My darkroom timer died mid-print at 2am, now I'm paranoid about backups

Last Saturday I was doing a batch of 8x10 prints from a roll I shot in Portland and my old GraLab timer just quit right in the middle of a 45 second exposure, leaving the print totally black. I've been developing at home for about 3 years now and never thought to have a spare timer, so now I'm stuck using my phone's stopwatch, which feels way less precise for dodging and burning. Does anyone here run a second timer as a backup, or have a cheap mechanical one they trust for the tricky multi-step prints?

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patricia5588d agoTop Commenter

Did you check the fuse or the outlet before you grabbed the phone? My old GraLab did the same thing once and it turned out the cord was loose inside the case, a cheap fix with a screwdriver and some electrical tape. I still keep a cheap mechanical kitchen timer as a backup for the main timing, but for dodging and burning I just use three separate stopwatch modes on my phone and write the times on a sticky note before I start. Honestly the phone works fine once you get used to tapping the button with your thumb, but I get the paranoia, I've been there too.