Wall Switch Timer leaks????

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

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

I bought another timer switch of 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 the timer switch to the bare wires from the cables as the instructions stated.

Reply to
guuwwe
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... No. No. No. You have something miswired. White wire should never be connected to a bare wire except in the main panel.

You should probably get some experienced help.

If the timer does not have a neutral wire, or a separate power source, such as a battery, then there will always be leakage, as that is how it gets its power.

Reply to
M Q

You misread the sentence. It does NOT say white wires are tied with bare wires. It says white wires are tied together, and the bare wires are tied together and not with each other. Also, it says that I DID NOT TIE them, it implied they were ALREADY tied and this alone should give you a CLUE that you misread something.

The sentence does not ask if to disconnect a bare wire from the timer, It asks whether the fact that the regular 2-way switch is NOT connected to the bare wire has something to do with the leak appear on the timer switch and not the regular 2-way switch.

You should probably get some experienced help with reading first.

Reply to
guuwwe

The 120v wall timer I have for my outdoor accent lighting goes through an outdoor transformer. If I disconnect the transformer, the wall timer loses its memory and must be reprogrammed. Once set, it works well until we have a power outage. The timer uses a little power to drive the clock.

Reply to
Phisherman

Nice reply to someone trying to help you. There is no such switch as a "two way" I suggest before you criticize anyone, learn some electrical basics, then someone may be able to understand what you're talking about and help you. Oh and loose the attitude

Reply to
RBM

Do not worry, if somebody confuses description of basic wiring and lacks ability to think logically he/she will not provide any useful help anyway.

Reply to
guuwwe

Ya know, electrical issues usually get very helpful responses in this newsgroup. The best thing you could do right now is be quiet, wait for answers, and hope some potential respondents haven't seen your obnoxious behavior.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

What kind of bulb are you using?

Reply to
John Grabowski

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?

Reply to
terry

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 the timer switch was off the timer would be off and would not work at all!

The apparent incompatibility of the various devices being sold these days often to make us 'more green' (or at least feel like it) is not understood by those without technical background or training. Note 1.

Oddly replacing a porch light bulb with a compact fluorescent IS one way of not wasting the surplus heat energy of a regular incandescent bulb! A regular bulb wastes about 60% or more of its electrical input as heat, not light. With an outside light? that heat is just wasted to all outdoors.

BTW: A neighbour has gone to great trouble and some expense to change his house lamps etc. to CFLs. He doesn't particularly like the light quality of some of them; but his electrcity bill has hardly gone down at all! What he/they don't realise is that the so called wasted heat was contributing the warming/heating of their electrically heated house!

Note 1: Even when some of these devices are apparently UL (Underwriters Laboratory) or CSA (Canadian Standards Assoc.) labelled that may merely mean they are safe 'when used as intended for the purpose intended'. It doesn't mean they will automatically match with every other device on the market.

Reply to
terry

re: It says white wires are tied together, and the bare wires are tied together and not with each other.

No, your sentence does *not* say the "white wires are tied together, and the bare wires are tied together and not with each other". That may have been what you meant it say, and that may be what you *think* it means, but physically, as written, with the combination of letters you put together it *says* "The white wires and bare wires are tied together". What it *says* is not even open to discussion. However, how a reader might interpret the words could be.

I ran it past an English teacher at one of our local schools and here is her reply:

re: "The white wires and bare wires are tied together"

"White wires" and "bare wires" are plural nouns and "are" is a plural conjunction, thus it should be assumed that they are all tied together. As there is no defining or clarifying clause in the sentence, the only conclusion a reader can reach is that all of the wires are tied together.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

I wrote "get some experienced help with reading" and for the slower types like you it means "reading" and not "parsing" English sentence.

Reading includes the ability to understand the IMPLIED MEANING of written words through REASONING and KNOWLEDGE of the subject matter.

Reply to
guuwwe

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??

Reply to
guuwwe
[snip]

I replaced two bulbs in a ceiling fixture with CFLs. The light is controlled by an X10 switch, and yes, the bulbs DO flicker slightly when the power is turned off. But a VM shows no voltage at the sockets when the switch is off. According to a knowledgable contact at a local lighting showroom, the flickering is not uncommon with CFLs, and he suspects that it is caused by EMI affecting the bulbs themself, outside of the normal electrical circuitry. It may not be the timer that is causing your effect --

Reply to
JimR

What is the brand and model number of the timer?

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

[snip]

OK - Can you help me understand this sentence, which comes at the end of an insurance pitch on radio --

"Not available in all states, including South Carolina."

Reply to
JimR

According to :

It's probably a CF (compact fluorescent). Which is why it didn't work right. These things aren't simple resistive devices, and may behave erratically when fed too little power for continuous full voltage operation. Eg: flashing.

I've never seen such a beast. It takes a fair amount of power to switch, and you probably won't get enough lifetime on a battery.

Unless you can get a neutral to the switch (and go to a timer that uses a neutral), or, switch to incandescent, you may be out of luck.

It is _possible_ that a dimmable CF bulb will behave properly because they're designed for variable power levels. Dimmable CFs are newer, and harder to find. Here's one list of dimmable CFs:

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Our Home Depot has dimmable R30s, R38s and R40s - which are all floods. It may have other types, but I didn't see them.

Reply to
Chris Lewis

switchand not the

Wouldn't it be easier to admit that you worded the statement incorrectly instead of trying to back-pedal your way out of it?

Try typing this - you'll be amazed at how good it feels: My first post was unclear. I apologize to those that I insulted after my error was pointed out. I got defensive and my emotions got the better of me.

Reply to
DerbyDad03
[snip]

I would interpret it the same way as that English teacher.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

The first part seems to contain a very common error. The following would make more sense:

"Unavailable in some states, including South Carolina."

Advertisers have something in mind, and it's NOT the understandability of their claims.

It's something like saying "All cars are not red." when you mean "Not all cars are red.". Think they're the same? Only the second allows my red car to be real.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

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