Countdown in-Wall Digital Timer Switch, 6 Presets, On/Off Button, White

I bought two of these for my two bathroom ventilation fans because I've forgotten to turn them off every now and then (because they're whisper quiet) and end up wasting power for hours and hours at a time. I did not want anything too fancy or too high-tech. I just need a switch that is simple and easy to use and looks good. Before purchasing this, I compared with Woods 59007 (http://www.amazon.com/Woods-59007-Decora-30-15-10-5-30-Minute/dp/B002KS1DBU/ref=pd_sim_60_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1FJHTTBV5NCTJ3RESSJ2), which is similar to this. The Woods has over 600 reviews with 4.5 stars overall, while this one only had 100+ reviews, but also with 4.5 stars overall. So, it seemed the Woods would have been the better choice just based on more reviews. However, let me share with you why I bought these GE timers over the Woods. - The wiring is much easier than the Woods. You only need to connect 3 wires instead of 4 on the Woods. Plus, you don't need the Neutral wire, as specified in the product description. If you need to connect 4 wires, it may be a bit more troublesome for those who are not familiar with electrical wiring. If you are replacing an existing power switch, some electrical boxes might not have a neutral wire, since most common basic wall switches only need 2 hot (black) and ground (green) wires, so then you might have to find other means to connect the neutral on the Woods. - This timer gives you a wider range of time options. The Woods can only go up to 30 mins. If you want more time, they have a different model which goes up to 8hrs, or even 12hrs. However, the time range will also change. For example, on their 8hr switch, your options are 1,2,4, or 8 hrs. So if you sometimes want 10 minutes, or sometimes 2 hrs, you can't do that with the Woods. - The style of the buttons look a lot better than the Woods. The Woods has one small button (too small in my opinion). In my personal opinion, for a wall switch you want the button to be big and easy to locate, especially if it's used often. The GE has 7 buttons. While it may seem a lot, however it is designed to be more practical, intuitive, and easier to use. On the Woods, you have to press the one small button a certain number of times to "set" the time you want to use. This is kind of a pain, and without instructions it may take a bit of time to figure it out. On the GE, you can press just once any of the clearly labeled 6 time buttons or press the big button, which will use your "last used/saved" time settings. There is no need to really "set" the time. It's all one press of a button. Easy and simple to use. This is important for my use since one of the timers I bought is for a guest bathroom, I don't want guests to have to try to "figure out" how to use the timer switch to select a desired time. - The style and color of the indicator lights look cleaner, more subtle, and modern. The Woods uses 5 lights that look a bit out of style. The GE uses very subtle LED blue lights on all 7 buttons, and each one only blinks momentarily when you press it to turn on. - They don't print their logos on the switch or the face plates. The Woods have their logos below the switch, which I really did not like. It looks like an added distraction on the wall. From the pictures, the logo is not very subtle, which sort of ruins the clean look of all my other switches on the wall. For those who like to have a clean, minimalist look, the logo may bother you. - The GE timer includes a face plate. I'm not sure if Woods includes one, but from the pictures it doesn't look like it includes one. I couldn't use it for my installation because I have 2 switches next to each other. However, the extra plate can come in handy whenever one needs to be replaced in the house. The only downsides (that I can think of) about this product compare to Woods and any other similar timer switches available in the market are: 1. This one does cost a little more. Compare to Woods (depending on model) and some other brands, price difference range from $3-7 dollars more. However, in my opinion, the few dollars you pay is worth it for the reasons above. 2. The maximum time is 4 hrs. If you need more time, then I would suggest going with Woods (like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Woods-59007-Decora-30-15-10-5-30-Minute/dp/B002KS1DBU/ref=pd_sim_60_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1FJHTTBV5NCTJ3RESSJ2) or some other brands. Installation: These are very easy to install. With main power turned off, you just remove an existing switch (if you are replacing one), and use the included wire connectors to twist and tie 3 wires (Black(hot) to black, Red(hot) to the other black, and Green (earth ground) to Green). When powering back up, just wait for about a minute while the timer charges (I think it probably has a capacitor inside that discharges). Once charged, it will first turn ON automatically. From then on, it's pretty much straightforward to use. All buttons are like toggle switches. Use the labeled time buttons to turn on and run for the selected amount of time, or use the big button to turn on using the "last used" time settings. Press again to manually turn off. Overall, I'm very satisfied with my purchase. The timer was easy to install and it's very easy to use. I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a simple timer switch, especially for a bathroom fan!

