Single Channel Timer Pro

It takes a bit to get it programmed (I blame my old age and moving too slowly lol) but once I got it done, it works beautifully on my NICREW lights. We have several aquariums, and I had *thought* that all the lights I had were NICREW, but apparently two of them were ordered by someone else *coughhusbandcough* and after several attempts and returns (sorry NICREW), I realized my problem, and that it wasn't the timer/dimmer, it was the incompatibility issue. So I sent the two back I couldn't use and NICREW promptly refunded my money. I would suggest that if you aren't sure if these will work because you have another brand, to look at the plug-in itself. If it's a large plug - I'm sorry, I'm not sure what this is called, but maybe "adaptor" type? The kind that are large and almost take up the space of two plugs on your strip -- anyway, if you have one like that, it could work. If it's just a normal-sized plug-in, chances are it won't. I may be wrong, but that's what I noticed here. Anyway, the lights I had that weren't compatible were Aqua***t (I'm not sure if I can say the actual brand name here) but look at your plug. :) I hope this helps. And did I say how much I LOVE this timer/dimmer???

This review is for the Single Channel Timer Pro which is used in conjunction with an LED aquarium light. This is a light timer/controller. Note for the purpose of this review, my experience so far is only using this with a NICREW light fixture. This will likely work with other manufacturers LED light fixtures but I can not say first hand, so my experience reflected here is using the NICREW timer with a NICREW light fixture. Normally I use electro-mechanical timers with my aquariums (the type with the round dial you set with little tabs the ON and OFF times). Since I have been moving to LED lights and I needed another timer, I decided to give this a try and I am very please with it. First and foremost it was very affordable and not really much more than the mechanical-electric rotary light timers I have used in the past. Second this is very small and very light so takes up a lot less space than a traditional timer and can easily be tucked behind a cabinet or tank which is important since the clock is always displayed with an red LED display, so if used in a bedroom or other places where you don't want a bright clock display being able to tuck it behind something is a plus. On the other hand, if you need a clock display in the room, this will double as that, so long as you don't mind reading militray (24 hour format) time (e.g. 1:30pm displays as 13:30). So far this has worked as advertised and I am able to get a ramp up and a ramp down of light. Not only do I think it is a little less harsh for the fish, but a little less harsh for me for one of my tanks in my bedroom. A couple things to note. First, when dimming LED the brighter levels are very hard to tell apart and to my eyes 100% down to about 50% do not look all that much different. Likewise LEDs can not dim all the way down to zero and instead will stop conducting after a certain level and shut off. I am not sure where the light turns off but I don't think it is when it goes from 1% to 0% but instead it is probably something like 5% when it shuts off, so a little bit of a jump from light to dark there. Second, the 30 minute and 15 minute dimming periods is from full bright to off or off to full bright and is really just a weird way of saying that you can set the dimming to either 1% every 9 seconds (for the 15 minute setting) or 1% every 18 seconds (for the 30 minute setting). What this means is, you don't get a 30 minute transition for any changes you set but just a fixed rate of change (put another way, if you change the light output 1% it will either take 9 seconds or 18 seconds, not 15m or 30m). When I originally set it up I had it turn off by going from 100% to OFF in 30 minutes starting at 11pm. But due the first thing noted above, to me it seemed like the first 15 didn't really matter since I couldn't really perceive the dimming until it got lower than 50%. Also the last 5 minutes or so happens kind of more suddenly that I would like. So here is what I did. I switched it up to do 100% to 50% starting at 10:45pm, so that it would be at 50% at 11pm. I then hold that brightness for 10 minutes. Then I set it to go from 50%-20% starting at 11:10pm which means at the 30 minute setting it would take (30% x 18 seconds) 9 minutes so now it is at 20% at 11:19pm. SInce it would only take 6 more minutes to go from 20% to zero, I hold it at 20% for five minutes, then start the 20%-off which ends at 11:30. Sounds complicated, but basically I think gives a much more realistic dimming over the 11:00-11:30pm period than just a straight 100-0 starting at 11pm. For this reason this newer model with up to 6 timed settings is much better than the original version which only had two. Originally I set this one up as only two but ended up using 4, so glad I got the newer version. They still sell the older version here but at the exact same price so no reason not to get the newer one. I have a couple of other tanks I want to do this with so I will be buying a couple more of these. So not only would I buy this again, I AM going to buy this again, twice.

