Pros & Cons:
Pros:
- It has two outlets that you can easily set up to handle long hours of usage. You have the choice of whether or not to set the timer for a long hours or just a few minutes.
- You can choose your own scheduled day setting or select the preset from the machine. You can easily switch from the normal hours to daylight savings without difficulty.
- The timer’s digital so you do not have to worry about manual operations. All you have to do is to set the hours up, and it will work automatically.
- You can even set it up to work while on vacation. This way, your house will not look empty at all.
- It can work in any indoor location from the office to a fully-functioning greenhouse.
Cons:
- Some find the interface a little confusing, but ultimately like the product.
Click here to see reviews and prices for the Century 7 Day digital timer on Amazon.com
4. Dewenwils 7-Day Digital Timer with 2 Outlets
The Dewenwils 7-day timer is automatic. It will turn itself on and off once it’s set up. You won’t have to worry about the timer and the grow light at all.
It’s a great feeling to have one less worry when you’re dealing with indoor gardening. This timer has a 600 watt capacity.
The Dewenwils also comes with a countdown mode that you can set up to remind you that the timer will automatically turn the grow lights off at the end of the countdown.
Here are some other advantages and disadvantages as follows:
Pros & Cons:
Pros:
- This product is easy to program. It comes with instructions on how to do so.
- It easily converts from standard to daylight savings time with just a minor change in setting.
- It has two grounded outlets on either side.
- The user can also manually override the automatic features of the device.
Cons:
- It only works to turn off the appliances that have a power supply. It will not work on appliances that have a power switch such as air conditioning units.
5. FosPower 125V/15A 7-Day Programmable Digital Outlet Timer
These timers are probably the best option on the list. Each timer has 2 outlets total and you get two timers in a pack. They’re also very closely priced to the previous items.
This specific product has automatic settings that can be easily set up to work in different cycles during the day. Just like the other products above, you won’t have to worry about manually turning it off and on because of its automatic features.
The capacity on this timer is 10 Amp / 1250 watts.
Pros:
- This particular gadget can work with other appliances aside from grow lights. It has 10 programmable settings that can be used to activate light fixtures indoors and outdoors.
- You will be able to control to light fixtures at once with this gadget.
- The random timer settings will keep your home safe from intruders even when you are out of the house.
Cons:
- Some customers find it difficult to adjust the randomizer feature.
Click here to see reviews and prices for the Fospower Timers on Amazon.com
All the options listed above are automatic timers, but you can also choose to have manual setups as well. You can consult each of the manufacturing websites for their manual timer options if they have any.
How To Choose A Grow Light Timer:
You should choose a grow light timer that will be able to present accurate information regarding the number of hours that the machine has already been in use.
In addition to this, you should also look for a grow light timer that will not easily incur physical damage when transported from one precision to the next. The structure and material used to build timers can spell the difference between choosing one brand over the other.
You should choose a brand that will not easily break down under pressure. This way, you will be able to use it for many years without worrying about taking it to the repair shop or manufacturer anytime soon.
You should also look for instructions on how to use this particular machine as soon as you get the package. Take note of the specific details that any user should remember about the model that you bought.
This way, you can increase the gadget’s shelf life significantly.
Digital vs Mechanical Grow Light Timers:
Grow light timers are used to regulate artificial sunlight exposure for indoor plants. You can set it up automatically to turn on and off at certain points during the day and night.
You can use these two essential types of indoor grow light timers without difficulty. Which one should you choose? It depends on your actual preference because each one comes with its own set of benefits and disadvantages.
Digital timers are a bit complicated to program. Make sure that you follow instructions from the manual that comes with the timer, and you will be set. Another advantage of this is that it is far more accurate than mechanical timers.
For mechanical timers, you can choose among ones with dials, ones that are pin operated or ones that can be turned off and on with the switch. An advantage of using these mechanical timers is that it is easy to set up and use. Just turn up the dials as far as the number of hours you would want to have it working a grow light and you will be all set.
As for the pins, it will work just like the dial operated timers. You have to use a pin to turn the tiny knobs in the machine.
This switch works in such a way that you set up the number of usage hours first before turning the machine on with the switch.
The disadvantage of using these mechanical timers is that they can be quite noisy and they leave something to be desired when it comes to accuracy. So it depends on you. If you want something more accurate, and the digital timers will be the answer. If you want ease of use and set up, mechanical timers will be the answer.
FAQ:
What are the Benefits of a Grow Light Timer?
One of the many advantages of using the grow light timer is that you would be able to regulate how much time you would be spending on having the grow light.
Since a grow light is designed to utilize a significant amount of wattage, it would help to have a timer ready so that you would be able to regulate how many hours in a day you can use it.
In addition to this, having a timer available for the grow lights will help you figure out when to set it up automatically. Certain grow light models allow you to turn the product off and on automatically, so you do not have to worry about not being able to turn it off whenever you leave the house.
With the different settings available for the timers, you will be able to set up so that it will work to turn the machine on at specific times during the day or in the evening. You won’t have to worry about manually checking on the machine itself.
How Long Should the Lights Stay On?
The answer to this question depends entirely on the plant that you are trying to grow. For example, vegetable seedlings need at least 16 hours of sunlight to grow properly. So if you’re going to use grow lights and set up the timer, you should do so within the 16 hours.
Do this in the morning just after sunrise and turn it off 16 hours later. Of course, different models can prescribe them and hours of use. So you have to take note of the brand and model of your grow lights accordingly to find out how much time you can have it on each day.
Vegetable seedlings also need 8 hours of darkness each day. Turning off the lights will hasten their growth for sure.
For other plants, you have to figure out how much natural sunlight they need to grow properly. This effectively corresponds to the number of hours the grow lights should be used
Final Thoughts:
These are just some of the major options that you can have when it comes to buying your own grow light timers. It is essential that you can choose the best in terms of longevity and battery life so that he would not have to spend too much money on frequent replacements in the future.
This will help you save cash on repairs as well. Hopefully, you will be able to decide which one of the products would be a good fit for you. Be that as it may, they all have advantages that you can use so you will surely have no problems finding the best one for your needs from the list above.
Product Recommendations
This being said, we recommend the first product on the list: within one unit by setting the Viagrow tm: Grounded Digital Grow Light Timer because it would give you the best in terms of quality and longevity.
You should be looking for these two crucial things in the best grow light timer. Aside from these two, you will also be able to get energy-saving capabilities as one of the best benefits that you can have from this product.
Despite grow lights being extremely energy consuming, it is still very much worth your money because of its usefulness. Coupled with the timers above, it will make your grow more energy efficient, even if you don’t have much natural sunlight to work with.
You have to choose the right grow light timer brand to work with, and you will be able to get the most out of the machine for sure. What are you waiting for? Go online now and look at the products for yourself. From here, you will get to make an educated decision for sure.
References:
Other References:
FosPower Timers, Dewenwils, ViaGrowTM, Century Timers