Grow Light Timer

Cannabis cultivation is a difficult skill to master. It requires patience, dedication, but most importantly, knowledge.

Every crop is different, as is the growing techniques employed by growers worldwide.

But, there’s one thing that is essential for a successful and bountiful cannabis crop; Light

This is where a grow light timer will come in handy. By using a grow light timer in your grow room setup, this will automatically tell your grow lights when to switch off.

If you’re new to cannabis cultivation. Remember, when growing cannabis indoors, the plants’ natural light cycle will need to be mimicked.

Below are some common light cycles often used by growers to achieve the required results, with both auto-flowering and non-auto flowering plants:

• 12/12
• 18/6
• 24/0

The great thing about growing indoors, is that every aspect of your grow room can be monitored, from the humidity levels to the nutrients you choose to use.

This ability to control every bit of your grow room environment is of vital importance, this is especially true with the timings of your grow lights.

A grow light timer will complete the task relatively easy, and keep you safe in the knowledge that your crop is receiving the right amount of light.

Types of Grow Light Timer

When in the market for a new grow light timer, you’ll come across a few different types.

Digital Grow Light Timer: The digital grow light timer is probably one of the most popular grow light timers currently used by indoor cultivators.

Some growers love them, others not so much. Complaints are mainly due to receiving faulty or defective units.

Normally of a clockwork looking design and made from heavy-duty plastic.

The display and user buttons will more often than not be positioned to the front of the unit, with outlets to either side of the device.

Most will be programmable up to 7 days, with an on/auto/off feature.

Price wise, digital grow light timers are some of the most budget friendly timers available.

Many will often be of a very similar build quality and price, whilst including near identical features.

The above can undoubtedly be put down to the manufacturing process.

The majority of grow light timers will be made in China, so will therefore be identical in most respects.

Mechanical Grow Light Timers: Mechanical grow light timers are no less reliable than digital timers, but with the added benefit of being relatively plug and play right out of the box.

An added bonus of choosing a mechanical grow timer is the price, because of the simple design and setup. Most can be found for around the $7-$12 range.

With the above in mind, plus most manufacturers offering multi-packs of some kind, opting for the more budget friendly mechanical grow timer seems like a no brainer.

Design wise, again, just like the digital grow timers. Most will be built from durable plastic.

But instead of easy to use buttons and display to the front, a mechanical grow light timer incorporates an easy to use dial with pins.

3 prongs will normally feature to the back of the device with a 3 pronged socket to the front of the unit.

An on/off switch is normally in-built to the side of the unit and is equally easy to operate.

2-1 Grow Light Timers: In recent years 2-1 or multi-functional grow light timers have started to appear on the market.

The more popular versions of these are often found in the form of power surge outlet, plus grow light timer.

These types of grow light timers are a bit more on the expensive side. Which is to be expected from a product offering multiple features.

Again they will be primarily made from plastic, with the timer inbuilt into one end of the power surge outlet and a 3 foot power cord attached to the other end.

The grow light timer is normally the mechanical pin type of timer, rather than your digital version.

Plug and play, ease of use, with very little setup is one of the bonuses of these types of grow light timers.

Just like the other grow light timers we’ve featured today, the 2-1 timer will more than likely be built in China, so defective or faulty units do occasionally pop up.

Advantages of Grow Light Timers

As with most successful cannabis grows. Choosing the right equipment is of the utmost importance.

Grow light timers are no exception to this rule.

By utilizing a grow light timer in your grow room, it gives you the benefit of being able to easily and precisely control the timings of your grow lights.

No more manually switching your grow lights on/off throughout various times of the day, your chosen light cycles will now be automated.

Your cannabis plants’ will receive the optimal amount of light, at every single stage of growth, resulting in a higher yield.

Recap

So there you have it, 3 of the best grow light timers currently available.

As you can no doubt see, most grow light timers are of the exact same build quality and price.

That being said, our top pick for the best grow light timer is the BN-LINK 8 Outlet Surge Protector and Grow Light Timer.

Although the most expensive on our list, the combined features plus ease of use, and fewer defective units reported makes the BN-LINK 8 Outlet Surge Protector and Grow Light Timer a clear winner for us.