I currently have six Intermatic SS7(c) electronic light switch timers
installed in a house. In the years since they were installed, I have
had four failures requiring replacement.

In the troubleshooting information (as well in some topics in here),
this problem is usually connected with cold temperatures. I live in an
area which basically never goes below freezing, and the majority of the
timers are inside the heated home, anyway. The one unheated switch, in
a garage, has yet to fail.

I contacted Intermatic, and they told me this is a known issue, they
are redesigning the SS7's and SS8's, and they're due out in March or
April.

I decided to try someone new, and found Aube Technologies. The prices
are comparable to Intermatics, and while I haven't found a local dealer
yet, I have found an internet supplier (http://www.atlantasupply.com)
which will ship these for free.

Has anyone had experience with Aube switches? Are they reliable? I am
looking at the T1034, which has a solar timetable, but I imagine
feedback on the regular, T1032 timer would be helpful as well.

While I probably won't go back to Intermatic again, I am looking at the
EJ500, which the Intermatic rep told me does not have the flaw of the
SS7/8's. Any experience with these would be nice, too.

Thanks for your input. Any other recommendations are welcome, too.

wrote in message
ups.com...
I currently have six Intermatic SS7(c) electronic light switch timers
installed in a house. In the years since they were installed, I have
had four failures requiring replacement.

In the troubleshooting information (as well in some topics in here),
this problem is usually connected with cold temperatures. I live in an
area which basically never goes below freezing, and the majority of the
timers are inside the heated home, anyway. The one unheated switch, in
a garage, has yet to fail.

I contacted Intermatic, and they told me this is a known issue, they
are redesigning the SS7's and SS8's, and they're due out in March or
April.

Were any of these timers used with compact fluorescents?

No, incandescents only. Why?

wrote in message
oups.com...
No, incandescents only. Why?


Some Intermatic timers specifically say they can't be used with CF bulbs.
Even so, I bought one which was supposed to be compatible, but 3 of them
fried over a period of 6 months. Intermatic said "not ready until...", and
the "until" kept moving from September to December to ......oblivion. Some
of their units also say they must run with a minimum of a 40 watt standard
bulb, or the world will end.

Doug Kanter wrote:

... or the world will end.


Haha

wrote in message
oups.com...

Doug Kanter wrote:

... or the world will end.


Haha


Well anyway...I need to control a compact fluorescent, and now that fishing
season's over and I'm bored, I'm prepared to go through a horror of running
a wire from the first floor porch light switch down into the basement, and
installing one of those mechanical timers in a grey metal box. Those things
don't fail.

wrote in message
ups.com...
I currently have six Intermatic SS7(c) electronic light switch timers
installed in a house. In the years since they were installed, I have
had four failures requiring replacement.

In the troubleshooting information (as well in some topics in here),
this problem is usually connected with cold temperatures. I live in an
area which basically never goes below freezing, and the majority of the
timers are inside the heated home, anyway. The one unheated switch, in
a garage, has yet to fail.

I contacted Intermatic, and they told me this is a known issue, they
are redesigning the SS7's and SS8's, and they're due out in March or
April.

I decided to try someone new, and found Aube Technologies. The prices
are comparable to Intermatics, and while I haven't found a local dealer
yet, I have found an internet supplier (http://www.atlantasupply.com)
which will ship these for free.

Has anyone had experience with Aube switches? Are they reliable? I am
looking at the T1034, which has a solar timetable, but I imagine
feedback on the regular, T1032 timer would be helpful as well.

While I probably won't go back to Intermatic again, I am looking at the
EJ500, which the Intermatic rep told me does not have the flaw of the
SS7/8's. Any experience with these would be nice, too.

Thanks for your input. Any other recommendations are welcome, too.


Just wondering, do you have any voltage flickering issues in your area?
I have never used these timers so I am in the outfeild with a WAG.
As electronics have progressed, gotten cheaper. The parts are made to
tighter tolerances.
Voltage fluctuations and poor grounding have been the bane of the industry
for a long time.
I lost a garage door opener cause of a voltage flicker issue. I since
installed a surge arrestor at my electrical panel. Nope I am not saying that
this is your problem.
Stray voltages do have an effect on electronics.
I have ordered from Atlanta Supply and was please with the response I got.
Sorry no experience with problems and Atlanta Supply.

wrote in message
ups.com...
I currently have six Intermatic SS7(c) electronic light switch timers
installed in a house. In the years since they were installed, I have
had four failures requiring replacement.

