Intermatic EJ500C Indoor Digital Wall Switch Timer
by Intermatic
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Intermatic EJ500C Indoor Digital Wall Switch Timer
Customer Review: So Far, So Good
Summary: 4 Stars
After going through three Intermatic SS8Cs in three years, I gave up on them and bought one of these. It's only been in a month so I can't speak to its long term reliability, but so far it's been working better than the SS8C. It's quieter - no mechanical switching (I guess it must be all electronic), it offers all the same programming options as the SS8C, plus it looks a bit sleeker on the wall. Not only that, it's cheaper than the SS8C by about $14. I did take off one star, though, because it's not DST 2007 compatible. I had to turn off its built-in DST feature and now I'll just manually spring forward and fall back.
Regarding compact fluorescent bulbs, last night we bought eight 40 watt-equivalent "n:vision" brand soft white compact fluorescent bulbs (9 watts, 550 lumens, green and white package) from Home Depot and installed them this morning. I was concerned they might not work since the packaging says the EJ500C is not compatible with compact fluorescent bulbs, but happily they do work absolutely fine! I took down eight 60 watt bulbs and am now saving 408 watts of electricity. The only thing I can think that might not make the EJ500C work with compact fluorescent bulbs is that it supposedly requires a load of at least 40 watts, so possibly too few compact fluorescent bulbs might not be enough of a power draw. For me, though, I'm happy to be saving electricity and hopefully I've got a porch light timer that will stay working more than one year.
UPDATE: After nearly three years, this still working fine, no problems like the old SS8C.
Customer Review: No problems at all
Summary: 4 Stars
It did the job for me very well. I used it to control our front lights. Easy to install. It took me half hour to install the timer which isn't bad considering you need to take out the existing switches and go up and down the basement steps to switch off/on the electric supply to the room. The instructions were fairly straight-forward. I spent more time also in aligning the timer with the panel opening as it was a challenge to stuff the hard wires from the building back into the socket as there wasn't enough space left by the switch housing. Seven different program settings with DST recognition is great, though I am not sure if it recognizes the change in DST from this year on.
I like the variable timer part which gives outsiders the impression that someone is inside - it does this by randomly switching on or off the switch by +- 20 minutes. Sits nicely on the wall switch plate.
As mentioned in the instructions, this timer can't be used with compact florescent lights. So beware! The timer being fairly compact, the buttons to setup the timings is small and so are the readings. But you should be doing this only once in several years, so not a big pain for me. The panel does light up when you are setting up the time.
For the price, it is a great value. Now, I am buying two more of these.
Customer Review: Works great !
Summary: 5 Stars
I should not laugh, so I will not laugh! The dumb wall timer does not know what our Congress does with our clock indicated time. This timer just adjusts the on and off times as set by our rotation around the sun, no matter what Congress or anyone else declares as " TIME ". You set the timer once to turn on and off an outside lamp and it does it with no regard to human considerations, such as acts of Congress. It works great, has a bunch of features, and once set up is just there, requiring no taught. I've installed two in seperate homes with only some minor questions about instructions. There are better instructions than included in the package if you look online. If the controlled lamp burns out, just replace the lamp and all is well again. Think about the criticism in the feedback below, my feedback and then just buy it. My only complaint is that you must include atleast a 40 Watt normal incendescent lamp if you are also turning on/off additional lamps that are CFL's. This light timer can save you about $30 or more each year on your electric bill, pays for itself in less than a year, and may prevent a car prowl or burglary. Daylight Savings time does not change the earth's orbit, if you get what I'm saying! Just do it, and save a bunch of money on your electric bill and other costs!Customer Review: Excellent item..
Summary: 5 Stars
After over 18months now of replacing all outside switch points with these types i'm pleased for one reason alone, i've not touched them since.
Save energy? no not the reason why i put them in, it was security, being out and now the lights come, at different times because of the daylight saving adjustments, also the clocks are staggerd by 1 min, to give the impression each outsid elight is being turned on by hand, stunning.
Now odd that others have raised concerns over CFL, i've not had any problems with quality CFL Bug bulbs at all, however, if that is a problem and you really want to save money, then skip CFL and purchase LED, ours use 1.5watts and have not been replaced once in the 10-12 mths, compared to the CFL's which really are not reliable.
Also, setting up is easy, if you've have problems, then you really shouldn't be wiring these in yourself if your unable to follow the instructions, my guess is if you unable to press setup, then set the time, then the region, then dayligth savings YES, then on = DUSK, off = DAWN, then you might have problems, send it back and use a normal switch, to save complication.
Well made, very well presented unit, worth every penny.
Customer Review: Indoor Digital Switch Timer
Summary: 4 Stars
At my house I needed a few outdoor receptacles to be controlled by programmed timers to turn ON and OFF my outdoor lighting at certain times.
The Intermatic EJ500C timer was easy to mount in the existing wall boxes and replace the ON-OFF switches. The outlet box is covered by a Decora type wall plate. The timer programming is easy to do and it contain 6 different daily switching programs. The load switching is done by a mechanical ON-OFF limit switch activated by an small internal motor. The problem with this timer was that the internal plastic gear system was going out of allignament very easily and the switching was not done anymore. I have had to open and reallign a few of these timers. They have worked for a while then stopped again. I believe this switch is being discontinued now.
The new wall timer is Intermatic Model ST01C. This time the internal switching is done by an internal relay and until now I did not experience any problems. This timer also has 6 programming times, it can be used in 2-way and 3-way wiring installation, etc.
It is quite costly ($25-35) but it does the job. I do recommend it to anybody familiar with a little bit of device programming.