Customer Reviews

Aube by Honeywell TI070-3W/U ECONO Switch Programmable Timer Switch, White

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The timer works as most people have already discussed in their reviews, and is great because no other timer I have found will control compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL's). However, please be VERY careful wiring it.

A distinction that should be clarified is that this TI070 model must have a load OVER 40 watts in order to function. If you are controlling CFL's (as I am) that is more than 3 bulbs since a 60W incandescent equivalent draws just 13 watts. I actually had to add a fourth bulb to bring the total load from 39 watts to 52 watts (slightly wasteful). However, the TI071 model can handle loads less than 40 watts according to the instructions. But, apparently that model requires a neutral wire, which the TI070 model does NOT.

So, to summarize:

TI070 model: Needs a load of at least 40 watts, does NOT need a neutral wire connection
TI071 model: Can handle a smaller load below 40 watts, DOES need a neutral wire connection

Hope this is helpful!

UPDATE (8/1/10): I also recently bought a TI071 model (for loads below 40 watts) and it also works great. I am very pleased with these products because they can control CFL bulbs, and with our high electric rates here in CA, that is important.

You can have both! I bought this to replace a dead Intermatic that lasted an amazing 5 years. Thanks to Amazon, I found this first -- Aube by Honeywell TI071/U Solar Programmable Timer Switch, White -- but, due to the fact that I have only two wires (no neutral) for my switch, I found this timer, which is made for single pole or 3-way switch applications. It has two black wires (line and load), yellow (3-way) and a green ground wire.

The thing works like a charm and is very easy to install -- with helpful, legible, literate instructions that walk you through the process. They thought this through to the end: it not only comes with caps but the wires are labeled and pre-stripped, to boot.

I'm using this timer to control a 120-watt PAR38 driveway flood light, so my requirements are just for sunrise and sunset adjustments, but you can also set specific times to turn it on and off for different days. And it has a random mode, as well, I guess to fool potential burglars. You program sunrise and sunset via entering your city's longitude and attitude -- if it's not listed in the instructions just go to [...] to find where you are. And by the way, it's quite accurate and even has bias settings in case you want it to turn on later or off earlier, when it may still be light out or not quite dark yet (very cool).

I've had it a week now and it hasn't missed a beat -- no flickering or anything amiss to report. Long-term, we'll see. But based on its design, I feel pretty good about its reliability.

The one caveat about this device is that it needs the bulb in place to create the circuit, meaning that when the bulb burns out you need to pull out a tab from beneath the timer to cut the circuit before you change the bulb. (The directions state you should do this to avoid possibly shorting the timer out.) I tried it and it's easy enough to do when installed; no need to take the switch plate off or anything.

There really aren't too many timers like this out there, which I don't quite understand, since they are incredibly useful. And this one definitely is: useful, convenient, well engineered and really nice to look at. It goes without saying but highly recommended.

Some good points about the timer: the installation was easy; it easily fit in my circuit box; it was easy to program.

But I bought the TI070 to replace an older timer that wasn't rated for CFLs and caused one of them to flicker when the switch was off. Other reviewers sounded as if this worked for them.

Well, with the TI070 I've still got flicker in the same bulb even though my circuit includes 4x23W flood lights and appears to meet the TI070's 40W minimum requirement. When I replace one bulb with a normal incandescent, the flickering stops so it's a load-dependent flicker.

I'll return this and try the TI071 that is rated to 0W.

Update (9/23/2010) : The TI071 solved the flickering. Thankfully my wiring supported it.

Once installed, this switch works as advertized. However...

1) You can offset the on and off time from sunset and sunrise but only by 70 minutes or less.

2) The switch is supplied with four wires that attache to the switch you are replacing. They also include three twist caps to attach those wires to the existing ones. You will need a fouth cap if you want are replacing a 3-way switch and want to connect the ground wire.

3) If you are replacing a 3-way switch there are four wires involved. Ground - that's obvious, it's either green or uninsulated. 3-way is either yellow or red. Line is black or maybe black with a white strip. Load is the same as Line. When you connect this switch it doesn't matter which of the black wires you connect to Line and which goes to Load. However (here comes the tricky part), you need to go to the other switch and connect the supplied jumper wire between the existing switch's 3-way wire and the same "black" wire that you connected to the TI070's "Line" wire. What I did was twist one of black wires to the 3-way wire where I was installing the TI070. Then at the existing switch I used a continuity tester to see which of the black wires was shorted to the 3-way. I realize this may sound confusing and I figure better you hear it from me now than try to figure it out when you're reading the somewhat abbreviated instructions.

4) Many newer switches are wired in using pressure clamps. That makes it real easy to attach wires to the switch; all you have to do is stick them in little holes. It's easy to remove them... if you have the right tool. You need something small and flat. I used the spudger on my Paladin Tools 6510 PowerPlay PT-525 Complete 24-Tool Multi-Tool for DataComm, Telecom and Electrical (or maybe you could use an eyeglass screwdriver or a small paper clip). The thing is, if you've never changed out one of these it's important to know you need something.