In the troubleshooting information (as well in some topics in here),
this problem is usually connected with cold temperatures. I live in an
area which basically never goes below freezing, and the majority of the
timers are inside the heated home, anyway. The one unheated switch, in
a garage, has yet to fail.

I contacted Intermatic, and they told me this is a known issue, they
are redesigning the SS7's and SS8's, and they're due out in March or
April.

I decided to try someone new, and found Aube Technologies. The prices
are comparable to Intermatics, and while I haven't found a local dealer
yet, I have found an internet supplier (http://www.atlantasupply.com)
which will ship these for free.

Has anyone had experience with Aube switches? Are they reliable? I am
looking at the T1034, which has a solar timetable, but I imagine
feedback on the regular, T1032 timer would be helpful as well.

While I probably won't go back to Intermatic again, I am looking at the
EJ500, which the Intermatic rep told me does not have the flaw of the
SS7/8's. Any experience with these would be nice, too.

Thanks for your input. Any other recommendations are welcome, too.


I have to intermatic ones and I will not replace them with intermatic. They
failed shortly after they were installed for no apparant reason other than
poor design/assembly.

Let the group know if the other brand works.

Rich

Thanks for the input everyone. That's an interesting URL from
Christian. Maybe if this was my first failure, I'd try that repair
(usually I love that sort of thing), but at this point, I'm so sick of
the whole thing, I don't want to deal with them anymore.

I have always had a replacement provided to me when I took the failed
ones back to the electrical shop where I bought them, and they were
pretty nice about it, once I went through the "Are you sure you're not
doing this wrong, Miss?" battery of questions. On this last one, I am
past the one year warranty, so I'm not sure how they'd handle it.

My experience with Intermatic customer service has been very good, and
they'd probably be happy to give me a new one. But, like I said, I'm
ready to move on. This is in my employer's house, and every time one
of these fails, I have to make a special trip out there to fix it, and
I'm sure he's thinking to himself that there must be a better solution
that I just haven't found....

No experiences with Aube or the IM EJ500? Bummer. Guess I'll have to
be the guinea pig.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for the input everyone. That's an interesting URL from
Christian. Maybe if this was my first failure, I'd try that repair
(usually I love that sort of thing), but at this point, I'm so sick of
the whole thing, I don't want to deal with them anymore.

Seriously, if any of the applications are in a place where you can install
an old style mechanical Intermatic timer (grey metal box), perhaps in the
cellar. Do it. Absolutely trouble free, no batteries, no nonsense.

Doug Kanter wrote:

Seriously, if any of the applications are in a place where you can install
an old style mechanical Intermatic timer (grey metal box), perhaps in the
cellar. Do it. Absolutely trouble free, no batteries, no nonsense.

Well, I'm fed up, yes, but I haven't yet reached the point where I'm
willing to tackle the "horror" (as you put it) of wiring a new box.
And in this house, I won't even begin to tell you the horrors that that
would entail.

wrote in message
oups.com...

Doug Kanter wrote:

Seriously, if any of the applications are in a place where you can
install
an old style mechanical Intermatic timer (grey metal box), perhaps in the
cellar. Do it. Absolutely trouble free, no batteries, no nonsense.

Well, I'm fed up, yes, but I haven't yet reached the point where I'm
willing to tackle the "horror" (as you put it) of wiring a new box.
And in this house, I won't even begin to tell you the horrors that that
would entail.


Aw come on....just rip out a wall and get those wires in. You can do it. :-)
We'll all stop by and watch & drink beer, and offer suggestions.

On 11-Nov-2005, wrote:

No experiences with Aube or the IM EJ500? Bummer.

I have used Aube, but my experience is limited to two
units and only for a relatively short time (I sold the
house I used them in). I had no problems with the units,
FWIW.

Mike

Oh, I guess I should mention there are a couple of other comanies
making similar switches.

I found them in this thread, which brought me to this forum in the
first place.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.h...da96b689931c2d

The links for the switches are

http://www.grasslin.com/pdf/et724.pdf
http://www.smarthomepro.com/1122.html

The Grasslin one appears to be the same as the Aube. The Leviton I've
seen, but I really don't like the interface. Thought someone looking
here might find these useful, though.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Oh, I guess I should mention there are a couple of other comanies
making similar switches.

I found them in this thread, which brought me to this forum in the
first place.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.h...da96b689931c2d

The links for the switches are

http://www.grasslin.com/pdf/et724.pdf
http://www.smarthomepro.com/1122.html

The Grasslin one appears to be the same as the Aube. The Leviton I've
seen, but I really don't like the interface. Thought someone looking
here might find these useful, though.


