timers for lights

[maryboland]

I bought a timer at Lowes the other day for use later when extra light is necessary in the coup, I was a little chagrined after I got home to see that it said it would turn on a dusk and then stay on the number of hours I set it for. I guess dusk is what triggers it on. Maybe all the reasonably priced timers are like that. I had been hoping to set the timer to go on a number of hours before sunrise instead. That way the incandescent light would give a little heat the coldest part of the night and, also, I read that it's less upsetting for the chicken to have a light suddenly go on in the am than to have one suddenly go off in the pm.

What does yours do? Are there any economical timers that would go on the dark before sunrise, do you know?

 

[KenLamWV]

Since I ran power to my coop, I initially put a brooder light in there for heat since it was just in the middle of spring when they went to their big girl home. I wanted to turn the light off when it was sunny out, so I bought a 24 hour timer for 6 bucks at my Ace Hardware. Its been a little more than a month and it still works fine. My girls seem to only go in the coop when the light comes on in the evening when its starting to get dark. I had a 100 watt bulb in there but it was putting too much heat out because they didn't want to roost anywhere near the thing. Well since they only wanted light, I put a 9 watt CFL bulb and it puts out 40 lumins (sp) which is plenty of light and I am not wasting extra power.

The timer was easy to set and all I have to do is make sure the current time is correct and it comes on at 8pm and goes off at midnight.

 

[CityChook]

I just use one of those inexpensive christmas light timers from the hardware store. $3-4 max. It has pins that you set for the hours to go on and off. I am able to set it to go on at 5 am and off again at sunrise, then on again around 4 and off again at 8. Worked great all winter and am planning to use it again this coming season.

I don't know if it seemed upsetting for the light to go off suddenly at night. It was very obviously dark outside by the time it went off. For the first week or so I checked on them to make sure everyone was on the roost and they were. They just seem to know that it's time for bed.

 

[boogiedog]

I'm with Citychook - I also got a cheapy timer at the local hardware store and it worked like a charm.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
walmart has them as well