My older Nicrew light had the inline timer and controls, but the 8/10/12 hour timer was loosing time to the point the lights were coming on early and turning off earlier by half hour in a week and even more by by end of the month. My new Nicrew lights have a square controller similar to this which includes a clock to keep settings more accurately. Fits inline perfectly and has worked great. Directions are understandable but a bit complicated because it allows you to set immediate on/off, ramp 15 minutes on/off, and 30 minute on/off. You need to be in the correct programming channel for your preference. Then you have options to set light intensity for up to three times per cycle. Just a bit confusing at first, but turns out it gives you a ton of options so feel it is a much better option then getting a WiFi plug timer. No more time shifting! If one of my other older Nicrew lights starts causing problems, I'll buy another for that light, but it's holding accurate so far over the past year.

Good item and works as described. Its hard to program though and setting the diff for 15 mins or 30 mins is hard to navigate or does not exist. However, I would recommend this device, just have the youtube video handy when setting. It could have preset conditions for optimum performance. I use this device with my Fluval flex 9 gallon and it is seamlessly integrated. I can change the light intensity on lid as well as the timer. Almost perfert.

At first it seems hard to understand but actually it's not that bad. Think of it like this: You first set the time. Then you hit the wheel icon to begin your programming. I write what I want on a piece of paper because it times out very quickly. The first think that pops up is choosing an F mode, or how it's going to fade. You can't choose a different one for each time. You also can't choose between the different colors. That's ok though, at least it is for me. You have 3 choices, on/off, 15 min or 30 minutes. I chose 15 for my tank. Then you press the wheel again. You will see L1 displayed. Press it again and put in your first time. Mine comes on at 0700. Press the setting wheel icon again and choose the intensity. You can see in my pic I start off slow at L25. When you press the wheel icon again and L2 will display, you do the same sequence again, pressing the setting button to cycle through your choices. Mine ramps up to 60 at 1000. Continue to do this through the levels, I use all 6. I don't know how to clear a level once you set up all 6 but that's not an issue for me, I like the light pattern to peak and go down so I like using all 6 levels. L0 (L zero) is off. It's a simple matter to change and tweak, you just hold the setting button until it blinks, keep pressing it quickly and it will cycle through all the levels enabling you to change the time and intensity. One other caveat, I'm using it with the nicrew classic LED plus (which doesn't have a timer in spite of the description claiming it does) and if you press any of the buttons on it you will play hell trying to get it back to the way you want. I made that mistake and I thought I had fixed it, but apparently the intensities were off. I thought it was the timer but today I reread the instructions for the light and reset it my holding the two buttons down, it made a big difference. The timer overrides the light controls but you can still operate the light controls. All that did was mess up my phases. I leave it all alone now and let it do its thing. Hope this helps clarify.

The problems start early with this timer. You have a five-second window to enter inputs before it boots you back to the start screen across your meager 4 buttons. But then you overcome this and reach what you came here for--the half-hour ramp-up and ramp-down timer, or function F3. The problem? The device lacks an AM/PM indicator. To complicate matters, you don't merely enter time A for the start of your 'turn-on' process, and a time B for the 'turn-off' timestamp. No, you have to enter 4 different values according to the instruction manual. And the ramp-up/down? Tethered to a peculiar 1-to-100 meter. Let's say you want to have your lights turn on at 9am, ramp up over a 1/2 hour to 'fully-on' at 9:30am, and then repeat this process in reverse at 9pm. In this case, you are supposed to enter four values: F1 at 9:00am at 50% power, F2 at 9:15 at 100% power, F3 at 9:00pm at 50% power, and F4 at 9:15pm at 0% power. Confusing. Yes. The problem making this so much worse--without an AM/PM indicator, if you get ANY of these values wrong, you've thrown the entire timer fuction out the window--and you can't test for it unless you go cross-eyed changing the actual timer's time. And there isn't an AM/PM function for the timer-time, either! Let's say you get all of this correct. You enter the right times, you have the ramp up/down all set. Sadly, this once again goes out the window if the device loses power, or experiences any sort of hiccup. My timer cannot go more than a few hours without losing power (in spite of no changes happening in my home's electrical output), at which point the clock must be reset. Not great if the power cuts at midnight and the timer decides--ah, morning already? LIGHTS ON! You'll notice two distinct issues here: the first is the lack of AM/PM and difficulty in programming--this nasty quirk is inborn in the device itself. The second is the intermittent power failures, which may be unique to my device. So a correctly powered device may be good, save for the tooth-grinding chore of programming the timer, correct? Wrong, there's one more caveat--the device's timer itself... only goes from 1 to 10. That's right, not military time, not 12hr time, but a time seemingly found on a planet with a faster rotation than our own. Need to program any aspect of this device to an 11, or 12hour mark? Or live on a planet with a 24hr day/night cycle? Sorry, no dice. I'm disappointed in that I like my NICREW LED Plus light, and really want a ramp up/down function for it, but apparently that's just not happening.

