Intermatic HB800RCH 15-AMP 7-Day Outdoor Digital Timer

by Intermatic

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

This Intermatic outdoor digital/photo timer will give you a multitude of uses. It comes with an easy to set 7 day timer with astronomic features. It has 4 on/off settings per day. It has a 15-Amp capacity with 2 receptacles, which are both timed.

Product Description

Use the Intermatic HB800RCH Outdoor Digital Timer to automatically control security lighting, engine block heaters, pool pumps, and many other devices. The Timer adjusts to sunrise and sunset times for dusk/dawn settings. The color will blend into the landscape and the Timer is weatherproof to be used outdoors. With up to 28 On/Off settings and a manual override On/Off knob the Timer is very customizable for the user. The Timer includes two outlets to control outdoor appliances and lighting.Outdoor digital/photo timer4 On/off settings per day15-Amp capacityAstronomic features2-Receptacles

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002MUB8A2
• Item model number: HB800RCH
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,008 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)
  • #72 in Home Improvement > Electrical > Timers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Outdoor Timer, November 27, 2009

By 

Midwest Guy (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Intermatic HB800RCH 15-AMP 7-Day Outdoor Digital Timer (Tools & Home Improvement)

I can't say enough good things about this timer. I've had it installed for several months and works fine. What makes this timer great is how it remembers the seasonal changes in the length of day and nights. When you program it, you input the approximate area of North America you live in and it will know when sundown and sunrise is all year long. You will NEVER have to manually adjust a timer again; just set it and forget about it. Absolutely lovely!

I liked this so much that I bought a second one recently. It is so nice not to have to adjust a timer anymore for the changing seasons. Photo cell timers add to the complexity of a timer's design the and with this unit the photo cell is a thing of the past. Also most photo cell timers are rigid as to how you can program them.

This Intermatic timer has a great deal of flexibility to program your on and off cycles. There is a bit of a learning curve to programing it but after figuring it out, you simply set it and forget about it. It is the absolutely the best way to control outside lights all season long. Also, it seems to be very well built. I highly recommend this timer for all your outdoor lighting needs.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What the heck is an event???, June 30, 2011

By 

Michael R. Reed "Chopper Reed" (Wichita KS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Intermatic HB800RCH 15-AMP 7-Day Outdoor Digital Timer (Tools & Home Improvement)

Below is a post that I copied & pasted from a buyer of the DT620CL... The directions from Intermatic suck & from the reviews left in here, the programming interface could have very well caused a few suicides... This is not a particularly difficult unit to program, but the thing that got me was the event on/off cycle as you will read below... And THANKS Chuck Pearson...


There are several secrets to programming this device. From reading the reviews you can tell that some people figured them out right away after reading the directions, some had difficulty, and some never figured them out and returned the device as defective.
Secret 1: OK doesn't mean OK. It means cancel the setting I just finished programing. To keep the setting you have to push PROG after setting the minutes.
Secret 2: An event is not an on-off cycle. It is just one time setting. To get an on-off you need to program two events. If you program an on time for event 1 and then an off time for event 1 you will find that the on time is gone. You can do on settings and off settings in any order. The device just executes the change of state when that time is reached for that day.
Secret 3: You have to push the ON/OFF button when you plug it in the first time after programming it. After that it operates by itself.
Secret 4: Dusk and dawn settings override time settings. I didn't set any dusk or dawn events so I didn't figure out the details of this one but if your device isn't going on and off when you expected it to, check your dusk and dawn settings.


Other than that I have one other small but easily remedied complaint for this particular unit... At the bottom of the unit where you have 2 110 grounded appliance grounded plug-ins, there is a 1/4"-3/8" X 1/8" thick lip that extends past the base of the unit. This lip will not allow any appliance access, with an oversized plug, like say a window unit air conditioner. Any appliance that has a normal size plug like the one pictured on this item will plug in perfectly fine. I am a civilian contractor in Afghanistan & I bought this timer to run a small air conditioner in my B-hut, that has an oversized plug that houses an internal re-setable overload breaker. I bought this timer because I am limited on power plug-ins, only 2 plug-ins per hootch. At any rate, the DT620CL takes up 2 plug-ins unless you tilt the unit. But back to the lip interference. The case of this unit is of coarse plastic. Unfortunately I'm not back at home, so I don't have access to my nice shop full of tools to trim the lip down. I used a Gerber multitool to nip the plastic lip down to the base of the unit. Very crude, but it worked & it did not crack or harm the case of the unit... A regular pair of pliers would have worked just as well I would imagine. Your best bet would be to take a dremel & small cutting wheel to trim the lip down.

This unit has 5 stars written all over it if they would fire the bozo who wrote the directions, but first make him pay for the divorces he's caused... Then fill in the injection mold at the factory where this stupid lip is molded. This lip adds no structural advantage to the unit, just makes it a PIA for us poor saps stranded in this lousy country...

Hope this review helps!

Chopper

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great timer too smart for some, a revelation for others, February 22, 2010

By 

Craig Weems (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Intermatic HB800RCH 15-AMP 7-Day Outdoor Digital Timer (Tools & Home Improvement)

This timer has you select your state and time zone to determine your local sunrise/sunset times. Alternatively ou can tell it what your current sunrise/sunset times and it applies the appropriate seasonal adjustments. All of these machinations results in a timer that knows what your sunrise/sunset times within a few minutes of actual and it does this without having to "see" the sun. If you want something to come on or off with the sun you can do it and keep the timer inside or out of harms way. No more having to move it away from shrubs or away from the eaves. These timers do offer pretty sophisticated features and I sorry to say that sometimes difficult problems have somewhat difficult answers. I was able to program it without the manual (I am a man after all) but found that the manual detailed features that I didn't know it had. I bought 4 of them at HD which no longer carries them. Glad that Amazon offers them. Only problems I had was that you really do need to mount them vertically and right side up if you expect them to work. Laying them down only to be submerged will stop them from working and annoys the GFI to boot. A little disassembly and an air gun will make things all right again. The receptacles do have a guard which makes plugging in a wall wart (AC adapter) a challenge but possible. I'm buying more of them.

Intermatic - as good as these are, how about making a HB1000 with separate timers for each receptacle? I've got 2 illuminated fountains for which I would like have different timers for the pump and the light. Right now I'm using 2 HB800's but it would be far tidier to have one timer. I'm sure you have more than enough electronics, you just need one more relay.