CAN I USE A GROUNDED WAL-MART BRINKs ANALOG TIMER ON A 600w HPS..?

CAN I USE A GROUNDED WAL-MART BRINKs ANALOG TIMER ON A 600w HPS..? Im not sure the rating on the timer of max watt's...

and also can i use a walmart power strip with a circuit breaker for surge protection on the 600w ballast..?

yup, you sure can....all the way until they melt down and start a fire.



what i mean to say, is you really need to check the specs on the equip...it's wallmart yo
did anything good EVER come out of a wallmart?

Dunno what this timer is, but if it'sjust one of the bog standard 24 horu cheapo timers, then it will work, but not necessarily reliably. I ued a timer like this for my 400w hps and while it worked, maybe once a week or once every 2 weeks the timer would just faiul and it would stick the light on 24/7 until i noticed and sorted it out. Bought a £15 contactor timer off ebay (plug n grow was the brand) and that does my 600w just perfect without any issues.

it looks like this:



CAN I HOOK UP 600w HPS to this..?

Those are junk. I do use a walmart timer though. Just get the digital grounded Brinks. Its about 20 bucks. I think the max is something like 1875W or 15A.

I would not recommend the Brinks timer, I have read in multiple locations how it is crap. The grey tabs push back up and turn stuff off. Good luck.

grab a plug and grow timer off ebay cost me £12 uk . they are made specifically for hps lighting so you know it will do the job and be safe!!!

cheap units aint any good because they cant handle the load that happens when you switch a hps light on. hps lights surge to start the light, when starting they draw 2 to 3 times the stated current causing the contacts to more or less weld together so very unsafe. stick with a decent unit and put your mind at rest.

the answer is yes you can use that timer.

that timer will work but they suck dont cheap out on a timer it will cost you bud in the end what if your away a day or 3 and the timer comes on and stays on and your in 6 weeks flower then you hit your ladies with 24 or more hours light u will be living in hermie nation

brick20 said:

it looks like this:

CAN I HOOK UP 600w HPS to this..?

Click to expand...

i got 3 of them,had em over 2 yrs so far ,runnin 3 1000 w hps

I've had a couple of those controlling a 400w and 1000w growlights....the 1000w did burn a prong and went bad...one still works.....I've changed to a digital type, higher rated now......The Brinks (grouded) are ok when in a rush, but certainly can be improved on with little extra cash....

I've used the cheap grounded timer with the blue and red tabs for a long time without any issues. Running a 400 hps .

I've used cheapo $3 timers on 1000w lights. They popped the power strips every now and then but worked. Have had no problems with 600w lights and cheap timers. Haven't seen a cheap timer rated below 1150w 15amp.

beansly said:

the answer is yes you can use that timer.

Click to expand...

thanks for the input

^I've used those same ones, as well, without any problems, for about two years. One was hooked to a 600HPS, and the other had two 400's on it, at one time. Just keep an eye on them until you can afford to get some digital timers, and you'll be fine. I've had mechanical timers stick 'on' before, but it wasn't that exact type. They are prone though.

I started out broke too man I understand. I'm sure your very aware of digital timers....lol

if its grounded youll have to always go over to its house. get a timer thats not in trouble.

I've had one of these types of timer's wheel stop spinning before. So, it just never advanced the time.

The digital timers seem more reliable as there's not something mechanical determining what time it is. They should all be rated for at least 15A. At least that's what I've seen. Digital timers can be had for less than $15. They have battery backups for your schedule and keeping the time.

Keep in mind that some of them have features which adjust for expected darkness times and DST. You have to be able to disable these features.