Gotta be careful, though. Some of these little toys lose their program if
there's a power failure. Some even become stupid if the light bulb burns
out. Unbelievable. You might want to check the web sites for downloadable
instruction manuals before buying.

Doug Kanter wrote:

Gotta be careful, though. Some of these little toys lose their program if
there's a power failure. Some even become stupid if the light bulb burns
out. Unbelievable. You might want to check the web sites for downloadable
instruction manuals before buying.

Yeah, I always check manuals online before buying, now. Best way to
find out what you're gonna get. In fact, I just looked again at the
manual for the Aube unit, and was shocked to find this:

http://houseonhawthorne.com/TI034.jpg

Now, if the world ends, I'll know what probably caused it....

But seriously folks, thanks for the feedback on the switches. I may
try posting this in the alt.home.automation forum, as well. As for my
own experience, I've now decided to do my own testing. I just got the
Aube switch I ordered in the mail, Intermatic is sending me an EJ500 to
replace the failed SS7, and I'm going to try the repair recommended in
Christian's link. I'll install all three, and see how they do.

wrote in message
oups.com...

Doug Kanter wrote:

Gotta be careful, though. Some of these little toys lose their program if
there's a power failure. Some even become stupid if the light bulb burns
out. Unbelievable. You might want to check the web sites for downloadable
instruction manuals before buying.

Yeah, I always check manuals online before buying, now. Best way to
find out what you're gonna get. In fact, I just looked again at the
manual for the Aube unit, and was shocked to find this:

http://houseonhawthorne.com/TI034.jpg

Now, if the world ends, I'll know what probably caused it....

I love it! :-)

I've also had a lot of problems with these Intermatics. I have gone
through 3 different EJ351C's, an SS7, an SS8, and now I am on my
second SS8 unit. They last anywhere from 6 to 14 months, and then we
get the dreaded "No Op" failure error msg. I am getting really tired
of replacing these $&%#*@& switches.

On the other hand, it's great to know that others have had similar
problems. I was beginning to wonder if I did something wrong in the
installation or if there was something wrong with the building's
wiring.

Please let us know if someone finds a better replacement out there!

Thanks!

writes:
I currently have six Intermatic SS7(c) electronic light switch timers
installed in a house. In the years since they were installed, I have
had four failures requiring replacement.

In the troubleshooting information (as well in some topics in here),
this problem is usually connected with cold temperatures. I live in an
area which basically never goes below freezing, and the majority of the
timers are inside the heated home, anyway. The one unheated switch, in
a garage, has yet to fail.

I contacted Intermatic, and they told me this is a known issue, they
are redesigning the SS7's and SS8's, and they're due out in March or
April.

I decided to try someone new, and found Aube Technologies. The prices
are comparable to Intermatics, and while I haven't found a local dealer
yet, I have found an internet supplier (http://www.atlantasupply.com)
which will ship these for free.

Has anyone had experience with Aube switches? Are they reliable? I am
looking at the T1034, which has a solar timetable, but I imagine
feedback on the regular, T1032 timer would be helpful as well.

While I probably won't go back to Intermatic again, I am looking at the
EJ500, which the Intermatic rep told me does not have the flaw of the
SS7/8's. Any experience with these would be nice, too.

Thanks for your input. Any other recommendations are welcome, too.

I installed about 5 Aube 600W timers in my house.
I like them a lot better than the Intermatic for the following
reasons:
- They sit flush with the switch and look like regular Decora
switches (other than the LCD window) as opposed to the
Intermatics which stand quite proud and have a goofy clear
door and visible buttons

- They have a built-in rechargeable battery to hold time
during a power failure as opposed to the Intermatics which
require you to change the battery every year or so

I like the Aubes for the same reasons. I still like the interface and
the "auto random" feature on the Intermatics, though. After a few
weeks, my Aube is still going strong, but of course, that doesn't mean
much. The real test is for the long haul, and this thread will be
closed by then.

I also installed the Intermatic EJ500 (had them send me that instead of
a new SS7). It's a bigger unit, that doesn't fit so well in the
junction box, but it works. Flush to the wall, internal battery like
the Aube. Interface is not as nice as the SS7, comparable with the
Aube IMO.

So I now have 4 legacy SS7s, 1 Aube 1034, and 1 EJ500. The race is on!
Whichever timer dies last, wins!