timer problem

Ive been growing for a couple of years now and keep having the same problem. Ive tried 3 different timers so far and even used my mates that works for him but at my house after a week or two the timer sticks on and I have to reset it. I dont know if its an electrical surge or something but its doing my head in and causing me to loose crops if I dont catch them when stuck. Does anyone have any idea what it could be or had the same problem maybe, I even tried a mechanical timer and that stuck as well. Its driving me mad, any ideas welcome,,,thanks Andy

make sure you are not exceeding the reccomended wattage for the timers

light is 400 watt and timer supports 3000 watts, they seem to work for everyone else, im wondering if it could be a power surge problem of some kind, its really weird, it ruined my last crop coz they revegged

yeah that sucks, i just lost a timer it made my ballast hum like it was going to turn on but wouldnt, i have been having power surges so now that you have mentioned that i wonder if maybe that is why that timer went bad

Is it a digital timer or one of the manual ones?

i think ive sorted it now, apparently i need a Light Switching Timer Contactor to take the load off the timer. I ve never seen anyone mention them before so i just assumed i only needed a timer. Anyway I cant afford to have another timer malfunction so Im gonna get one and hoprfully this will stop it surging the timer.

Get a heavy duty timer. I had bad luck with timers also. I use a heavy duty outdoor timer. it is an intermatic. I was using brinks timers and had many problems with them. Not one problem with the intermatic.

I have a 5$ timer with no problems.

i no sum1 that juses a £5 one from tesco. seems 2 work

found this now, seems to have sorted it for me now.

ENVIROLITE 22amp 24 HOUR HD IP44 SPLASH PROOF TIMER on eBay, also Hydroponics, Plants Seeds Bulbs, Garden Plants, Home Garden (end time 25-Aug-08 10:33:20 BST)

I use a digital intermatic timer for all of my 220v balasts and some cheap outlet timers for my fans and cfl, also a transformer and several relays control my humidifiers and dampers. This set up works great for me! I tried to use several timers before the intermatic and all three did the same thing as yours and I lost six little girls because of it. Trust me, spend the two hundred bucks on a high voltage and wattage timer with a battery backup for the programing and it will make you grow much easier!!! Not to mention I can program both of my rooms on separate time cycles with my two zone timer. Zone one is 18-6 and zone two is 12-12, I don't even need to check on them anymore since I know this timer gets the job done and with no worries it was worth every penny!

You certainly have a much more sophistocated systen than I! I am lucky my grow is in a location as the temp is a constant 72ish in summer and about 50% hum. Unsure about the winter temps tho.My intermatic timer is a mechanical one and as of yet no problems. those who say they don't have problems with cheap timers, I wish them well. And more power to them. I'm glad I found the problem when I did. Could have been devestating!

nothing to do with the timer quality, it just needed a contacter, its sorted it now, the contacter stops the surge to the timer, i think alot of ppl get away with it coz of modern electric systems and trip switches anti surge built in etc,, mine is the old fashioned type with the big ole fuse box and big clumpy fuses with fuse wire in so theres no protection past the fuse its self, even so you should still use a contacter for what they cost, as little as £22 for upto 600 watts