time switches

Are timeswitches what you really want? I use a movement detector to switch the Christmas tree lights on for 15 minutes, which means they go off when the room is not occupied, or if everyone falls asleep (which can happen at that time of year;-)

Depends which ones you buy

"B&Q" ...

They might do, but it sounds like you've just bought s**te ones.

In descending order of quality:

Venner Sangamo Smiths

Owain

You shouldn't denigrate yourself so.... :-)

I had the same experience with cheap 3-pin plug-in timeswitches.The digital ones forget their settings (even the ones with a backup battery) and the clockwork ones stop working after a while, presumably due to mechanical wear.

In the end I bought a digital timeswitch designed to be permanently wired to an immersion heater, mounted it on a bit of wood alongside a 4-way powerstrip, and fed it from a 13amp plug on the end of some flex. I think it's made by Smiths. It has been very reliable, but the programming procedure was designed by a martian.

Loved it. :)

Mechanical time switches have been utterly reliable in my experience. Prior to burglar alarms being available, we used mechanical time switches to flick on and off various lights and radios around the house whilst we were away from home. We still do with the same mechanical switches which are over 25 years old as well as the complete burglar alarm system for the house.

I've always wondered, why do people buy burglar alarms? No-one pays any attention to them when they go off, and a dummy box on the front of the house would surely just put enough doubt into the opportunistic criminal's mind to send him to the house next door instead.

Matt

That's what I've got, with a battery powered flashing LED that keeps going for over 5 years on a couple of D Cells.

That wouldn't work here because there is no house next door. However the alarm system is remotely monitored so someone *does* pay attention if it goes off.