# Coralife Digital Power Center Timer, help!



## Akaizhar (Jul 5, 2008)

I just bought a Coralife Digital Power Center Timerand I can't figure out how to set it for the life of me. Anyone ever ran into this before?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

I managed to set mine but it was so troublesome I returned it the next day. It's not that hard to set and the instructions with mine were pretty clear. We used to get a power outage once or twice a week and it just wasn't worth the hassle to have to program every outlet each time the power went out. The simple $9 appliance timers that WalMart sells are much easier to set and you can buy 3 of them for about the same price as the Coralife unit. I've never needed more than 3 timers for a single tank


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## Akaizhar (Jul 5, 2008)

Thanks for that, this thing has been driving me crazy for two days now. And with my new lighting coming today, I need something to set my timers


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## helgymatt (Sep 12, 2007)

I would say just get the cheapos from walmart or hardware stores. They work fine for what we need! Some have ground plugs and some don't. I usually use a cheater to bypass the ground, but I have bought the more expensive (a few more dollars) to get the grounded ones.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

I've had one since last week and still trying to figure it out. Thought it was just me.


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## Afyounie (Aug 10, 2007)

I got one. I like it when it works right. Sometimes though we get a small outage, and the dumb thing resets its self. I still use the cheap ones from walmart, but whatever you do don't get the digital timer from walmart. That thing gets unplugged far too easy for some reason. I personally like the ones that have the bluish gray ring that you push down for every 15 or 30 min. Those work real nice.


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## beastboi (Jun 6, 2008)

hey afyounie what's wrong with the digital ones? I brought two digital timer from walmart and their great! make sure you got the new one with the built in batteries. It will remember your settings when there's a outage.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

The digital coralife has a battery also.


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## curt_914 (Sep 28, 2007)

I got the Digi and took it back the same day. I bought the dual analog timer and I love it. It does every thing I need it to and then some. I put the price together and it all came out in the wash as I would have needed 2 power strips and 4 timers to run my 55. Also save a few bucks and buy the Zilla power stations. They are the same thing just marketed to the reptile crowd and you save about 5-10 bucks. I got mine for 40.

Curt


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## livingword26 (Nov 4, 2007)

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=11379


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## Afyounie (Aug 10, 2007)

The digital timer I got from walmart kept getting disconnected. A slight bump or anything caused it to disconnect. I liked it though since it was easier to use.


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## KnaveTO (Jul 4, 2007)

I have a coralife digital power bar and timer on all my tanks and have found them to be the easiest thing to set up and leave. Just remember a couple of tricks when setting them up. 
First only program the setting you actually need. Any programs that are accidentially set up need to be cleared as per the instructions so that they show the --:-- in the program screen.
Second when programming any timers remember not to set the off timer at 12:00AM as it will confuse the programming system. If you want your ligts to go off late set them to turn off at 11:30pm or so.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Thanks Knavto, that clearing is probably my problem. Will try again this weekend.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Still trying to get it set. Just programmed it again this morning and when done the daylight program I set for ealier is not on when it shows auto. Read instructions again and said when you set it you may need to wait 24 hours for timer to cycle. Also saw several comments on-line about the plugs being backwards on some. I'll know I guess by Monday night.


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## icom (Feb 23, 2008)

The old man said:


> Still trying to get it set. Just programmed it again this morning and when done the daylight program I set for ealier is not on when it shows auto. Read instructions again and said when you set it you may need to wait 24 hours for timer to cycle. Also saw several comments on-line about the plugs being backwards on some. I'll know I guess by Monday night.


it really only has 1 setting= turns the 2 yellow daytime outlets on,2 blue nighttime outlets off.the 4 white are on all the time.There is no single outlet timer control on it.

If I remember right,it can be set for something like 7 "cycles" per day;as in 2 yellows on/2 blues off at 8Am....the 2 yellows off/2 blues on at 10am...the 2 yellows on/2 blues off at noon and so on if thats what you want.. I just set mine to one on/off ( on at 9:15am and off at 8pm,daylights come on at 9:15 and go off at 8,then the blue outlets turn on the moonlighting.

it wont be on when it shows auto if the settings are wrong;...think of it as setting an alarm clock,same principle,just one more setting for off.
it is easy to set ;set the correct current time,then set the time you want the lights ( 2 yellow outlets) to come on,then set the time you want the lights ( 2 yellow outlets) to turn off.

mine was set and working in 10 minutes or so and has been working for months without touching anything..but if I had it to do over,I'd just use appliance timers and power strips


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Well, I got it figured out. I was setting it before during the on time and just had to wait till it got to next cycle. Sure am disappointed that it won't control a two light fixture even with two cords for each light. I just got the low priced timers for the rest of my tanks and they do about the same thing. The coralife digital does provide lots of outlets though, but it should for the $. By the way, the marineland small timer works fine and the pins are easy to set.


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## icom (Feb 23, 2008)

yeah,I wont ever buy another one when I can do the same thing better with cheap $3 appliance timers and $4 power strips.


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