I had a flick through the posts and it doesn't look like anyones answered your original question about the timer.

I had two timers that did the same thing they were the 3.99 ones from tesco.

In the end I went to my local growshop said to them what I was running (not something that's reccomended in tesco "hello I need a timer to run a 400w HID growlight" doesn't sound too smart. But the guys in the growshop sold me what I needed for 15 quid and I havn't had a problem since.