The product description is a bit misleading "Internal memory stores your pre-programmed settings in case of power failure". The reason I baught this one after hours of searching is because I was specifically looking for a ramp timer that would not need manually reset in case of power interruption. I thought I found what I was looking for due to the missleading product description. Yes, the settings are saved, but the time has to be reset after power interruption which defeats the purpose. In my mind, this is a deal breaker for any automation equipment made in this century and an unacceptable design flaw. Even the cheapest wall outlet timers retain the time when unplugged. Because this is not reliable enough to use on my reef tank, I decided to use it for a Vietnamese mossy frog tank to simulate natural sunrise, sunset and moonlight to get them to breed, however that’s when I found the second design flaw. 1% power is way more than 1% power, so the lowest setting is too bright to simulate moonlight. This is almost a great product otherwise. They just need to put a little more development into it.

Very economical LED light controller. I purchased a Reef Brite LED supplemental light fixture to complement another LED fixture above my saltwater reef tank. When I received my Reef Brites the did not come with a controller. I found out afterwards the company offers two types of controllers for their lights. One is a simple manual on/off switch they offer an expansion module that will ramp up the lights to full intensity then ramp down to 0% and also set a light cycle with auto on/off capabilities to the tune of $150. I did a little research and took some measurements of the DC style plug in connectors. I found this Nicrew controller having all the functions to control my LED's. The cost of this control unit made it a no brianer to go a head and buy it. The electrical specs matched what my light requires. The programming is a little cumbersome but once it's set your good to go. The DC plugs matched up well. I did add some electrical tape to the connections to help prevent any unwanted disconnections once behind the aquarium cabinet. I got the features I wanted for a fraction of the price.

Works great, great product to add to any aquarium, will most likely be purchasing another one soon to add to another aquarium. We really like the feature where you can program the light to simulate sunrise and sunset, where you can adjust the brightness of the light and at what intervals you want them to come on or off. Highly recommend to anyone wishing to improve the look of their aquarium.

Works great! Easy to use and set the time as long as you follow the instructions

I ordered the ramp timer with the Nicrew G2 LED light, which still hasn't shipped but is due here tomorrow. I have tried the timer on my wife's LED light and the timer works really good, the light ramps up so gradually that you don't notice the light going on, I believe the fish appreciate this. The only issues with the timer are: 1) The UI is hard to navigate, you have to hold down the settings button to make the changes or it cycles to the next setting and you don't have much time to think about what you are doing. Gets easier with use. 2) The clock resets to zero if the power goes out, it would be nice if the last time would be used when it starts back up incase it is a brief power outage(Note this might be design because writing to memory eventually damages the memory on the system). It should be noted that all the other settings appear to stay when the unit goes back on. Overall this unit appears good value for the price and I would recommend it. Now please ship my G2 light please.

Great buy! Exactly what I needed for my aquarium and couldn’t be happier. (First part of review is about the timer, the last is about the light) Took me a minute, but the instructions were fairly easy to follow. I found quickly that you have to work a little fast when making your way through the settings. I found it more helpful to lay out the schedule and levels on paper so that I wouldn’t have to stop, rethink, and then have to start over because I took too long haha. My only complaint would be that I don’t think the (F3) 30-min ramp up/down feature actually works in 30-min. It seemed to be done in less than 15 but I could’ve done something wrong... not exactly sure. I haven’t tried the (F2) 15-min ramp so maybe the program got switched around? Regardless, I had spent SOO much time on Amazon trying to find a timer and I’m very glad I got this one. Thinking about getting another one for myself to help me wake up in the mornings! :) Just a note - make sure your last level (L6) is set to 0% if you want it to completely turn off. Probably common sense for everyone else, but I had it set to 20% as my last level thinking it would automatically start ramping down from there to 0%. I thought the timer was broken because it was past 7pm and the light was still on!! *facepalm* hahah If you already knew this, I am ashamed of myself. But hopefully this helps someone who was just as confused as I was! :P ***LIGHT*** Not as bright as I would’ve hoped. A little early for me to access how my plants will do, but so far they seem fine. Just happy that this doesn’t get as hot as some $50 clip on I last had. I would highly recommend getting the timer to go along with it. Even if you don’t plan on using the timer, just being able to dim the light I found very handy at times. (Especially since I like to peak at my tank at night but don’t want the full strength of the light to completely disturb my critters or plants :P) I’ll update in the next month! Hope this helps :)

Great price. Takes a bit to figure out programming but works great whwn you do. Can set multiple intervals to gently turn on and dial up light and dial down at night for a naturak effect. Fish dont seem stressed like qhwn i used to turn the light on from dark to full.