Very good switch, and much more convenient than the old timers that make an annoying ticking noise. Some reviews of this item show that the lights on it randomly flash, but this does not happen on mine. I assume this is a later revision. When pressing a button, the light will flash one time. The switch is super easy to use, you just press the button you want for the timer, and it powers the circuit on. It will then turn it off after that time expires. If you press the large button, it will turn the circuit off if it is on. If you press the large button when the circuit is off, it will use a timer of the last chosen duration (and flash that light). If you hold the large button for a while, it will bypass the timer. The item comes with everything you need, the switch, face plate, 3 wire nuts (small orange), box screws, and face plate screws. Be sure to read the instructions, as the switch does not work right away once power is restored. It takes a few minutes (around 5) before it will be able to function, so be patient. This is because the device has a battery or capacitor in it that trickle charges by leaking to ground (as there is no neutral wire). Installation is simple, just shut off power, and connect the 3 wire nuts. There is a ground (green), which must be connected.. a switch/hot leg (red), and a hot in (black). If you have large stranded wire, or 12 gauge solid, you may need larger wire nuts than the ones provided. If you have 2 black wires in your box, you will need to locate the switched leg (usually it is red, but sometimes contractors are lazy). You can do this with a meter, by simply checking continuity of the wire to the outlet/light using a test probe and extension cord.

This timer is nice. My master bath previously had this goofy humidity sensor type of fan control, which is nice in theory, but it seemed inconsistent. It would run randomly sometimes. A good friend of mine had his house burn down a couple years back when they went out of town and accidentally left their manually controlled vent fan turned on, so I'm not okay with a simple on/off switch for that reason. So I opted for this type. Easy install, cowboy style, without turning off the breaker. (Apparently I'm sensitive to potential fire hazards but not the possibility of electrocution?) When you get power applied, the fan (or whatever load is attached) will turn on for about a minute as the unit "charges," which seems weird, but it is documented in the instructions. The timer functions as designed after testing. I do like the big manual off switch as well as the wide array of available times for selection. There is an LED light that blinks twice next to the corresponding time period you select upon doing so, however I wish that indicator remained illuminated for the duration of the load activation. So if one of my kids hit the "4 hour" button when I wasn't there, there's no way for me to know how long the fan would run unless I hit the "off" button and re-selected a time myself. Small gripe not worth docking any stars at the end of the day. I'm happy with it. My house is a little less likely to burn down, and I didn't zap myself during installation. Win-win.

To get the basics out of the way, the switch works and works well, was a breeze to install and is easier still to use. Moreover, contrary to some other reviews' statements, it can be switch on without any timer component, such that it only turns off when told to do so. Bear in mind, the switch is very deep, so make sure you have adequate clearance in your junction box for it. In the average North American junction box, this means no inlet/outlet at one of the box's switch positions. Also notice, the switch (and faceplate) are stark white, not eggshell or off-white. For those interested in how it works and its pros and cons: this is not a timer. It's just a highly calibrated set of capacitors and a rectifier attached to a rather good transistor. The incoming voltage is split into two paths: one goes to the collector of the transistor and one to a diode crossover rectifier. The rectified voltage is constantly fed to a bank of grounded capacitors (with current-limiting resistor), one each for the different timer selections. When one selects a time, the trickle of DC voltage is cut off from the capacitor and the output is connected to the switch of the transistor. This turns on the switch as a whole, but only so long as the capacitor can maintain a voltage above the threshold of the transistor, a voltage that is constantly dropping across the resistor to ground. Pros: Simple, hardy design that will likely last a very long time. For tinkerers, it's entirely conceivable to open this up and adjust the timer intervals. Cons: timining is temperature and humidity-sensitive, timer can only be used so frequently before the capacitors need recharging, apparatus is very sensitive to a floating ground; static charge can affect timing and successful functioning. Pretty much, they were clearly being cheap.

Got this timer switch for bathroom fans that kids would always leave on all day and it is terrific. Otherwise before we left the house we would have to walk around and make sure all the bathroom fans were off or they would run all day. Now they hit the timer, walk away, and it turns the fan off automatically. It has six preset times: 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 2 hours, and 4 hours along with a big manual button at the bottom. So if you want the ability to select a very specific time such as 10 or 25 minutes this may not be the device for you, but for us it was not an issue. If you have some electrical skills, installation is no more difficult that installing a light switch as that is all this is. It you do not then you should hire an electrician as this requires working with electrical wires which can be dangerous and/or a fire hazard if you are not familiar with electrical systems. The internal housing is a bit bigger than a light switch so it takes a little work to get all the wires back into the electrical box. It is also a rectangle face switch so make sure that you have a light switch faceplate that has a rectangular opening that matches or you will need to buy a faceplate with at least one rectangular opening in order to install it. Overall it should take no more than 15-20 minutes to install in a regular light switch electrical box. We really love this switch and have installed five throughout the house. Would recommend.

