Many plants are photo periodic – meaning that they produce different hormones depending on how many hours of light they receive per day.
If you are growing plants which are photo periodic, then you will need a timer to regulate your lights, unless you want to switch them on and off manually every day.
For any light over and including 250W you will also need a contactor. A contactor separates the current flowing to your timer from that flowing to your lights.
Without one, your timer will almost definitely fuse – effectively meaning that your lights will remain on when they should turn off.
There are many different contactors available – some have in-built timers, whereas some (such as the Ecotechnic Powerstars) require a separate timer.
Each contactor has a Kilowatt (KW) limit which is the total amount of Watts it can handle. So, for example, a 3KW contactor can handle four lights with a combined total of 3000W.
All of the timers and contactors on this page are safe, reliable and easy to use.
If you want to find out more about a particular product then click on an image to the right or contact us via email, over the phone or at our central South West London store.