Stupid timer

[dixiegirl21191]

I got a $35 digital timer from petsmart the other day and I cannot for the life of me, get the timer part to work. I set my timer settings correctly but it just will not turn off and on by itself. I have to manually turn it on anf off which just defeats the purpose of having the thing. I am at a loss, I have no idea what else to do. Can anyone help me?

 

[Bifferwine]

Return it and get your money back. Seriously. I have never had any luck with those Coralife timers -- they are so touchy and difficult to get working. And a lot of people here have had issues with them!

Instead, go with some of the regular cheapo ($5 to $10) timers from the hardware store.

 

[ErinCahir]

^^^^^ This.

I talk people out of these all the time.

 

[dixiegirl21191]

I need one with at least 3 outlets and 2 diff timer settings. Do they have cheapo ones like that?

 

[ErinCahir]

Most of us just use a regular power strip and buy 2-3 timers for the lights.

 

[wontonflip]

Most of us just use a regular power strip and buy 2-3 timers for the lights.

Yep....they've never ever ever failed me yet ;)

 

[Bifferwine]

I need one with at least 3 outlets and 2 diff timer settings. Do they have cheapo ones like that?

No, you'd buy an individual timer for each thing you need on a different schedule. Or if you have multiple things on one schedule, you'd plug a powerstrip into the one timer and plug everything into the powerstrip.

 

[RockStacker]

I never liked the digital ones, specially that particular product.
I spent a long time programming the sequence I wanted, only to find out the darn thing reset for some reason.

I just went with regular hardware store light timers with tabs you can push and pull to control the on-off cycles.
These timers have two 3-prong sockets each so you can plug in two devices to each one.
One timer controls both sockets though.

If you are planning to hook up several devices to individual timers however, you might be better off investing in a controller device like a ReefKeeper or Apex.

The cost of several timers would put you in the ballpark of a ReefKeeper Lite or Apex Jr. price range.

 

[newbie 18]

I have the single timer coralife power center, analog though, not digital and on it there is a switch, near the red on/off switch, that allows the timer outlets to be on, off or timed. I honestly have had no issues with it other than operator error.

 

[newbie 18]

Thee is a YouTube video for the coralife power center, put out by madhatter that explains the setup. Sounds like after all your on and off times are programmed, you need to hit the "mode" button till you see "auto" on the left hand of the display.

 

[dixiegirl21191]

It's on auto, it wasn't working. I was going to take it back today and I woke up and it was working so we will see how it goes.

 

[ErinCahir]

You have 30 days. Just fyi.

 

[jpython]

i have the same timmer and it works just fine for more than 4 years .... the picture is showing that its in the Auto mode just press the mode button and change it into Auto insted ...

 

[dixiegirl21191]

I took that picture after I already had it on auto for days and it wasnt wanting to work so I had to manually turn it on. The day I was going to take it back it started working correctly and haven't had a problem since. Thanks tho!