I bought 3 of these for our bathroom/toilet fans and all worked out. The red wire is for the neutral/white itself and then standard black for hot/black. On initial install the switch has to charge so the fixture/fan will be on for about a minute.

After reading many positive reviews, I thought this switch would be a great solution for the bathroom light which my daughter never turns off. I was horribly disappointed when I received it. The construction feels flimsy and the only installation option is to twist electrical nuts onto the cheap stranded aluminum wires coming out the back of this thing. OK, why is stranded aluminum so bad here? Well, there's the minor issue of aluminum being an inferior conductor compared to copper so you end up wasting some electricity, but the big issue is safety. Now, I'm a high school physics teacher and perhaps the need to have the 100+ teenagers entrusted to my care daily stay alive has made me a bit overzealous about safety in electrical circuits. Buildings are normally wired with solid-core copper wire because it's the safest, most efficient option within a realistic budget. When you twist those little threads of aluminum around solid-core copper, you don't get a very good connection. I even tested this setup by twisting the three wires on this switch to my solid core and gently tugging. All three came out with just a little pressure. You may be thinking: "OK, why is that a safety issue? The power won't flow in a broken connection and all I have to do is go back in and fix it." Yes, normally power won't flow if the circuit is open, but the exception is when there's just a small gap and you have a large potential difference. This effectively turns your wiring into a spark plug. I've seen it happened in a poorly-wired home, and the wire kept sparking without tripping the circuit breaker until I found the breaker and opened the circuit manually. As I was pondering the safety issue, I also became concerned with the unusually large box of electronics sticking out the back of this switch. Seriously, why is it so big? I imagine the most complex part of the circuit is a 15-bit quartz timer like a wristwatch uses, yet this circuit takes up forty times as much space. I tried inserting it into the electrical box in my wall and it wouldn't even fit. Maybe if I cut the wiring really short I could have forced it in, but I was not prepared to do it. I returned this junk to Amazon and went to Lowe's where I found a nice motion sensor switch which was so much better and a breeze to install.

Installed in a bathroom to run the exhaust fan. This was wired correctly per instructions, but the timer wouldn't shut off after one minute, the fan ran forever, and buttons on the timer did nothing. The problem was solved by my electrician: instead of the power going from the switch to the fan, the power was going from the fan to the switch. Line/Load/Ground in the switch box appeared correct, but they weren't: what showed as the hot line was really the neutral return from the fan. This meant that when the 15318 was installed and turned on, there wasn't enough power being returned to the switch for it to charge the capacitor, activate the timer, and shut off the fan. If you have a similar problem in an older house where the switch doesn't turn off after one minute, check this: if a multimeter shows 120v from line to ground with the switch off, but nothing or near nothing with the fan running, then your fan (or other item) was probably wired wrong, and an electrician or a good handyman needs to change the splicing so hot goes to the switch first, not the fan. After that was sorted out the timer worked great.

Was a breeze to setup, still working a year later and looks great. I always trust GE to make a good product.

Al principio me preocupo por que no funcionaba pero realmente fue mi culpa en la instalación, pero funciona excelenre,muy útil.

Muy bueno sólo mencionar que la conección a tierra funciona mejor al neutro, es mas estable.

Product worked as advertised and is easy for anyone to install with written instructions (watching a YouTube video always helps too). We used it for a bathroom exhaust fan. It is nice having the options for different timers. Do note that if you want the fan on indefinitely, press and hold the big button for 5 seconds. This is not apparently clear on instructions or product advertisement on amazon. Pressing the large button turns on the last “timed” setting, unless you press and hold it for 5 seconds. Otherwise the timer functions great, looks fine, installs easy, and provides lots of options for timed settings that we find convenient.

As most reviewers have reported, installation is a breeze. The no neutral wire requirement was essential for my install. There's ample room for unit to fit next to the light socket/switch. My only complaint is that light does not stay on for the time selected, it only flashes briefly when initially selected. Also the longer times are not really practical, better to have smaller incremental times (under 1 hour).