The status is checked at such periods is because a DB entry needs to be updated, so the front-end UI, driven by JS, represents the accurate status of the grow lamp being on or off. If something goes wrong, I can't just check every X hours; I need to know live-time whether things are ok or not. To further, the checks happen to ensure the sanity of the day, the time of day, and that the configuration is correct for the "season" for which we're growing in.