lighting timer

[paul b b]

evening all,

customer wants a timer on his lighting circuit so lights work when he is away, he's not intrested in the plug in things, he had some sort of thing on his cu in his last house and wants the same.

any ideas?

paul

 

[Andy™]

DIN rail timer in CU (or external to CU)? leave all light switches turned to 'on' and let timer switch feed from MCB

 

[paul b b]

thanks andy,

so di i need to extend the lighting circuit into a external imer then back in to the mcb?

thanks

 

[bengie]

a tenant i visited a couple weeks had something i had never seen before, it was a light switch with built in timer.

to look at it was just a slightly bulky light switch but the front opened like a heating programer with the timing controls on it, you had 8 seperate on/off points of the day whihc i thought was quite good.

i'll see if i can find one like it.

 

[bengie]

it was similar to the following but when closed it just had a switch at the top. i'll carry on looking.

http://www.ryness.co.uk/ProductDetails.aspx?CategoryID=728&Category4ID=1&ProductID=2917

 

[bengie]

this one is more like it.

http://www.barlows-electrical.co.uk/product_info.php/products_id/7580/utm_source/google-simple/utm_medium/product_search/utm_campaign/google-simple

 

[Andy™]

thanks andy,so di i need to extend the lighting circuit into a external imer then back in to the mcb?

thanks

you will take feed from MCB to timer and then onto lighting circuit. the timer will need to be change to permantly on when owners are home and dont want timer in use

 

[bengie]

the only problem i'd have with a single timer on the whole circuit is you can only have all the lights turning on and off at once. how about the plug in timers with lamps?

 

[Risteard]

evening all,customer wants a timer on his lighting circuit so lights work when he is away, he's not intrested in the plug in things, he had some sort of thing on his cu in his last house and wants the same.

any ideas?

paul

I have a touch-activated dimmer switch which can be programmed in such a way.

 

[kme]

The other option is X10 - though that may be a step too far for just timing some lights.......

For those who don`t know, X10 is a standard RF transmission standard for home automation.

Before certain peeps tell me that went out with the ark, and the "new & improved" stuff is out now...................I know.

However, for the O/P purposes, they may get a reasonable setup without paying a fortune..

KME

FYI The din rail timers are on TLC site

 

[Evans Electric]

I fitted those switch replacement timers at a guy's house who was jetting off abroad every two weeks, house empty. They were carp TBH , kept playing up , very fiddly to set up . Took them out and went back to the trusted method.

Fit a time switch in the lighting feed with an override switch clearly marked "Normal" and "Timed" or even "Home" and "Away".

All he has to do is leave a couple of switches on around the house and flick the override to "Timed" ( On/Off times already set)

 

[bengie]

fair enough, as i said i have never used them i just saw them in someones house and thought it was a good idea. personally i would go with lamps on plug in timers myself so you can have different rooms on or off at different times.

 

[paul b b]

thanks chaps,

just a note, i take it the din rail types dont fit all cus so i have to get the same make timer as cu?

thanks again

 

[Andy™]

many DIN rail types will fit a standard CU (but the busbar will have to be cut short - so if its a CU with fixed bar, then that dea is no good)

 

[Lurch]

just a note, i take it the din rail types dont fit all cus so i have to get the same make timer as cu?

Sort of, depends on the CU. Some CU's only have a half DIN rail (top rail only) and the bottom of the MCB is secured by the fixed busbar. Some have a full DIN rail and a floating busbar. On the latter type you can fit any DIN rail mounted devices and just cut the busbar short to suit. On the former you can;t, as the DIN rail mounted device won;t clip on to anything so will always be semi loose.