?grow plug timers and contacters?

L

Leelee1000

Member
Hi carnt get my head around this one. If a grow your plug timer is recommend for 1 600watt ballast light then does the contacter allow you to be able to use say 4 600 watt lights on the grow plug timer that is recommended only for 1 600 watt? Thanks lee
 
Monster_of_Au

Monster_of_Au

Active Member
so I'm kinda confused in what's going on but my interpretation is that you plug only one side of the power stip into a timer and that will turn on and off both of them.

most timers are done by watts. do instance mine can handle about 1760 watts. some can do more some can do less.

That being said I've also seen light controllers that have a sperate power timer, not tied into the same circuit, but the power for the lights was taken from the 50 amp 220 line
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
Leelee1000 said:
This contacter has 4 sockets attached that can take 4 600 watt lights so can I just buy 1 grow plug timer for all lights to work safely as it states a single grow light timer can only use 1 600watt max capacity
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A plug and grow timer has enough of the internals to run 1x600w light.
You plug in the plug and grow timer into 1 wall socket and plug your 600w ballast into the timer.

A contactor has a lot more going on inside the box to allow for more wattage to be handled by it.
A contactor has 2 plugs. 1xmains 1xtimer.
This type of contactor you need to get a timer for it.
You plug the contactor (mains) into the socket, you plug your timer into the socket and plug the contactor (timer) into the timer (double uk socket required on the wall)
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
Gemtree said:
That doesn't look like thick enough gage wire to do more than one
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this is for U.K. 240v electrical systems.

the box on the contactor has various components inside that help to stop the ballast draw from killing a standard U.K. timer.
 
L

Leelee1000

Member
On the grow plug timer it says max 3200 watt but it states online your only allowed to plug in one 600 watt light. Also does the contacter allow me to use more lights on one separate grow timer
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
Leelee1000 said:
On the grow plug timer it says max 3200 watt but it states online your only allowed to plug in one 600 watt light. Also does the contacter allow me to use more lights on one separate grow timer
Click to expand...
Yes. The contactor will allow you to run 6x600w lights plugged into a standard U.K. timer.
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
Leelee1000 said:
On the grow plug timer it says max 3200 watt but it states online your only allowed to plug in one 600 watt light. Also does the contacter allow me to use more lights on one separate grow timer
Click to expand...
I’ll take a pic of my contactor configuration tonight for you when I’m feeding.

mine is for 2x600w lights but I only use 1x400w.
 
Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
@jondamon i thought you were saying that the wall timer would handle them lol, the wall timer switches your relay to handle the heavy current.

This is ones I thought people were meaning by plug and grow
2821.jpg
They're 22amps relay timers but still only good for 2 600s
 
Jjgrow420

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
Heres what I use.
Safe and accurate. I hardwired the timer into its own breaker for lights/cooling fans only. Very easy to do. It can handle up to 40amps. There are different voltage options. This is then wired to a 4outlet box. Cheap timers= fire shopping.jpeg
 
Jjgrow420

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
That plug states it has a 5amp fuse. Id be cautious running lights on something that has a 5amp fuse....
With the amount of dust on the top of that plug id assume its been there 9yrs as well.
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
Star Dog said:
@jondamon i thought you were saying that the wall timer would handle them lol, the wall timer switches your relay to handle the heavy current.

This is ones I thought people were meaning by plug and grow
View attachment 4837978
They're 22amps relay timers but still only good for 2 600s
Click to expand...
I had one of those once when I only had a 600w that is a plug and grow timer.

I only ever used it with 1 light.

my thoughts are if it has only 1 socket then only 1 light.

For example my contactor has 2 sockets therefore it can handle 2 lights.
Either 2x400 or 2x600. I wouldn’t run 2x1000’s on mine I would upgrade the contactor to something heavier duty.

Jjgrow420 said:
Heres what I use.
Safe and accurate. I hardwired the timer into its own breaker for lights/cooling fans only. Very easy to do. It can handle up to 40amps. There are different voltage options. This is then wired to a 4outlet box. Cheap timers= fire View attachment 4837991
Click to expand...
Are you in the U.K. Not sure these kinds of things are even available or viable in the U.K. 240v supply.
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
Jjgrow420 said:
That plug states it has a 5amp fuse. Id be cautious running lights on something that has a 5amp fuse....
With the amount of dust on the top of that plug id assume its been there 9yrs as well.
Click to expand...
These are sold in grow stores all over the U.K. the plastic enclosure that’s inline has the workings for it to reduce the draw on the timer to stop the timers from blowing out.


and yes there is dust there.

am I guilty of not keeping my storage area cleaner. YES.
My grow room however that has a door from this area into it isn’t.
 
Jjgrow420

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
jondamon said:
I had one of those once when I only had a 600w that is a plug and grow timer.

I only ever used it with 1 light.

my thoughts are if it has only 1 socket then only 1 light.

For example my contactor has 2 sockets therefore it can handle 2 lights.
Either 2x400 or 2x600. I wouldn’t run 2x1000’s on mine I would upgrade the contactor to something heavier duty.



Are you in the U.K. Not sure these kinds of things are even available or viable in the U.K. 240v supply.
Click to expand...
Canada
There are 240v versions as well
Just because there is 2 plugs does not mean you can handle.2 lights....like how would they know what amperage you would be using ? That is nonsense. How do you know the plug you are using isnt connected into another circuit running plugs in a different room?
I duno man. Seems sketchy to me.
 
Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
I don't know anything about electricity other than it hurts, but for some reason the US has a different amp/voltage system to the UK, USA requires more amps for the less voltage, I don't actually know what that means but it might explain why we can comfortably use a 5 amp with a 600w light 5 amps equals approx 1000 and a bit watts.
 
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