Also, if you are replacing one "normal" switch on a 2-switch wall plate, this Leviton 80405-W 2-Gang 1-Toggle 1-Decora/GFCI Device Combination Wallplate, Standard Size, Thermoset, Device Mount, White works fine.

Bottom line: it's certainly not difficult to install this switch and once you do it will work fine. However, you may find it will take more people (or perhaps a slightly different skill set) than it does to screw in a lightbulb.

I did quite a bit of research before purchasing an in wall light switch timer and I got it wrong the first time. I purchased the same model, but it was single pole and not a 3 Way switch. Easy return to Amazon and only paid return shipping.

I have an older house 1960's, so I was a little confused with the wiring, but the installation instructions are very straight forward and simple. Just make sure you are installing the timer according to the correct part of the installation instructions. The "headers": One pole, original 3W and new 3W were a little hard for me to distinguish from at first.

Programming the timer is even simpler. I have it on seven days with individual on/off times and it was super easy to find my longitude and latitude through their site. Over-all very intuitive.

My timer operates one outdoor flood light that has two spots on it. They have two 23 Watt flourescents ( which = 90 Watt standard bulbs ). Combined that is 46 Watts which reaches the timers 40-Watt minimum. The flourescents work perfectly as well as the timers 7 day on and off programming. Flawless.

I love the fact that you can turn off or place the back-lit screen on low. I have it off. When the timer is on ( lights on ) a small blue light in the lower corner is visible which is a great feature and is not distracting.

My only concern is that this particular timer does not have a back up battery or does it? The package says "permanent memory for program and settings." Almost all the other Aube timers in this price range list a back up power battery. For some reason I cannot find that on this one, but permanent should be permanent. I guess I'll find out after a power outage which we get quite often.

I am extremely pleased with this product.

***UPDATE:

Just got hit with the first blizzard of the season. Not surprisingly we lost power. Only for a few hours in the early morning hours, but the unit kept its program and ran perfectly. I am more than Lov'in it now.

***UPDATE2:

Lost power for four days. The timer keeps the settings you program, but does not keep the time so that needs to be re inputted when the power returns. Other-wise it's great.

I bought both the T1070 and the T1071 programmable switches. I installed both by myself. At first the T1070 did not work quite well with my 4x19W fluorescent lamps, they would flicker when turned off automatically. It did the same thing when I connected them in a test circuit at work using the same type of CFL lamps. I did that just to ensure I was not doing something wrong or my house wiring was not up to par.
I called customer support but they could not find a resolution to that problem, they told me to return it. I did not.
What I did to overcome that challenge was to incorperate a 50W halogen lamp, located on the eave of my house, into the circuit(more load). That worked bautiful. The T1071(its pricier that the T1070)works perfectly and did not pose any technical problems.(needs a neutral to work)
The programming is easy....no problems.

What AUBE should design now is a zero-minimum wattage switch like the T1070...wth the same single-way/3-way options. That would be great.
The T1070 is strictly solid-state while the T1071 uses a relay on the output - that's why you get that loud 'clicking' sound.
Overall they are wonderful products!

This particular model (TI070-3W) is not the best choice for controlling fluorescent lights. There's a good chance it will cause them to flicker of flash continuously when turned off. Here's why: It has to run a continuous trickle current, about 3 watts, when turned off. This keeps the timer operating. The trickle current is routed through the light fixture. Not a problem on an incandescent or halogen bulb. Three watts is not enough to make them light. On a fluorescent fixture however it may be enough to make it flicker constantly, or flash every few seconds. I hooked it up to my carport light, a standard fluorescent tube fixture with an electronic ballast. The trickle current was enough to charge the ballast and make it trigger every 3 seconds. So whenever I turned it off the light would go FLASH...one...two...three...FLASH. It was quite bright and looked like my alarm flasher going off.

Fortunately Aube's technical assistance staff was quite helpful in troubleshooting the problem. When we figured it out, they recommended an alternate model: Aube Timer Switch with Sunrise Sunset Single or 3 Way TI072-3W. This one has an additional connection to the neutral wire returning from the "downstream" side of the fixture. It routes the trickle current to this neutral which bypasses the tubes and avoids the flashing problem. Too bad Amazon doesn't have free shipping on this one.

Works great. Was pretty easy to install. Only install problem I had was trying to cram it in the small space I had. This programmable switch is much larger (depth) than a standard switch. I actually installed two side by side so it was a bit of a challenge to push all the wires in.

Also, note this model requires a minimum of 40 watts to work. This means you need at least 4 CFL lights for it to work correctly. I had two CFLs at 13 watts each and when the light was in the off position they were constantly flickering. If I turned the switch into the on position everything was normal. I swapped out my CFLs for standard incandecent lights and everything is working great. Amazon sells a different model that doesn't have this 40 watt minimum requirement.

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!

I have had many different timer switches over the years. They were always a pain because you had to keep resetting them throughout the year to keep the sunset/sunrise working properly. This switch does it automatically. You just program the time, date, year and your latitude and longitude and the switch does the rest for you. How marvelous!