[brownstormy]

Grabbed a Woods 59403 Heavy-Duty Outdoor Digital Switch Timer from the local department store.
It's rated @ 15A/1800W resistive, 8A/1000W tungsten and 1/4hp.

Can some electrogeeks please chime in on if it's safe to drive 2 400W hps with this thing?
I know the halving resistive to get inductive thing. But would appreciated more learned input.
Muchos thanks!

[brownstormy]

The local hydro store carries the apollo 8 mechanical timer rated at 15A 1800W resistive and they say it's good for up to one 1000W light.
If they're right, I'm assuming the Woods timer should be OK too.
Any of the electro gurus out here able to confirm this?
I think it will be fine, but I just want to be able to sleep better without hardwiring that intermatic pool timer.

[magiccannabus]

1/4hp is not a very large inductive load rating. That's like 250W approximately if I remember correctly.

Don't take chances! If you want a great plastic timer that is affordable and awesome, get the Intermatic HB800RCL. It's 25 dollars or less(I know Lowes carries it) and is rated for 12amps inductive. Inductive rating is EVERYTHING with HID lights. Don't take chances! Cheap timers can and will BURN up, actually catching FIRE. This forum is full of threads about people's crappy timers melting/burning.

[foomar]

Would not trust any timer to switch 800 watts plus startup for long , safer and more reliable to use a contactor , that way the timer only carries a few watts and even cheap ones are safe and stay working longterm , they are inexpensive.

[rives]

Way too light duty for me. The one that magiccannabus posted is better, an Intermatic T101 is better yet. The T101 is kind of clunky and has shitty resolution because it is mechanical, but they are stout! If you need highly accurate timing or multiple, short cycles, I would use a digital timer pushing a contactor or power relay.

[ballplayer 2]

My Intermatic timer I purchased from HD claims that it's rating is 15A (1800 Watts) both resistive AND Inductive, is that possible? It also has a rating for tungsten that is considerably lower.

I will be using the timer with a 600 HPS. Stupid me did not even know there was a significant difference resistive and inductive ratings. I saw 15A and 1800 Watts and thought I was good.

Thanks for the help guys,

BP2

[imnotcrazy]

1 HP (Inductive) = 745.699872 watts

That timer IS NOT capable of handling EVEN ONE 400W ( ~746W / 4 = 186.5 watts).

It will work for a while but it is destined to fail. Eventually the contacts will weld themselves permanently on regardless of the timer's state, and that's if you are lucky and it doesn't catch fire/smolder as well

[ballplayer 2]

Wow, my timer shows 1800W resistive/inductive, but only 1/3 HP. So is Intermatic full of crap or what? I need it to handle a 600W HPS. I am feeling uneasy about my lighting situation, and am likely to discontinue use until I can find a way to safely start my system.

The caveat is that I am not mechanically inclined at all, any fairly reasonably priced plug and play solutions?

[rives]

Horsepower ratings don't really give you a straight equivalent to inductive loadings because they are allowing for the inrush current during starting. As a motor accelerates up to speed, it can easily pull from 250% full load amperage up to several hundred percent. It is a damn good rough judge of how robust a device is, however.

BP2, building up a power relay isn't really too difficult, but I will take a look around and see if I can find a commercially-available one.

*edit* What is the model number of the Intermatic timer that you have?

[myc]

Originally Posted by rives

Way too light duty for me. The one that magiccannabus posted is better, an Intermatic T101 is better yet. The T101 is kind of clunky and has shitty resolution because it is mechanical, but they are stout! If you need highly accurate timing or multiple, short cycles, I would use a digital timer pushing a contactor or power relay.

Good to know!