BN-LINK 7 Day Heavy Duty Digital Programmable Timer, FD60 U6, 115V, 60Hz, Dual Outlet, for Lamp Light Fan Security UL Listed(2 Pack)

I bought this to run my grow station fluorescent lights on a timed schedule. So far, this is working great. Having multiple programs makes it very easy to provide light to the plants on a schedule which protects them from being burned up from too much UV light. Just set the program and walk away. The timer does the rest!Update: Our grow station is a very large 3 shelf unit and in an outside shed. It has been raining for a couple days now. This timer has saved us from running in and out of the rain, tracking mud back in the house to turn the UV lights on and off, and it is working flawlessly. I bought another one for the second shelf! For $12... you can't beat these!!!

We bought the BN-LINK 7 Day Heavy Duty Digital Programmable Timer to manage our bearded dragon’s heat lamp and UVB light, and it’s been a game changer. Reptiles like beardies need consistent day/night cycles, and this timer ensures everything turns on and off at exactly the right times without us having to remember or do it manually.

Would get five stars if it had a better manual. The manual so damn small with such fine print that even with double reading glasses you can't read it. Fortunately there are a couple of YouTube videos by users that go into the instructions of programming. But even they are wrong in the sense that they claim there was eight programs for each day. The truth is there are eight on and eight off programs for any day or combination of days of the week. So, if you have four ons and four offs for Saturday and Sunday that leaves you four on and four off programs for the remaining days or combination of individual days.

Two Year Update:After a little over two years, I still love this timer. It's worked flawlessly and has been a night-and-day improvement over the analog timers I used to use. I use it for setting a radiator-style space heater to run in the evening and early morning. Unlike the analog timers I formerly used, I never have to correct the time and I never have to worry about bumping it and changing the programming inadvertently.The main potential problem is that how to program it is not obvious. I keep the original instructions handy for when I want to change the schedule. It's not a big problem. After you've learned to program it initially, changing the programming is pretty easy, but it helps to have the instructions as a reminder. Overall this is a great timer that I recommend highly.Original Review From Two Years Ago:I’ve only had the timer for a day, so I can’t attest to its reliability yet, but I am impressed with how much of an improvement it is over the mechanical timers I’ve used for years. Set up is fairly easy, however many people may be confused by the setup and programming instructions, so here is how I did it.Setup=====Follow the instructions to initially set the day and time. Be sure to set it to standard time even if you’re currently on daylight savings time. If you’re currently on daylight savings time, then after you set the time, press the HOUR and MIN buttons simultaneously. The time will automatically advance an hour for daylight savings time. In the fall, to return to standard time, press HOUR and MIN again to set the timer to standard time.Programming==========This is the part that will confuse a lot of people. Here’s how I did it.There are 8 program settings, each of them with a separate ON-OFF setting. Each time you press the PROG button, it will advance. The first time you press PROG, it displays 1ON (1 + ON in smaller, raised letters). The second time you press PROG, it displays 1OFF, the third time it displays 2ON, the fourth time 2OFF, etc.The programming steps are:1. If 1ON isn’t displaying, press PROG until you get to 1ON. (1 + ON in smaller, raised letters)2. Press WEEK. You’ll see all seven days display. If you want the timer to turn on all seven days, then just go to step #3, otherwise press WEEK again until the days you want are displayed.3. Press HOUR until the hour you want the timer to turn on is displayed4. Press MIN until the minute you want the timer to turn on is displayed5. Press PROG once. It will now advance to 1OFF.6. Repeat steps 2 - 4 for the day, hour, and minute you want the timer to turn off.7. If you want to set another day and time for the timer to turn on and off, press PROG once and then repeat steps 2-6. Continue this process until you’ve set up to eight day-time combinations for the timer to turn on and off.8. To activate the programs you’ve just set, press ON/AUTO/OFF twice. It should now display AUTO. In the future, if you want to override the programming and force the timer to be either on or off all the time, press the ON/AUTO/OFF button until either ON or OFF displays.A red light on the timer will turn on whenever the timer is on. The light goes off when the timer turns off automatically or when you turn it off manually by pressing ON/AUTO/OFF.CAUTION about using this with a space heater====================================I’ve used 1500 watt space heaters on timers for decades, but YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL!Make sure the timer is rated for more than the wattage of the heater. This timer is rated for more than 1500 watts, so theoretically it is safe, but it nonetheless can still start a fire if you don’t take precautions (and even if you do take precautions).1. Never plug the timer into an extension strip or surge protector if you’re using for a heater.2. Never plug the timer into an extension cord that isn’t rated at least for the heater.3. Try to avoid running the heater at full 1500 watts. It’s easier for me to follow this rule because I don’t experience extreme cold weather where I live. On the rare occasions when I do run the heater a the full 1500 watts, I don’t leave it unattended.4. Periodically unplug the heater and examine the plug. Over time, the heater’s plug may deteriorate. I’ve thrown out several heaters when they’ve reached this point. Last week I threw out both my 30 year old oil-filled radiator heater and my last timer because the heater’s plug showed signs of deterioration and had visibly damaged the socket in the the timer. The timer still worked, but would have been unsafe to use. I’ve seen two forms of plug deterioration: the plug’s smooth plastic surface becoming rough around the metal prongs, and the metal prongs themselves showing signs of beginning to disintegrate.So far I'm really impressed with this timer. If something happens to lower my star rating, I'll update this review.

Took a while to figure out how to program even using the manual. However, once I did, it worked great.Neighbors thought we were home early from a vacation as you can program it to come on/go off at different times.I'd buy again if needed.

Really good! i actually did not use it for a while, and after a few months not using it the battery was still alive and all programs were still remembered!

This feels like a fairly sturdy item. It’s compact and I thought it would be easier to program than the old one I had where you had to manually move pins on a dial. Maybe this would be if the instructions were for this (probably updated) model. You can see from the photo that the instructions indicate a “program” button. There is none on the item. I’ve played around with it and I may eventually figure out how to program it by cycling through the options a hundred times. I don’t feel like taking the time though! I have gone online to see if there is an updated manual and I could not find it. There is even a YouTube video for the model (same model number) with the program button, but not for my model without. Yes, it was simple to set the time. It’s the lack of the “program” button and the instructions that don’t tell how to cope with that lack that ruin this item. It’s interesting that the photo on the Amazon description page shows one like the ones I received without the program button.If I can get it programmed without too much more trouble I might come back and add a star. For now it hardly deserves the three I’m giving it.Just editing to add: after fiddling around for a while realized I had never set the correct time on the timer and was unable to. The times I set were the programmed times for off and on. The “current time” on the display was hours off from the correct time. So I had to compensate and for that in programming the timer. I still don’t think I got it right. What a pain!

To set up this timer you need three simple things:~ very good glasses~ 3-4 or more hours of time~ engineering degree.