Timer v Scheduler v Minutes On

[brucecampbell]

I'm hoping to get some clarity on best methods for programming timers and scheduled events please.

Timers -> Do they use much resource while running?  -> if I'm going to have several timers running for a few hours - is this going to tie my system up at all? (HC800 running V3.1)

Scenario:
Heated Towel Rails;
I have towel rails connected to a puck switch.
I have them come on daily at 6am via Scheduler.
I also have them turn off at 9am via Scheduler.

However coming into winter and with a growing family who like to shower all times of the day, I now want flexibility to turn them on via the wall toggle switch and have them turn off automatically 3 hours later.

My plan is pretty simple. I will get rid off the scheduler which turns them off and just use a timer which is started when they are turned on.
(I don't see any option to dynamically set a scheduled time event??)
When the timer expires, the towel rail will turn off.
Is there any issues with several timers running for hours long constantly?
Is there a better method?

I've also seen the puck has options to program on 'Minutes_On'
Does this do anything different to a Timer?
Is one better than the other?

 

Thanks.

 

[Crustyloafer]

I think timers are very light on resources, I doubt there would be any issues with multiple timers all running at the same time. That's how I do it with my bathroom lights and extraction fan, when lights turn off and fan is still on it starts a 10 min timer and then switches off the fan. 

[brucecampbell]

15 minutes ago, Crustyloafer said:

I think timers are very light on resources, I doubt there would be any issues with multiple timers all running at the same time. That's how I do it with my bathroom lights and extraction fan, when lights turn off and fan is still on it starts a 10 min timer and then switches off the fan. 

Thanks, I'm assuming the same - I have a load of timers running my lights with motion sensor too - but generally for 30 seconds to 5 mins, not constantly running for hours each day

But also wondering if there are other methods available and also hoping someone who knows for sure could chime in too.

[enzeder]

The other thing to consider is you still might want scheduled times for typical use as unless someone remembers to turn them on well before they are going to use them they dont have time to warm up before use. Guess it depends on whether you are using to make the towels warner before use or dry them after use.

You could also try the radiant floor timer.

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[brucecampbell]

1 hour ago, enzeder said:

The other thing to consider is you still might want scheduled times for typical use as unless someone remembers to turn them on well before they are going to use them they dont have time to warm up before use. Guess it depends on whether you are using to make the towels warner before use or dry them after use.

Yeah, I'm keeping the scheduler running so they will still have a few hours on daily, but finding now the family often want to manually turn it on, so a timer to turn off later is perfect.

 

1 hour ago, enzeder said:

You could also try the radiant floor timer.
 

Radiant floor timer?
Do you mean a non-C4 digital timer? - I have these for my tiled floors - and did have them for towel rails at first, but as they failed, I replaced with C4 pucks

[enzeder]

There is a driver that allows you to link to a keypad so people can cycle through user selectable times, also can get keypad to automatically change colours etc. You can also program it.

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[brucecampbell]

On 5/18/2020 at 12:17 PM, enzeder said:

There is a driver that allows you to link to a keypad so people can cycle through user selectable times, also can get keypad to automatically change colours etc. You can also program it.

Good to know, however I'm not in need of anything with that much functionality.
My towel rail is a simple a puck switch hiding behind a single toggle face plate with a single blue indicator LED.
Cheers.

 

[TundraSonic]

Is there a CPU/Resource difference in:

1) a single scheduler event that turns lights ON, delay 200 minutes, turn lights OFF

vs

2) Two  separate scheduler events; one ON and one OFF

[South Africa C4 user]

Two schedulers is better as nothing will be missed in the event you reboot the controller during the 200 minutes.  As a rule of thumb, long delays are a bad idea. Furthermore, schedules are preferable to timers (same reason) and timers are preferable to delays (more control of timers than delays).