When using grow lights or even regular lights, we know that they can use up a lot of electricity. Grow lights do need to stay on for extended periods, at least 8 hours, and for some, at most 14 or so hours.
There are some grow lights that have their own timers. This isn’t the case for all of them.
For the ones that do have internal timers, you have the option of setting those timers to turn on and off for a several durations. Some have as few as 3 to 4 hours, some have 6 to 8 hours, others have 9 to 12 hours. It varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.
For the ones that don’t, you have only one option, to manually turn on and turn off the grow lights. This is where you’ll need external timers to plug them into.
For those grow lights that have USB plugins, as long as you have a USB adapter to plug into an outlet, you may be just fine. Just plug them into the plugin timer, and you should be on your way.
For plugin timers, you have the option of setting the on times and the off times, so that it can turn on and off automatically. You plug the lights into them, then plug the timers into the wall and it should work just fine.
For example, you set your timer for one light, to turn on at 7 am, and to turn off at 7:30 pm; you set your timer for another light, to turn on at 9:30 am, and to turn off at 9:45 pm. See how that works?
For the grow lights that already have timers, they are set for specific 3, 6, or 12 hour intervals (I’m discussing the ones that I have), but it does experience wear and tear, with the timer occasionally resetting, without you realizing when it happens. In some instances, you’ll need to give that grow light a break, or replace it altogether.
When it comes to the separate external timers, they can run as little as $10, to as high as $30 or more, each. It’s a good investment, especially if you want to conserve energy.
The advantages of having timers, I’ve already discussed. The disadvantages, is that you need one timer for each grow light. This means one timer for each light, and setting each light to turn on and off individually. That’s more time consuming than anything, but in the end, it’s worth it.
You’ll know this when you look at the difference in your electric bill between the previous month prior to buying these timers, and the month after you buy these timers. These will be most beneficial, in the colder months, when sunlight isn’t as prevalent, compared to the spring and summer months.
So far, I only have three separate timers, but I do need a few more, because I have at least three more lights that need timers. Guess what I’ll be doing in the near future? Yes, getting more plugin timers.