Steve,

The reason for my post was that some of the timers have dimmer circuit in them, which is a well known fact. Trying to get all the facts straight, is all I am trying to do.

Venki

May I take the time to totally agree with Steve. Maybe it would behoove those who have no technical background to stop posting bunk. Steve is right. A timer is a timed switch which is off or on. It is delivering power, or no power. I would go deeper into it, but i think Steve has covered it enough. :rolleyes:

What timers have dimmer circuits :question:, and a well known fact to who? I myself use the heavy duty T311 Intermatic mechnical timers. Let's talk about price. They sell for $34.95 at a LFS here in town. They sell for $24.95 at our favorite hydroponics supplier. The same timer sells for $11.99 at Ukrainian Tire. I have three of those plus a heavy duty timer made by Timex, which sells for about the same price.
But dimming circuits :question: :question: :question:

Bob,

http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/cate...log=RadioShack

I have come across a few more of these. I was told that only incandscent lights are supposed to be used with them.

HTH

Which one :question: The link came up with a whole page of timers. If you are talking about the lamp timer with the dimmer, you are quite right. ANY ttimer with a dimmer built in should only used with incandescent lamps. Normal timers which act as a switch are fine.

Strange, at our company we pay to ship items back when they are defective. And we don't charge any restocking fee unless its an old old item that they just don't want anymore. The product is fine just they don't want it.

Things are getting interesting on this thread. :eek:

hmmmmm, not going to say that Im an electrical genieus or anything, but here is my experience with timers.....

cheap timer problems:
plug in ballast, bulb dosent always fire
plug in ballast, bulb fires, bulb soon goes out
plug in ballast, bulb fires, bulb flickers alot, not as bright as it should be
plug in ballast, bulb fires, bulb randomly goes off and on

When I changed to expensive timers I never have had any of these problems runiing them on the same power source...

So if you ask me, timers can make a difference in some way
mabey you found a cheap digital timer that did the trick for you, I didnt....
I found that the dial timers work fine too, but dont use them...

Well, interesting thread, I'm a bit dumbfounded by some of the statements. Timers are simple on off switches, my understanding is the better the timer the more precise the timing for on/off cycles.
I've seen MH bulbs that burn really yellow as well, my first two both were a horrible yellow similar to the pic Bob posted, it took about two weeks, maybe even three but they eventually burned in and looked great.
I have no idea why one bulb of the same rating would burn blue and another that's supposed to be the same would burn yellow but if I had that happen and I was charged a stocking fee for sending them back as the manufacturer/distributor told me to do, I'd be on the war path.
Now as this little drama continues, it seems that J&L is the only one who's selling them locally and they say they are out of stock if you try to buy a bulb from them I'm assuming they want to get rid of their old stock of more expensive bulbs before they order in any more of the SA's.
A bargain is only a bargain if you can get it, and ONLY if the manufacturer/distributor stands behind their product 100% restocking charges should be saved for a purchase that someone decides they didn't really want the product they ordered, when there is a quality issue, the manufactuerer/distributor should be the one who pays the shipping etc.. hell it's a tax write off anyway.

Doug

This is the exact reason that we wanted dealers carrying the product, the only way we can validate a claim is by getting it in and testing at our end. With a dealer they may be able to validate them at their store/facility.

The bulb that was returned tested ok on our electronic ballast (this is our standard test procedure, as we cannot stock every ballast available in the market), and we just discarded the bulb and absored the loss.

I am new to the arena of customer service, but I am learning and changing things where I can.

It is a tax write-off sure but it is tacked on to the next customer who comes along.

I'd love to see more stores carrying the product, sadly no other store I've spoken with has heard of SA bulbs or at least they aren't saying. I've phoned and asked if they carry them or plan on it, they all say, never heard of them, who makes em?
I've spent the better part of my life working in customer service related fields and I know it's not always easy to deal with people. However, if you can show the paying public you stand behind your product 100% then you'll build customer confidence much quicker.

Doug