Problem with light switch timer

It seems to turn off and on 8 mins earlier every day like let's say I set my timer for 18/6 lights on from 6am to 12am then the next day it turns on at 5:45am and off at 11:45pm and it seems to turn on and off about 5 mins earlier every day does anyone else have this problem and does it affect my plants at all??

Those analog timers aren't very reliable. Spend the extra six bucks on a digi:
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-TM01715D-7-Day-Digital-Program/dp/B001BPOBTY

Tylerhonky said:

It seems to turn off and on 8 mins earlier every day like let's say I set my timer for 18/6 lights on from 6am to 12am then the next day it turns on at 5:45am and off at 11:45pm and it seems to turn on and off about 5 mins earlier every day does anyone else have this problem and does it affect my plants at all??

Click to expand...

Had that happen to a timer and figured I'd bumped it with a container or something..then it went bad a couple days later...it was this cheap piece of intermatic crap..now I use better timers .

This what u using?


http://www.walmart.com/ip/44593649?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222228032477399&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=64534289576&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=111318051176&veh=sem

Heavy duty timer roughly £15 eBay can't go wrong

when buying timers pay attention to the frequency 50 or 60 Hz, 50Hz means the voltage alternates 50 times per second, 60Hz obviously means 60 times/sec. 60Hz is the normal frequency of the incoming power lines in North America, while 50Hz is seen in many European countries.
I bought a timer from ebay.co.uk which was 240v 50Hz, when I plugged it in , the timer's clock started going faster, instead of 12 hours on it will be like 10 hours on. my electricity was 240v 60Hz.

The cheapest system I can "think" of is one of those $10, 630 watt digital timers from Lowes or Walmart. I couple this with one of those $5 40 amp relays you find in the auto accessories row at Canadian tire. I plug a 12vdc adapter into the timer to run the relay (Rogers . These relays will also function OK on a 9vdc adapter. It is best to max a circuit at 50% of its capacity so this circuit will handle up to 2500 watts, 2kw nominally. I set this up on a 15 amp power bar that comes equipped with a built in 15 amp circuit breaker.

These cheap digital timers are best on the 24 hour setting as I have found that when set on am/pm they lose their programming.

This circuit works for pumps also.