Great video. I generally use a non-contact volt meter beforehand to find the hot. Much quicker. Then kill the power. I never trust the color of the wires. Also, I was told to always try and pig-tail neutral by an electrician. Give you more room to pull out. I'm surprised there is no ground wire. All my cooper bathroom timers had a ground - doesn't seem like a safe design.
+nycupperes NEC (Electrical Code) requires all bathroom plugs to be GFCI -Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupters- and this requires ground (All three actually, Hot, Neutral and Ground). I was also surprised the timer had no ground wire, but then again, the front is all plastic and a non bathroom/kitchen application.
White = Line from house Black = Load (outbound) to light. Neutrals are wrapped up 'somewhere inside the gang box" check voltage with voltmeter from wire to ground (if using meter) with switch OFF. This is the LINE. Good luck.
Thank you for taking the time to make this helpful video, it helped me out greatly. The instruction manual was confusing at some points but this video helped make things easier. Thanks again!
thanks, i was stuck with the thing shorting. i thought this copper wire was a ground but it wasn't. i wrapped the ground wire around some white wires i found in the box like you did and it worked!
LOVE THESE AUTO SWITCHES! I hope the "B" version is backlit. I just put an "A" version in and need to use a flashlight to see it. Other than that, NO complaints at all! These are GREAT and super easy to install.
Many thanks for your video. I have the exact same old timer and I installed my new Honeywell. The timer works fine but the light doesn't turn on. What could be the problem?
Few questions. How come the switch doesn't come with a ground wire? How do they expect you to ground the switch? I have a plastic box and you say attach the ground to any metal piece on the switch. Well, there are only 2 places where there is metal and those are where you screw the switch onto the box. How do you attach the ground wire to one of the metal sections? Wouldn't the electricity just flow to the fixture which is grounded and then back to to the breaker? I am obviously not an electrician, you replies would be greatly appreciated.
Mr. Jong-un what an honor... you can see that some tools or appliances in your house don't have a ground connection (like a laptop, vacuum cleaners or irons). Generally speaking, they will be double insulated therefore grounding is not an issue and not needed. I am not 100% sure since I already installed this timer and I would probably need to take it apart to check this, if you see a logo on a box inside a box that means that is double insulated (or that the actuator/relay is double insulated)
what do you do with the red wire? 2 wires coming into the box, one is bundled white/black, the other is white/black/red. this is a double post circuit, 2 switches, the tech support person i spoke with told me to install it accordingly and lock in place the other switch.
You should have change the left switch to a rectangle one to match the timer n nice update too bonus for few more bucks, 1/10 the price than the timer .
+ARS Media That is probably correct if you only have one switch in that room, I should have done that but to all the switches as you want to have harmony all along the room. Since I was not interested in changing all the switches I did not do it.
My light switch has 2 black wires as well. So to test which one is hot you but the black multimeter line on the ground line then the red on the light switch line?
Get a Fluke VoltAlert Non-Contact Voltage Tester, they cost about $25 and they are extremely useful. I am not using it in this video but I have other videos ( you can see it here in action ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QhC8qFPQQNI.html ). That Fluke VoltAlert works by proximity and you do not need to touch the exposed copper, so you can safely add wire nuts at the end of the wires, turn back the power and check with this tool which one is your hot one.
You mean replacing a 3 way switch with this or having this down the line? I would null the three way switch and just run it with the timer. If you install this down the line by keeping both three way switches you will have a nightmare light, under the right combination it will work but you flip the other three way and its reverse world.
VERY Helpful video! Thanks! Excuse my ignorance, but where do you find a plate that fits the front of the timer so perfectly? Home Depot? Lowes? local hw store? I have a plate with three switches on it, the furthest one to the right being the outdoor lights I want to have on a timer. Would I find a switch plate allowing for multiple standard light switches, AND a large hole for this timer do you think? I hope so. I know anything imaginable is available SOMEWHERE, so if anyone has a lead on one., please let me know. Thanks again for a very informative, helpful video!
+GetRhythm2011 You can buy them in any of those stores, all these plates are simetrical so you can rotate them so to have the big timer diplay on either side. Usually you can find them like this for your case: "3-Gang 2-Toggle 1-Decora", this means, three switches: two of them 'Toggle' that is the standard small switch and 1 'Decora' that is the timer one. Then again you can also specify the size (how much wall you want to cover, holes are the same size) and the color. Go to either of those places and you should find something like this as long as you place the decora (Timer) switch on either side but not the middle. They cost about $2 and you can return them if they don't fit. Good luck!
I have 4 light switches together and each one operates each corner of the house security lights..One for each corner. 1 breaker to open them all. My question: when I took cover off I had the black wires and the neutrals..The neutrals were wire capped off together. But each light switch also had a individual black wire connect to each other . So 3 black shorter wires connecting them in between. How would I install this same programmable unit (I have 4 total I want to put in). I was clueless when I took cover off and looked. I am not an electrician either and would like some imput. Don't wanna have to pay someone for something that should be simple..Thanks
With a normal single pole switch you only have the Hot (from the breaker) and the Load (hot to load when turned on). There is no need for the Neutral (or white wires) to connect to the single pole switches, it goes directly to the load (the security light). This is probably why you see them all Neutrals tied together. The timer I removed had no need for a Neutral (White) but the new one needs because it operates internally at probably 5 or 12V. You can use a pigtail or a wago connector to create several neutrals from the one from the breaker and connect them and connect the one that goes to the light. Summarizing you need to connect all the Neutral/Whites together but now you will have 9 neutral wire. The one from the breaker, 4 to the timers and 4 to the lights. You need to evaluate the best way to tie them together without creating a mess in the junction box. Let me know if this makes sense...
avalanche you can have Hot (Black), Neutral (White), Ground (Green) and Load (whatever you want on with the timer). Although people trend not to use the correct color code. You can get a multimeter and test them.
