Aube by Honeywell TI035/U Solar Time Table, Programmable Timer Review

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This is one of the few timers that work fine with popular compact fluorescents. It also has a built in rechargeable battery backup and uses a solar table to automatically adjust for sunset once you input your longitude and latitude. You do have to manually change it for daylight savings twice a year. I bought the T1035 model that works with a single switch. The T1034 is for 3 way switches (i.e. 2 switches). When I replaced my existing toggle switch I had get a new switchplate (decora) that fit the timer. When I wired it, I had to find the white wire in my junction box since the timer connects to three wires (white, black, and blue) vs only two with my old toggle switch. The third connection is to allow the timer to be powered when the light is off. I also connected the existing ground wire to the metal mounting bracket on the timer. Don't know if that was necessary since it was not mentioned in the timer instructions but I did it just to be safe. I bought the timer directly from Smarthome since they had a discount running at the time (no pun intended).

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We bought this to correct an error we made during new house construction. We have eight outdoor lights on the front of the house that are divided into two circuits. One circuit, by the driveway, is wired to a day/night motion sensor. Don't know what we were thinking at the time, but the other circuit is not. The driveway lights come on automatically at dusk. The other side does not. We've simply been leaving those lights on all the time. Now that the house is finished, it would be too hard to install a day/night motion sensor for those lights.

As a work around, an electrician mentioned that The Home Depot sold a timer switch with a micro controller / clock in it that would turn the lights on / off at sunset / sunrise. That's the first I'd ever heard about such a thing. But before going to the store, I decided to see what you all had to say about these. Glad I did.

Apparently, the stores sell the Levitron brand, which most of you say fail early. So, based on the reviews, I bought this Aube unit instead.

It looks to be a high quality product. The instructions are thorough. This particular unit has a relay in it more on that later. Presumably Honeywell has tested the relay thoroughly because the unit has a 5 year warranty and that relay has to switch on and off at least two times a day, 365 days, for at least 5 years. (Actually, that's not very many cycles for a relay, so 5 years should be no problem.)

Now, don't make the same mistake I did. Aube sells two flavors of this box. This one, for a 3 wire connection, and this one Aube by Honeywell TI034-3W/U Solar Programmable Timer Switch, White for 3 WAY or two wire connections. But this isn't specific enough, and that's were I goofed. (But a happy ending.)

See, our electrician wired our lights as a 3 way. Now, right on the Aube package, so you can see it before you open it, Aube warns you that you must have 3 wires going to your existing switch to use this particular unit. (If you don't, they refer you to their other flavor, above.) So I dutifully checked our switch before opening the package.

There were indeed 3 wires going to our existing switch. That's because 3 WAY switches use 3 wires too! BUT that's not the same as what this unit expects. As another reviewer found, and as the product description says, this unit requires line, neutral and load. Fortunately for me, I'm an Electrical Engineer and also fortunately, our electrician had brought neutral down to the junction box. So I was able to figure this out and make this unit play in our situation despite the confusion. (I also bypassed the other 3 way switch. Once this timer is installed, there's no need to control the lights from another location.) It turns out I'd rather have this switch anyway, so maybe this was fortuitous.

See, this unit uses a relay. The other flavor Aube by Honeywell TI034-3W/U Solar Programmable Timer Switch, White uses a solid state device, a DIAC, instead of a relay. One implication of a relay is that, unlike DIAC's, there is no problem powering fluorescent bulbs (CFL's included) nor any worries about electronic ballasts. No minimum current required to keep the circuit "pulled in" as we say. You see a lot of concerns about this with motion sensors that use DIAC technology. See the 1 star reviews here Heath Zenith SL-6105-WH Motion Activated Wall Switch for example.

Also, DIAC's aren't as "short" tolerant as relays. We have a Hunter ceiling fan that uses a DIAC to control the light kit. I've had to replace the unit twice now. Every time an incandescent bulb blows out, the current spike (flash!) burns out the DIAC. I'm not saying this will happen with the Aube, but I've had trouble before. I know it's "old school," but I prefer relay based units. (Unless you use H-MOS.) This unit can handle 2400 Watts, a lot more than its solid state counterpart can handle.

So, a little confusion over the package warning about 3 wires, but once past that, I'm happy. The unit has only been installed for a few days now so I can't report on its longevity at this time. But I'm happy so far.

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I'd installed three Intermatic solar timers from Home Depot and had to uninstall and throw them all away within a year or two. Unfortunately, the big-box stores only sell the Intermatic ones. Despite the digital display, they have a mechanical movement that always breaks.

The Aube timers are all-electronic. They work and keep on working. The onlky downside I know is that they're a little complicated to set up, but it's worth it for a product that works as advertised, without trouble.

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Easy install. FOrtunately I had 3 wires and not two. If you do have two wires to this timer it will not work or require some fancy wiring.

Using GPS coordinates to set your location is a bit odd, but works perfectly.

Much preferred over the Intermatic I bought at the Orange big box store. I went through 2 of those timers in 2 years. Their issue is they still use a mechanical switch to flip the switch inside the box. THIS AUBE timer is completely electronic. Look to have it working until I sell the house.

I also use a 40W CFL light.

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Just the thing that I was looking for. Very easy programming. You enter the latitude and longitude, set up the current time and feed the time when you want to switch on and off. It takes care of the rest.

By default, after the initial settings (latitude, longitude & clock), it is set up to switch on at sunset and switch off at sunrise. But, you can easily change the programming to, say, switch on at sunset; switch off at 10pm and again switch on at 4am, switch off at sunrise. It allows two sets of switch on and off setting (ON1-OFF1-ON2-OFF2). If you leave OFF1 and ON2 as blank, it uses ON1 and OFF2. I have mine set up to switch on at sunset and switch off at 10pm. Works like a charm.

To make minor adjustments on the sunset/sunrise time, you can enter a slightly different longitude. For example, I wanted the unit to switch on about 10 minutes after sunset, so I entered a longitude 3 degrees west of where I am.

You can do a manual override any time by pressing the lid down. If you press it down for 3 seconds, the unit goes to manual mode.

There are a couple of notes:-

1. You need the black and white wires at the swich box to install it.

2. You have to manually switch the unit to daylight savings mode and back.