DIY Digital Timer

[justDIY]

Ok - I got a sweet deal on Intermatic digital timers at home depot, so I built some 'gizmo' to make use of them

parts list:

1x intermatic digital wall switch timer -- $8.00
1x 2 position plastic gang box -- $0.42
1x duplex outlet -- $0.36
1x Fancy gang box cover -- $1.16
1x 3 Prong Extension Cord -- $4

I bought the extension cord 'cause it was a whole 50 cents more than just a 3 prong plug, which is needed to provide power to the 'gizmo'

anyway, the extension cord was 25 ft long, but I only used about 10ft of it, I'll save the outlet end and it's 15ft of wire for down the road.

so, I take the cut end of the cord, feed it into the gang box and strip off some of the jacket and strip the wires about 1/2" inch

wiring the digital timer is real easy, it has 3 wires, red, blue and black. the red wire is not used unless you have some 3-way switch action going on. so you wire the black wire to the black wire from the extension cord, and the blue wire goes to the hot terminal on the outlet.

then the white wire from the cord goes to the neutral terminal on the outlet, and the green goes to the ground lug

then everything just screws down into the gang box, put on the face plate and plug in - good to go.

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Pics are coming soon.

 

[justDIY]

okie, here are some pics, and you can find the whole scoop at

http://www.myaquaria.com/gallery/diytimer10/

 

[Guest]

SWEET!

 

[justDIY]

oh, I should add the specs on the timer:

Resitive load (heaters, incadescent lights): 15 amps (approx 1800watts)
Inductive load (ballasts, etc): 8 amps (approx 960 watts)
Motor load (pumps): 1 HP (approx 1800 watts?)

 

[liquidfunk]

where did you find the timer itself? the rest of the stuff is pretty easy to come by, but did you find the timer at HD or something?

 

[liquidfunk]

OH and whats the maximum amperage on the timer itself?

 

[justDIY]

the timer came from a sale rack in HD electrical dept - it was on clearance sale - the package looks like this:

One digital and two analog timers, cost = $8

They also sell the digital timer al la cart, over by the light switches and stuff... but those are $30! ...

see my 2nd post up above ^^^ for the amperage ratings

oh, btw, the timer runs on 1 AA battery, manf. claims for 3 years.

 

[liquidfunk]

well no dice at my HD for that timer on clearance, only the $30 version. so I got two of these outdoor timers instead:
Intermatic Inc
24-Hour Outdoor Timer
Model HB31RD81
Internet/Catalog # 163786
Store SKU # 318622

its water proof etc so it should mount nicly in my stand.

cheers!

 

[justDIY]

hey, ya, that's a sweet idea too ... waterproof would be great for keeping the salt creep at bay and avoiding the inevetiable splash.

and this time of year, no doubt the are on sale

 

[BillyZ]

LOL!! That is EXACTLY the same thing I did! Except I daisy chained two boxes together so I could put my actinics on a slightly different schedule.

although I'm a little upset... I paid nearly tripple that price for THAT EXACT SAME PACKAGE at home depot!!

have you come up with anything to do with the durned analog timers? lol. I used one for my FW tank.. but I've still got three left lol.

 

[justDIY]

well, I'm gonna use 'em for xmas lights for the next month, but after than.... dunno!

I will be giving some to parents, siblings, neighbors, as I have 14 of 'em

I kept my moon lights on an analog timer, as their percision is not very important to me.

I guess saving a few for MTS is a good idea.

 

[oscarbreeder]

cool DIY