I bought this timer switch to control two 26 watt florescent lights (connected to the same switch) on my back porch. I was getting tired of having to manually turn them on at night and then remembering to turn them off in the morning (which I would sometimes forget so they'd be on all day!).
I've changed light switches/outlets before but am by no means an experienced electrician and I was able to handle this installation. Please remember to cut the power at the circuit breaker first!! Here was my scenario; the existing switch only had 2 black wires connected. With a little help from my electrician friend I was able to identify which wire was the Load and which was the Line. After that, installation went smoothly. I connected the Load from the house to the Load on the switch then connected the Line from the house to the Line & 3-Way wire on the switch (since mine was a single pole installation, their instructions said to do this). I simply capped the Green wire on the switch. Before shoving the switch back into the wall, I flipped the power back on at the breaker. I made sure that the unit was powered on as expected and there were no fires. Since everything looked good, I cut the power again, pushed the wires into the wall and screwed in the switch & plate. I powered back up and began programming.
The programming took me about 20 minutes to complete. Most of the options are pretty easy... backlighting, time/date, latitude, longitude, etc... The part that took the longest was the Automatic time table programming. I decided to go with the Automatic option since I could program exactly what time I want the lights to turn on/off every day of the week. I didn't want the lights to turn on/off at the same time every day since that would suggest to potential burglars that the lights were on a timer. Instead I programmed the lights to turn on between 8pm and 9pm, and turn off between 6am and 7am. For example, Monday the lights will turn on at 8:06pm and turn off Tuesday at 6:22am. Tuesday the lights will turn on at 8:32pm and turn off Wednesday at 6:05am, etc... I thought of using the Random option but it seems weird to have my porch lights turn on and off multiple times during a specific timeframe, I think that option is more for inside lights where you'd be flipping the lights on/off throughout the day to give the appearance of the house being occupied. Anyway, there was a learning curve but after a few minutes of messing around with it you will understand the menus and can easily program whatever you want.
Last night was the first `test' and it worked perfectly. This morning the lights turned off exactly on schedule. So far so good! It's a cool little unit. I'm already planning to get one for my front porch lights. I will add a follow-up review after a few weeks of use.
**Product update 8/30/10: Still love the TI070 switch!! Works perfectly and confirmed that the settings are maintained through a power outage! I also bought/installed the TI071 model switch in another location where I had only 39 watts. This switch was just as easy to install and program. However, I did notice that the TI071 model makes a 'click' noise when the lights are turned on/off, this does not happen with my TI070 switch. Oh well, it's not a big issue jut something I noticed. I've been recommending these products to everyone I know. Love 'em!
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