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Lowes Timers

Discussion in 'Product Reviews' started by LemonDiscus, May 18, 2009.

  1. LemonDiscus

    LemonDiscus Thread Starter Active Member

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    So I just purchased another timer on Friday to run my breeder tanks while I was away on vacation. I wanted to post this for those that are interested in buying a timer from Lowes.

    Lowes carries a variety of timers and 2 types of them I have purchased and 1 SUCKED!

    A few months (about 5-6) ago I bought a cheap timer that you set using the little pins on the time you want ($4). DONT EVER buy a timer like this. I bought 2 of them and within a month BOTH went faulty and would not turn on or wont turn off locking it either on or off.... Something inside of them breaks easy.

    Later I replaced it with a Digital Timer ($9) and these timers ROCK! I had 1 running my 125 for the past several months and just bought my 2nd... I will be getting 1-4 more over the next few months to run various things such as my filters, other lights, etc....

    The Digital Timers enable you to set the time on/off for each day of the week or patterns in the week. You can store up to 20 different presets enabling multiple on/off cycles in a day or different patterns for the week (I have my 125 set to come on at 1pm on weekdays and at 10am on weekends) this enables you to set your tank to your lifestyle and forget the lighting care of it. I use it on my 125 to help control algae. It sure beats waking up, turning on your tank, being gone for several hours, coming home to enjoy it and turning it off when you go to bed. In my life this would cause the tank to have its lights on for over 12 hours.... thats not good...

    I did just want to let you know, when it comes to buying timers spend the few extra bucks for the digital ones, they have a battery in them to save settings in case of a power outage and have a longer lifespan than the mechanical ones.
    standard timer.jpg timer.jpg
     
    LemonDiscus, May 18, 2009
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  2. greg curtis

    greg curtis New Member

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    Any particular model # you picked up Lemon. I need 2 to turn some lights on and off on 2 tanks.
     
    greg curtis, May 18, 2009
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  3. LemonDiscus

    LemonDiscus Thread Starter Active Member

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    This is the one I like and use... sorry, I have them hidden and could not see them when I did the review...

    Intermatic Digital Lamp Timer

    Link to page on Lowes:
    <a class="postlink" href="http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=146602-251-DT300CL&lpage=none" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... lpage=none</a>
     
    LemonDiscus, May 19, 2009
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  4. greg curtis

    greg curtis New Member

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    Thanks Lemon I picked up 2 from Home Depot. I had 2 of the Coralife with the push in pins and they never worked right from the start. These look a lot nicer and cheaper to boot.
     
    greg curtis, May 19, 2009
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  5. LemonDiscus

    LemonDiscus Thread Starter Active Member

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    Yeah mine never worked right with the pins either.. :confused:

    Plus when the power went out they would fall back in time for however long the power was out.... drove me nuts... then when they quit turning on and off I had it with them... the one I bought is cheap and works great!
     
    LemonDiscus, May 19, 2009
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  6. greg curtis

    greg curtis New Member

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    Good to hear they work great. I'm only using mine to turn lights on & off on 2 small tanks.
     
    greg curtis, May 19, 2009
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  7. LemonDiscus

    LemonDiscus Thread Starter Active Member

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    I have 2, 1 turns my breeder tank lights on and off... the other turns 1 set of my show tank lights on and off.

    I am planning on getting about 3-5 more when I have the cash.

    1 - Turn my 2nd set of lights on my show tank on and off
    2 - Turn each of my show tank filters on and off on a schedule
    maybe also turn my breeders filters on and off on schedule..

    Discus like calm water so it may help not to have disturbances in the water all day... filter on at night and off in the day maybe?? something like that... I dont know yet though...
     
    LemonDiscus, May 19, 2009
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  8. BobV

    BobV Member

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    I have cheapo Walmart timers for the most part.....only a few have failed over the years, so I can't complain about price or durability. The digital ones sound interesting....I'd like the option of having a "black out" day oce a week or so.
     
    BobV, May 19, 2009
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  9. greg curtis

    greg curtis New Member

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    Had my Intermatic digtal timers for a couple of days now and love em. They are very easy to set up( instructions on the Intermatic website). They worked the first time and turn on & off the way I programmed them. Thanks again Lemon!
     
    greg curtis, May 31, 2009
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  10. LemonDiscus

    LemonDiscus Thread Starter Active Member

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    No problem! They are GREAT timers and make keeping tanks that much easier! :D
     
    LemonDiscus, Jun 1, 2009
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  11. greg curtis

    greg curtis New Member

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    Ditto!
     
    greg curtis, Jun 1, 2009
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  12. greg curtis

    greg curtis New Member

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    Well had my first Intermatic crap out on me yesterday morning. Didn't turn on at specified time. Changed over to another one I had as a spare and all was well again. Don't know what happened but I'm going to take it apart and check it out for any burned up components.
     
    greg curtis, Jun 5, 2009
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  13. LemonDiscus

    LemonDiscus Thread Starter Active Member

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    Thats strange... I have 2 and niether have had a problem.... was it on "auto". Did you over-ride it?
     
    LemonDiscus, Jun 6, 2009
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  14. greg curtis

    greg curtis New Member

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    Yeah Lemon it was set on auto and was working fine. Just one morning it didn't turn on at the specified time. I switced timers and the second one worked fine. Reset the first timer and reprogrammed it but to no avail. Don't know what happened as I haven't had time to take it apart for a look yet. I have a spare or two so its really not a problem for the price.
     
    greg curtis, Jun 6, 2009
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  15. LemonDiscus

    LemonDiscus Thread Starter Active Member

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    True.... they are inexpensive for a digital timer.... strange though... like I said, I have had one for almost a year and it has outlasted all of my analog timers 2 fold!
     
    LemonDiscus, Jun 6, 2009
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  16. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Top Poster Of Month

    Can't remember if any of my timers came from Lowes. I know some came from Walmart and some from Big Lots. Haven't had any problem so far. I did have some that had some pins and I took them back. Not because they didn't work, but becuase I found some cheaper.
     
    Anonymous, Jun 6, 2009
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