I accidentally left my lights on all night during 12/12: worried

[SmokingWings]

I have left the tent open all night with the lights from the vegetating area still on for several more hours. I have left the door open and the room light on overnight several times. Nothing has gone wrong with the plants and the world will not end.

It just failed on. I reset times and cycled thru the on/auto/off mode and no matter what the light stayed on if the timer was plugged. It was this piece of crap that I bought at a hydro store a little over a month ago

Was wondering whether there should be more icons or lights or something showing. For all my lights, fans and fliters I use the least expensive analog 24 hour timers and push the pins in when I want the lights on and turn the dial to indicate the current approximate time and walk away. Since 2018 I have only had one fail out of 6 that are in use. And, I have those manual/analog timers on my aquarium lights

Right now I am running a digital to control the on & off cycle for the sprayer in my cloning machine. It comes on for 30 seconds and is off for 4 minutes and 30 seconds. Have used it for about 9 months total since I bought it back in 2019 and the only time it had a hic-cup was 'cause I bumped one of those little buttons while looking at it for this thread and it went to "always on". But that might not be a failure of the timer but will know more if it happens again. At least I think I bumped it.

It might be as simple as bumping one of the little buttons or maybe needing to reset and start over. If the instruction sheet is missing a digital copy might be available on-line. Lost mine and needed to refer to it when I set up the cloning machine for the season back in January. I bought it at a HTG shop in the lower end of the county and I am pretty sure that they would open up one and let me read the instructions if I had to.

When the red light is on there is power to the cloner cord. The green light on and there is no power going out to the clone machine.

 

[bluter]

I use the least expensive analog 24 hour timers and push the pins in when I want the lights on and turn the dial to indicate the current approximate time and walk away. Since 2018 I have only had one fail out of 6 that are in use. And, I have those manual/analog timers on my aquarium lights

what happened to the one that failed ?

i had one jam and chew itself up inside. just kept turning around grinding. i had a heavier cycle one that burnt the wall plug and wiring back inside the outlet box. we tested it on another circuit, and it blew the breaker instantly, so it got tossed. no idea what caused it.


edit : when i downsized and went led i gave all the rest of my mechanical timers away and they are still working. most have at least a decade on them, some a bunch more.

 

[Jose Tall Grass]

you're showing two different timers, they set up different. the top timer is on auto schedule and looks to be waiting for the day of the wk it is supposed to run. when it hits that day you'll get the on / off icon if it uses them. some don't indicate in auto mode.

i've had the exact same thing happen to me when i re-programmed.

edit : if the switch itself blew it won't work in any mode. if the light runs when in the on position the timer should be good, and it'll be a program problem.

These timers function exactly the same. I remember setting it up the first time. It failed on. Can’t even turn it off with the off button. Doesn’t cycle at all just stays on

 

[Jose Tall Grass]

you're showing two different timers, they set up different

I’ve never seen a timer that doesn’t show you where you’re at in the program. Are we just supposed to set the program and just let the auto icon tell us if the light is on or not? That doesn’t make sense. You see auto on the screen right? Auto what?

 

[bluter]

These timers function exactly the same. I remember setting it up the first time. It failed on. Can’t even turn it off with the off button. Doesn’t cycle at all just stays on

usually, the switch fails and won't let it run anything. failing in the open/on position doesn't make sense for a digital timer. the whole thing is built to fail off if it fails at all. a literal fail-safe design.

how old is it? i'd take it back or try warranty if it's just acting as an open plug


were these idled for a while? i've had to plug some into a live circuit if left off for a period, they always come back and work fine.

I’ve never seen a timer that doesn’t show you where you’re at in the program. Are we just supposed to set the program and just let the auto icon tell us if the light is on or not? That doesn’t make sense. You see auto on the screen right? Auto what?

some of the simpler ones just had the function indicator. they would normally have fewer program buttons / settings as well.

 

[Jose Tall Grass]

usually, the switch fails and won't let it run anything. failing in the open/on position doesn't make sense for a digital timer. the whole thing is built to fail off if it fails at all. a literal fail-safe design.

how old is it? i'd take it back or try warranty if it's just acting as an open plug


were these idled for a while? i've had to plug some into a live circuit if left off for a period, they always come back and work fine.




some of the simpler ones just had the function indicator. they would normally have fewer program buttons / settings as well.

I work in building maintenance. Timers are nothing but contacters they fail on or off. I’m constantly replacing photocells at work because of lights staying on. They can fail on or off

 

[SmokingWings]

what happened to the one that failed ?

I threw it in the trash .

I had taken it out of use and put it in storage for several months and do not remember any problem. Then when I needed it again it would not work. Don't remember the exact problem but I believe it was that the light did not come on no matter how many pins were pushed or what position the little button was in, whether "timer" or the "always on" position.

These timers function exactly the same. I remember setting it up the first time. It failed on. Can’t even turn it off with the off button. Doesn’t cycle at all just stays on

If'n it was me I would try starting over with it. Might be something overlooked in setting it up that is keeping it from going into auto mode. Happened with that thing in my photo.

And if that does not work then back to the store and get them to fix it or provide another one. Had to do that with a digital temperature & humidity gizmo.

 

[Jose Tall Grass]

I threw it in the trash .

I had taken it out of use and put it in storage for several months and do not remember any problem. Then when I needed it again it would not work. Don't remember the exact problem but I believe it was that the light did not come on no matter how many pins were pushed or what position the little button was in, whether "timer" or the "always on" position.


If'n it was me I would try starting over with it. Might be something overlooked in setting it up that is keeping it from going into auto mode. Happened with that thing in my photo.

And if that does not work then back to the store and get them to fix it or provide another one. Had to do that with a digital temperature & humidity gizmo.

Believe me I tried. Reset the whole timer and started from scratch. When I went to cycle thru it stayed on. Press the off button it stayed on. Unplugged and reset again same thing. Set it up to be off then plugged it in it stayed on. Paid about $13 for it I got what I paid for. Moving on to a different timer. Luckily I had my old one still and didn’t toss it. I bought this timer just because I thought my old one was going to fail

 

[bluter]

I work in building maintenance. Timers are nothing but contacters

pretty simply yes.

they fail on or off. I’m constantly replacing photocells at work because of lights staying on. They can fail on or off

have always see fail off. but honestly don't know about the photocells though.

 

[Jose Tall Grass]

pretty simply yes.




have always see fail off. but honestly don't know about the photocells though.

Here’s one that failed on. These run off of photocell and it’s on broad day

 

[SmokingWings]

Paid about $13 for it I got what I paid for. Moving on to a different timer. Luckily I had my old one still and didn’t toss it. I bought this timer just because I thought my old one was going to fail

Ah, got it. My analogs cost about $5 and now up to $9 these days. The digital ran $30 back in '19 and now about $35.