Need to time in between sump pump cycles

I live in an area with a high water table. When it rains as little as 1/2" my sump pump starts to run within an hour of the rain starting. When I get aver 2" of rain the pump cycles every 30 seconds. I would like to have a lcd digital timer that upon the pump starting, resets the time to zero and starts to run until the pit is empty, then the timer stops. That way I can look at the timer between cycles and see if the time is getting longer or shorter. Any ideas on what I need to create this monitoring circuit. It can be located right in the area of the sump pump. Thanks!

 

How is that information actionable?

If you're concerned that your pump capacity is not adequate, I'd add another one and gain some redundancy.

 

In the event of bad weather, the timer would let me know how long I have to hook up my "power cart" which is 3 125A deep cycle batteries in parallel to a RAMSOND 3000W Pure Sine Wave Inverter to run the sump pump. The batteries also have a lift truck battery connector to a 10' set of cables so I can plug it into my running truck to recharge the batteries and keep the whole thing running quietly. By having the timer it would let me know the time between cycles to keep the pucker factor to a minimum get the pump connected. http://www.1pcmedic.com/power-cart/power-cart.jpg

 

Ah, got it. Your situation is NOT like the typical homeowner! But I guess I still don't quite understand - does your pump have the capacity to keep up, as long as it's running? And all of this is happening with the mains power off due to the weather?

So anyway you need a timer that resets and starts timing each time the pump cycles on (or off, I suppose), and holds the value until the next cycle. Holding the value means you can't just power a timer directly in parallel with the pump, since cycling off would turn off the timer. I assume you have 12V DC battery power nearby? Do you also have AC from an inverter at all times?

Maybe someone here knows of a good off-the-shelf timer than can be reset and started by a small external signal. That signal can be produced a number of ways such as a current detector on the pump power, or a simple wall wart that powers up when the pump does. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Probably some better options out there, but this show the idea.

 

Yes, the timer you show in your post would probably do the trick and it even is powered by its own battery. I will look for one like this in the usa, probably ebay now that I know the terminology to search for. When my pump starts to cycle under 1 minute intervals i know that the water pressure on my foundation is mounting and the back wall may start to weep from the pressure. So knowing the pump interval can give me piece of mind during a heavy rain. I know that I need another pump but when the power goes off its one more thing to have to power or two places for water to easily flood the basement if emergency power is not applied fast enough. We live on a masive red shale base which does not soak up water but makes it move due to ground pressure building.

Thank you very much for finding that timer!