[Ocelaris]

<rant>

I know the Encore timer is a good one, but I just have a problem with the price. I can't get myself to put up the ~80$ for it... It's not that I haven't spent wayyyy more on other things, but I can't imagine the internals of the mechanism being so expensive... or why they haven't made a cheap chinese knockoff.

For example I made my own one time out of 2 555 timers, a decade counter, and a dual flip flop chip... some resistors, a few diodes, and a solid state relay... (not my design, off some website) now if I could have used a cheap regular relay, it would have been under 25$ for me to make, other than that it was like 35$. That's why I always cringe when seeing how pricey they are. If they were like 30-40$, I'd have 10 of them by now...

I've bought numerous "repeat cycle timers" in the 8 or 10 pin industrial relay timers, but honestly, 9 out of 10 times, they don't do exactly what I want them to. For example they have a same on/off time (i.e. only one setting for on and off both), resolution is too big or too small. Some require 24v DC or 12v DC as a trigger... It's a nightmare, and I can't find that site that I made the old circuit from.

I will eventually buy one, because all of the trouble and quirkiness of the DIY ones aren't worth it. I've been fighting this Repeat Cycle Timer Battle through 3 hobbies over 15 years, Aquariums, Orchids, Computers, and back to Orchids again (twice!). It's a big investment for something I think should be less expensive. I have a hard time bringing myself around, but I probably will buy one premade... </rant>