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Thread: Best/Easiest Timer for multiple lights?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
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    Labasa, Fiji
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    27

    Default Best/Easiest Timer for multiple lights?

    Just finished my 6.8' x 3' x 2' enclosure approx. 1 week ago. I'm still working on the optimal lighting and so far the cage has - a 48" (4 ft.) T-8 dual fixture mounted in the back/middle of the cage which houses a 10.0 reptisun and a regular fluorescent "daylight", a 160 watt Zoo Med powersun (The 100 and 160 watt mega rays are both currently on backorder) on one far end, and a 50 watt normal halogen basking light towards the middle to provide an additional basking area and heat source. For night time I have a 75 watt nocturnal infrared heat lamp.

    My idea is to have a timer or timers which will allow the lights to come on and off to create a more natural daytime/nighttime cycle where it's brighter/darker at different parts of the day. For example, the normal halogen comes on first, then the powersun, then the daylight/reptisun and in the afternoon/evening they will go off in the opposite order and the heat lamp will turn on at night. I hope this makes sense!

    Can anyone recommend a good light timer I can incorporate? Ease of use is definitely a plus.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    1,210

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    That sounds like a good set-up; I assume you have confirmed the temps are where you want them to be when each set of lights is on. I know you aren't asking about the lights themselves, but I'll volunteer the suggestion that you might also want a ceramic or "black" light on the end where the hot lights are, so that at night it doesn't get too cold. Also, we have had multiple problems with the Zilla or R-zilla brand "red" night time lights. They are not apparently designed for humid environments and the company does not respond to customer questions or complaints -- avoid them!

    For timer switches, we have had the best luck with the non-electronic ones. These have a dial that you manually turn to whatever time it is, and little clips or toggles that you manually set at the desired ON and OFF times. The device plugs into your wall socket and the lights plug into the device. You have one running your daytime lights and one for the night lights. In your case, with the phased approach, you'd need three. A good, sturdy, non-noisy timer that holds sufficient wattage for your lights should be around $7 at a hardware store. Plug in a multi-socket extender (sorry, don't know what they're really called) for multiple lights/heaters on the same device.

    By comparison, we have another lizard set up with a digital timer. You set the time initially and then it remembers it and automatically adjusts for daylight savings. Until there's a power outage, then you start all over. You can get these with multi-programmable sockets. The problem is, even this fairly simple one is VERY difficult to figure out. There's nothing intuitive and the instructions are tiny print and translated badly. This was not cheap and the multi-programmable ones are well over $35.

    Maybe someone else has had another experience.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Labasa, Fiji
    Posts
    27

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    I'm honestly not sure who makes the infrared light but I'm almost certain it's not Zilla since the pet store I bought it from mainly carries exo terra and a few zoo med items. I had it with my previous enclosure and used it at night without any problems that I know of. I've never used a ceramic light but I will look into it if I'm having any temp problems - for the most part I didn't use any lights at night until maybe a month ago but I had an under tank heater on his old aquarium which isn't exactly possible now, lol. I don't think it should get too cold at night as the ambient temp of my house is in the low 70s, however his enclosure is in one of the large walk in closets in my bedroom which is a few degrees hotter than the rest of my house. My temp gun from reptileuv.com is on the way to double check temps but I would guess the temps at night should be in the mid to high 70s (I used the crappy thermometer strips before which was ok for a 40 gallon tank but not acceptable for my current setup). The temps are going to change during the daytime because I have to add more cypress mulch - something else I had to order online because of the 2 pet stores near my house one doesn't carry cypress mulch at all and the other only had 6 small bags - which only gives him about 3" to burrow when all were put in. It's amazing how stores are so quick to sell these exotic reptiles but yet only sell supplies that work well when they're small.

    I have 2 of those non-electronic digital timers I used on my old tank but I was thinking that one timer with multi programmable sockets would be better...I did see one in a store made by Zilla but it looked extremely complicated. Cost isn't really an issue - at this point I have thousands of dollars invested into my tegu so I'm not worried about it. What's best for the animal is my only concern and I really wish I could put an outdoor enclosure at my house now but it's not possible, so I figure the next best thing is to have the best indoor setup I could in addition to daily outdoor basking, free roaming, proper diet, and exercise. I want him to live as long and happy as possible, I'm certain I'd be devastated if something happened to him and it was my fault - I love him like a child.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    1,210

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    I know what you mean about cost not being an issue for your tegu. We think of our boy as our child, also.

    We shopped around for different solutions to the timer issue. As with other reptile-specific gadgets we found in the pet store, it wasn't so much the cost of those timers that turned us off as the fact that, for the additional cost, it didn't seem to solve the problem. Like you said, they didn't seem easy to figure out -- why else get it? I think we considered one that also had the thermostat built in, but it's quality/accuracy did not seem reliable. We settled on the lower tech solution because it seemed more failsafe.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Labasa, Fiji
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    I double checked that bulb it's an exo terra 50 watt heat glo. As I said I haven't measured night time temps accurately in the new enclosure but they *seem* to be mid-upper 70s. As of now I have a surge protector with all the daytime lights plugged into one of my old timers all set on a 12 hour cycle and the night-time bulb fit into the other outlet plug since both timers won't both fit into my single outlet. I suppose I am going to have to install 2 additional outlets in that closet (already installed one for the tank) to have 3 of those timers in there. At least the setup should be perfect until he's 42" or so...will probably be moving to a house I can have an outdoor enclosure by that time and save a lot of hassle...

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    San Antonio,TX
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    I don't want to be rude but I don't recommend using a infrared heat light. It can be bad for your Tegu's eyes. If you want to have some heat in the enclosure I would use a ceramic heat bulb.

    Ceramic heat lamp.

    http://www.google.com/products?q=rep...reptile+cerami

    I use a timer that is almost like the one in the link below. I got mine at Walmart for about $5.

    http://www.mcfeelys.com/product/1581...Timer-300-W-Up
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