I now have two sets of shelves--the 5 high ones. I've lights on 4 of the shelves hooked up to power strips. Today I went to Lowes to get a timer, and the guy sold me one that accepts a 2-prong cord and not the 3-prong cord that is on my power strips. Yeah, I know--I should have checked. Anyway, I looked around the house and all the other timers I have here only accept 2-prong plugs. What do you all use? Is there a timer that will work with the 3-prong plug of a power strip? Thanks for your help.
Sarah
Timers for grow light stands
Whenever I have a problem like this, I just buy those cheap little 3-to-2 prong adapter thingies...
I googled a pic for ya, so you can know what I'm talking about:
http://www.electronicplus.com/images/products/419GY.jpg
This message was edited Feb 21, 2009 7:15 PM
This message was edited Feb 21, 2009 7:21 PM
I bought the dual outlet timers at Lowe's. They were about $11.00 each. So far, I have two lights plugged into one timer. The timer is then plugged into a surge supressor strip. I still need two more lights, but they don't have the 24" shop lights in yet. My shelves are 36" wide x 72" high.
imadigger, I'll check those out.
m3rma1d, I don't know alot about electricity and don't want to burn my house down. Will those converters work without overloading anything?
Thanks for your responses.
Sarah
I haven't burned down any house yet... But if in doubt you could check with the clerks while shopping :-)
The 3rd prong is a ground, if I am not mistaken the converter just accepts the ground, so the light etc. is no longer grounded. It shouldn't cause an overload--BUT too many lights and power strips on one outlet is another thing. I don't use timers--heard somewhere years ago that they were hazards so being an idjit where electricity is concerned I shy away. I do get up and go to bed about the same time every day so I don't worry about the lights--they get up and go to bed with me.
Its the amount of electricity that is pulled thru the cord, they get hot. I melted a small room heater cord (3 prong) into the electric extension cord (2). Get the correct 3-prong timer. (In future, remember that they are cheaper at christmastime). And be careful you don't get the ones thay only go on and off at dusk....it will say on the package...but I guess I missed that..great for christmas lights though. tish
Thanks, tish. I was beginning to wonder if they made timers for 3-prong plugs.
I'm surprised the Lowes guy didn't ask what kind you needed. I guess most people want the regular ones for lamps and such. I want to say they should be near the heavy duty extension cords, but I just don't remember which isle I got them. You could also check walmart, I think I bought one there once. I plug my timer into the wall outlet and plug one of those powerstrips (w/three prongs and 6 or so plug-ins) into the timer. Then I plug my lights into the powerstrip. I recently heard you can get timers that still keep the time when there are power outages, but I don't know where or how much they cost, must be battery back up or something. Probably cheaper to just reset the timers....spend the money you save on new plants! tish
I use power strips and 6.00 timers from Walmart. (That means I am only using one of the two plugs for the timer)
I posted my question on the electricity and lighting forum and one DGer pointed me to a 3-prong timer on Amazon. I believe it has a battery backup. I'll keep looking because as Gran mentioned, I think it's important to maintain the ground.
Thanks for all your input.
Sarah
I was in Walmart today, Grandson needed soccer shoes for practice tonight, last season's shoes have disappeared and he probably outgrew them anyway. So I went thru Walmarts electrical isle and they have the 3 prong timers for $9.97. They are large (about 4X4) and black. You can see thru the clear package the big 3-prong plug where you will plug it into the wall, so you know thats the one. There was a yard stake timer with multiple outlets that will be good for me next Christmas- I'll have to remember later in the year to get that. If you happen to find out how much that fancy backup one costs, let us know....just curious. tish
There were several digital ones with battery backup. I think one was $25 and another was $11 or $15. They were on amazon.com.
I just plug my 6.00 timers into the wall with two prongs and then use the little 1.98 gizmo to put in it so I have a 3 prong for the light stand plug. I guess it is just 6 of one and half dozen of the other.
I got my timers from Walmart as well, but I purchased the one with the 3 prongs - I think the manual timer was around $7 each.