On Nov 20, 7:54 am, terry wrote:
On Nov 20, 9:25 am, terry wrote:





On Nov 19, 6:17 pm, wrote:

I replaced a regular 2-way indoor switch that switches my outdoor
patio incandescent light on/off with atimer switch.

I followed the instructions and the timer works fine, The problem is
that when thetimer switchis in the off position, the patio light
flickers
(with a very low light).

I bought anothertimer switchof a different brand, and the same
thing happens. Does it mean that all timer switches leak?

Both timer switches have a programmable electronic clock,
and use the same external wiring (black wire, blue wire,
red wire, ground/bare wire).

There is one thing. The regular 2-way switch did not use
the ground wire, it connected only two black wires.
The wiring behind the switch uses two 3-wire cables,
each cable has one black wire, one white wire, and one
bare wire. The white wires and bare wires are tied together,
and only the black wires go through the 2-way switch.
However, I did connect the bare wire from thetimer switch
to the bare wires from the cables as the instructions
stated.

Sounds like:
White to white. Not connected to anything else? This is the neutral or
un-switched lead through to the porch light.
Bare wire to bare wire (this is the grounding/safety wire) connected
to the metal box etc. and while there for safely connecting any metal
parts that one could come into contact with, does not under normal no-
fault conditions actually carry any of the electrcity to operate the
light/s.
The black wires 'to' and 'from' the switch. This single switch
controlling the flow of of electrcity through the live (black) lead to
the porch light (or lights?).
Please confirm the above. Have an idea what is happening with an
electronic timer such as this; but do you have a compact fluorescent
bulb in porch light?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Have to agree the original post was not clearly written; and we have
had enough discussion in this news group alone by those who have seen
previuos electrical work where neutrals were incorrectly tied to (or
even used) as grounds!

That's why my post above (#9) spells it our for confirmation by the
original poster. Also the use of the term "Two way switch" could be
confusing. It sounds as though it is simple ON-OFF switch. The term
two way sometimes being used for situations like the top and bottom of
stairs where 'two' switches can control lights on and off as one
ascends or descends!

However my suspicion; presuming the the poster IS in North America (or
perhaps some other country which uses similar wiring and from 100s if
not thousands of miles away, is that there is an electronic timer used
with a compact fluorescent bulb.

And that the OP is right. Yes there is 'leakage' as the OP likes to
call it and that leakage or small flow of current is part of the
necessary operation of the timer. If not in a simple two wire circuit
when thetimer switchwas off the timer would be off and would not
work at all!


I checked the bulb, it is one of the energy saving variety, i.e. not
strictly incandescent but not fluorescent either. It uses the
same socket as incandescent.

I assumed that the switch timer would draw some small current
but I did not expect it would be big enough to make the bulb
flicker. I tried an incandescent bulb and it does not flicker.

Does anybody know of a switch timer that would use a standard
battery (min 6 months without replacement) and would operate
the patio light as a standard 2-way wall switch without drawing
any current??