Please recommend a 24 hr timer

[Andrew Mawson]

I have three 24 hour timers, and yesterday we had the power on and off 6 or

7 times due to power cuts. Each time loads of things need re-setting including these three timers

Can anyone recommend from their own experience a simple 24 hour timer with one off and one on that maintains it's time during power cuts. Several years ago I used some Smiths electronic ones, which were (usually) fine but would have a hissy fit sometimes when power came back on and corrupt the settings. So I don't want to just buy 'unseen' as it were

Andrew

[Tim Watts]

These:

Model TE7-MP

I have had 3 for 4 years running oil rads. Very reliable. Slight clock drift but certainly maintain everything during power failures which get get slightly less of than you, but still at least 4 a year.

I am *very* surprised they are still available by the same number, but they look the same. They have a rechargeable cell inside.

Amazon reviews suggest that occasionally a bad batch comes out of China. Mine have been fine - Argos IIRC.

Also not suitable for morons apparently - I must admit they are fiddly to program, but it is logical - you program ON and OFF switchpoints. My only bugbear is no DST autocorrection - that would be nice.

HTH

Tim

[Andrew Mawson]

Thanks for the suggestion Tim.

I should previously have said I need the hard wired variety ie no integral

13 a socket

Andrew

[John Williamson]

For a permanent insrallation, I've found the cheap immersion heater ones sold by B&Q are good. They're 7 day timers, but can be set to trigger every day at the same time. I don't have anyb packaging to hand, but they've been selling the same ones for over ten years now.

Similarly, their plug in 7 day timers seem to survive pretty well when power goes off.

They both have the same problem, though, in that the internal batteries only last about 5 years in my experience. Which isn't that far off the relay's predicted life.

[Andrew]

I have an electronic Smiths immersion heater timer set to come on once a day. It has run flawlessly since 2003 (but no auto BST/GMT switchover)

In 2010 the Ranco K59 electro-mechanical stat failed in my Liebherr fridge freezer, just as it hit the 2 year warranty period. The importers refused to sell me the stat (*), so since then it has been running on a Smiths daily electronic timer, set for 15/20 mins on every 60 or 90 mins. This was fine but every so often it would lose all its settings and default to power off. I couldn't establish a pattern, but when plugged into an old BT 13 amp surge protector that used to be used in an exchange, it has been fine.

The immersion stat says made in Britain. The daily plug in version from the same company says made in China.

(*) And although there are ebay sellers in Germany, they will not supply to a non-German or non-Austrian address :-(.

Andrew

[Andrew Mawson]

That sounds like a breach of EU law ?

Andrew

[Nick]

I use several Sangamo Powersaver time switches. Not cheap but very reliable. Good memory back-up. Fits a standard pattress. Haven't had one fail in about 10 years use. 16A resistive and fairly intuitive controls. They come in all sorts of flavours, 1 day~5/2 day~7 day. Good kit imo.

No doubt they can be obtained less expensively elsewhere. HTH, Nick.

[Nightjar]

It would be illegal to stop them from selling to other EU countries, but I am not aware of any legislation that says they have to sell to every other EU country.

[Andrew Mawson]

Thanks Tim and Nick for your suggestions. Nick sadly the Sangamo offering only has a 4 hour battery back up and no Summer / Winter time option :( a pity as they are available on ebay for £11 !!!

This is the model I've chosen:

This one has 720 hour back up, Summer / Winter time and a 3 year guarantee

A lot of Googling showed that site as the cheapest - amazing how these things vary

Andrew

[Andrew Mawson]

Thanks for that suggestion Nick - certainly Sangamo have been going for many years, and their mechanical circular timers used to be an industry standard. I'll go off and do a bit of Googling :)

Andrew

[charles]

and, I think, they prodcue the only "Solar Dial" one. Nobody seesm to have produced an electronic one of those yet.

[Harry Bloomfield]

charles explained :

I can remember having seen one, a small grey cube with an LCD display, from one of the well known names, but no idea which one.