Light Switch Timer?

Anyone have experience with them?

My garage is detached and I like having the outside lights on through the night, but because I would have to go out there every morning to shut them off, I just leave them on 24/7. I want them to not be on 24 hours a day.

I know about the timers, but don't know much about them to know what to look for and I don't live that close to a big box hardware store to just run down there and take a look.

You could put a photoeye sensor to have them come on at night

link

Spitsix wrote: You could put a photoeye sensor to have them come on at night link

Agree. I timer needs to be adjusted with the seasons. A photo eye just WORKS.

Well I was hoping for more of a plug and play type deal. I don't mind having to adjust it with the seasons.

The photo eyes are pretty much plug and play. You just splice them in next to the light fixture outside and you're good to go. Or buy a cheap light fixture with the eye built in. Both ways are common and inexpensive, probably moreso than a timer built into a wall switch.

I've seen light switch timers that are dials you wind around to the deisired time limit that then count down - kind of like an egg timer. They usually only give you a max of an hour or so, not sure I've ever seen a 12 hour one. Plus you'd have to go out each night and turn them on, which sort of defeats the purpose.

Or install a motion sensor, I hacked together the existing light fixture with the cheapest motion detecting light from Home Depot and it works great.

At my old house I used CFLs on the exterior of the shop. It cost $9 a year to run the light 24/7 so I just left it on.

You can get a photocell that screws into the light bulb socket and then the bulb screws into it. However, they may or may not fit depending on the style of your light fixtures, if they have a globe covering the light.

Just do a Google search. There are a lot of switches that you turn on manually, then click a button for how long you want them on before they turn off. Some even have a programmable timer or even learn your patterns over time. They are as easy as swapping out a light switch, but can cost up to $75.

I'm Automated!!!

This thing is so cool, you put in the hour, minute, year, month, and day. Then you put in your general latitude and longitude, and it knows within a few minutes when sunrise and sunset is. It auto adjusts day to day, and auto adjusts for daylight savings time.

So now my new Hippie/green supper efficient LED porch lights come on at dark and go off at daybreak.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004AP92N2/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

• Lee

In reply to bigdaddylee82:

Thanks Lee, that's what I'm looking for.

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

Sure, ours has stayed programed during a 4+ hour power outage too. It's a trick little switch. I use it for our front porch where there's no good way to install a photocell. Where the porch light is mounted and how it's wired, I'd have to run some romex out away from the light for the photocell or the light would be turning itself on and off. The programmable switch was the simple/easy solution.

On the old sconces on either side of our garage, I drilled a hole in the bottom and wired these photocells into them.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hampton-Bay-Photocell-Replacement-PHOTOCELL/202022460

I invested in some LED lights too, a pair of 40W equivalent over front porch/entry and a 60W equivalent in each of the garage sconces. They come on at dark and go off in the morning, sip the KWs and, put off plenty of light.

• Lee

I would go photoeye and the new LED spotlights. Little more expensive than CFLs, but use even less power

I have one like that Honeywell, too. Works great.

Serously you are trying to hard to get complicated. A photo cell is a ten minute install, and works perfectly with nothing to program. When it gets dark the light turns on, when the sun is out the light is off. Don't get any easier than that.

Photocells don't always work. On my garage light, the roof overhang prevented the fixture from getting enough light to turn off. They also run the entire time it is dark, when you may not need that for the application. You may only want the light to stay on until midnight, or whenever.

Duke wrote: I have one like that Honeywell, too. Works great.

Ok, just clicked that and found this: http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-RPLS730B1000-U-7-Day-Programmable/dp/B004SOZHXY/ref=pd_cp_hi_1

This is great. When I go on vacation I usually use one of these: http://www.amazon.com/GE-15153-Heavy-24-Hour-Mechanical/dp/B0035GF8NA/ref=sr_1_5?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1396286134&sr=1-5&keywords=outlet+timer to cycle a few lights on and off and make it look like someone is home.

When dragging lamps around and plugging them into those, I often thought "Why doesn't someone make one of these integrated into a light-switch".

Mazdax605 wrote: Serously you are trying to hard to get complicated. A photo cell is a ten minute install, and works perfectly with nothing to program. When it gets dark the light turns on, when the sun is out the light is off. Don't get any easier than that.

I'm not understanding what's complicated about swapping out the switch. To me that's easier than wiring in a photocell.

Is it programming the switch? Because I had to do the same to my 7-day programmable Thermostat and after reading the instructions, it took all of 5 minutes.

Seriously, I'm not trying to be an ass, I just don't get how swapping out a light switch is way more difficult than wiring in a photocell.

Dusk 'til dawn lights are cake. Sure, you can install them poorly, but they're as simple as they get. My deck lights are LEDs that come on at night. My Christmas lights came on at night. Usually it's built into the fixture.

But for a big yard floodlight, I prefer motion sensors. From a security standpoint, they're much better. You're not spamming the area with unneeded photons and they come on right when you need them. Other than the deck, every light on the exterior of our house is motion sensitive. So is the main circuit of the garage lights, actually. It's great, you just walk in and there's light, even if your hands are full.

Installing a motion sensor at the light is easy, just like changing a fixture. Most motion sensor lights also have a dusk til dawn setting. The motion sensor switch on the garage interior was also as easy as changing a switch with no programming other than setting the delay.

If you do go with motion sensors, CFLs don't like them much. Go with incandescents or LEDs. We went to LEDs on all the small (non-flood) exterior lights a few years ago and haven't had to replace one yet.

Ah, but for a yard light dusk to dawn may cost you less to operate, particularly if you live in a rural area. Contact your power company, mine installs high power yard lights and wires them in upstream of your meter and charges $7 a month for the rental and the power for the light. They do it to add load at night when demand is down to try and help flatten their load curve.

Aside from that, timers have the advantage of being able to use whatever bulb you toss in the fixture. Look for at least 3 wires on the switch, if you us something like the photo eye with only two that means it completes its circuit through your bulb even when off and CFL and some LEDs are not going to work.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote:

Mazdax605 wrote: Serously you are trying to hard to get complicated. A photo cell is a ten minute install, and works perfectly with nothing to program. When it gets dark the light turns on, when the sun is out the light is off. Don't get any easier than that.

I'm not understanding what's complicated about swapping out the switch. To me that's easier than wiring in a photocell. Is it programming the switch? Because I had to do the same to my 7-day programmable Thermostat and after reading the instructions, it took all of 5 minutes. Seriously, I'm not trying to be an ass, I just don't get how swapping out a light switch is way more difficult than wiring in a photocell.

I was just saying that a cheap photo cell is super easy to install, and should cost a mear fraction of what that fancy switch costs. Also I like to keep things simple. A photo cell does that. I'm in the industry, and would never sell that switch to a customer when the photo cell does the same thing for a lot less money, and no call backs when the switch fails. I have a photo cell on my light on the front of my garage with a large overhang, and have had zero troubles with it. That is with more than 8 years of operation.

Jeez, go to your local hardware store, buy a timer. Install, set. QED

I had had a timer on my outdoor lights for years. Simple.