FlyTrapCare Forums

I've been trying to figure this thing out for days. I know others use it and I could really use some help with it.

I just don't get it. You program the year, month, day of the month, sunrise, sunset and current time.

Then you program the on and off times. Problem is is that it always comes on and goes off at those times. It never adjusts astronomically. Why? It seems like just a regular timer, it don't adjust at all. The sunrise and sunset has changed in the last 5 days but the timer hasn't adjusted to it. What am I doing wrong?

I'm at work now.
I'll look up the diections from mine and send you a PM tomorrow afternoon.
If I remember right, you cycled past the AM and PM hours to set Sunrise and the same with Sunset. But it's been a while and I have several different astro timers. Each programs differently.

Good growing,
Mike

Thanks man I really appreciate it!

Go to Weather Underground, (wunderground.com I think) Get Sunrise & Sunset time for your location.

The following is from the PDF instruction sheet.
My notes and explanations are in Red.

The time is 6:00 PM.
The date is October 16, 2017.
Local Sunrise is 7:07 AM
Local Sunset is 6:08 PM.


Clear the Memory: Press the RESET button with a tooth pick to erase any previous settings.
Note: Inactivity for approximately 30 seconds and the timer will return to clock mode.
To Set the Clock:
1. Press the TIME button to set the currently year: Then press the “+” or “-” button to adjust the number from 2012 to 2099. 2017 Push + or - until the year is correct
2. Press the TIME button again to set the month: Press the “+” or “-” button to adjust the number from 01 to 12. 10 Push + or - until the Month is correct
3. Press the TIME button again to set the date: Then press the “+” or “-” button to adjust the number. The maximum date will depend on
which month you choose. 16 Push + or - until the Day of Month is correct
4. Press the TIME button again to set the daylight savings time feature: DST will appear on the bottom of the display screen. Then press
the “+” or “-” button to set DST AUTO mode or DST OFF mode. AUTO Push + or - until the DST is correct
5. Press the TIME button again to set the hour: Then press the “+” or “-” button to adjust the number from 12AM~11AM to 12PM~11PM. 6P Push + or - until the Hour is correct
6. Press the TIME button again to set the minute: Then press the “+” or “-” button to adjust the number from 00 to 59. 00 Push + or - until the Minute is correct
7. Press the TIME button again to set the Astronomic function: Then press the “+” or “-” button to select the zone you are in (refer to
map). North = “nor”, Center = “cen” and South = “sou”. NOR (Milwaukee is in Northern Zone) Push + or - until the Zone for your location is correct
8. Press the TIME button again to adjust the Sunrise time. Press "+" or "-" button to adjust the time. 7:07 AM Push + or - until the time of your local Sunrise is correct
9. Press the TIME button again to adjust the Sunset time. Press "+" or "-" button to adjust the time. 6:08 PM Push + or - until the time of your local Sunset is correct
10. Press the TIME button again to finish the setting or press and hold the TIME button for 4 sec that will go back to standby. Or just walk away for a few minutes and it will go back to normal time display.


Ok, Easy part done, now for the interesting part.


To Program the Timer:
1. Press the PROGRAM button once to display the first ON setting
2. Press TIME button. Press "+" or "-" button to adjust the day or group of days you want for the program. Scroll to select from: every
day, each individual day, weekdays or weekends Should show Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su on top of the display and 1 ON at the bottom right
3. Press TIME button to set the hour. Press “+” or “-“ to scroll through 12-hours AM, 12-hours PM, sunrise time or sunset time for first on setting. ON time starts at 1:00 AM and cycles to 11:00 PM. Press once more and 7:07 AM and a Sun/Moon icon is displayed. This is Sunrise Setting.

Note: If you select Sunrise/Sunset as the programmed ON timer, press the Program button to continue programming OFF setting.

4. Press TIME button to setting the minutes. Press button “+” and “-“to adjust from 00-59.
5. Press the PROGRAM button again to display the first OFF setting and repeat steps 2 through 4 to program. OFF times cycle from 1:00 AM through 11:00 PM. Then 7:07 AM (Sunrise) Finally 6:08 PM (Sunset) This is what you want.
6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 for additional ON/OFF settings
7. Press the MODE button once, at any time exit time setting or program setting. If no button is pushed for 30 seconds, the timer will
automatically return to standby mode.
Note: Pressing the RESUME button will cancel the setting
Sun tracking technology: the timer adjusts automatically to sunrise/sunset times. For example, program lights to turn On at sunset and Off
at 10:00pm. As daylight hours extend, the sunset time will increase. For example sunset may be at 5:41pm on Monday, 5:42pm on
Tuesday and 5:44pm on Wednesday. The timer will adjust to this On time accordingly and will always turn off at 10:00pm as programmed.
To Connect/Operate the Timer:
Plug device in to the timer and turn the device on. Plug timer into wall outlet.

Pushing MODE button (after programming and setting are done) will cycle through Auto-ON, Random-ON, Manual-OFF, Auto-OFF, Random-OFF, Manual-ON.


Hope this is of some help.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Good growing,
Mike

Sweet I think I got it!!!

Thanks!!

Now I just have to keep an eye on it to make sure it is auto adjusting as the time changes naturally.

I recently bought this timer, and one morning, it stopped providing power through its outlets. A reset didn't fix it. Maybe I just got a bad unit, but I figured I'd let people know so they might purchase a spare and avoid disrupting their plants' photoperiod.

Welp, it didn't work. It does not change automatically when the sunset/rise changes. The past week the sunset and rise and has changed as much as 5 minutes in both directions but the timer didn't change automatically to it.

I guess i will just have to change it myself once a week.

I don't remember if I noticed the light from Menards automatically adjusting, because I didn't use it for very long before the power outlets stopped working, but in case you're interested, I replaced mine with an Intermatic DT620CL timer that's definitely auto-adjusting. Twice as expensive, but more reliable, at least so far.

There are YouTube videos explaining how to program this and other timers since the instructions are often sparse.

Yep, the Smart Electrician Astro Timer requires someone far smarter than I am, it drove me crazy. What I wanted was a timer that would adjust both the start time (at sunrise) and the off time (at sunset) daily once it was set. If I'm going to reset on and off times weekly, might as well have a push tab timer which is what I had.

I used it all winter and it works pretty good. It's not perfect so I still had adjust the time every few weeks but only a few minutes on either end.

Sorry some folks had programming problems and hardware problems.
All of mine are still going strong.
I have a couple Raspberry Pi DIY setups controlling some lights too, but there's a pretty good learning curve there.

I see that smart outlets are becoming more popular.
I see you can just tell Alexa or Siri to turn lights on at Sunrise and off at Sunset.
Has anyone tried these yet?

You could also go buy some cheap smart outlets from Amazon, flash them with Tasmota firmware, and then run Home Assistant on a raspberry pi. You can do so much more than just turn on and off at sunrise / sunset. See here for details https://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/pos ... ml#p370616

I am using both Wyze and Feit smart outlets. Both with great.

Have one on my snake enclosure, my trophy shelf and in my grow tent.