Lighting timer

[RichA]

I am trying to understand the feasibility of having a timer added for to my front exterior lighting.

i.e. something like this:
https://www.toolstation.com/7-day-electronic-lighting-timer-16a-8a/p28896?

It is currently wired so that it is switched on with either the switch by the front door, or the PIR.

Is it likely to be possible to add a timer at the consumer unit to set the lights to come on every evening from, say, 6pm to 10pm? Ideally this would be situated next to the consumer unit.

Or will it very much depend on how it has been wired?

[The red dot is the consumer unit]

Thanks.

 

[Taylortwocities]

The trouble with a click timer on lights is that you’ll be constantly adjusting the settings to compensate as the night/day changes with the seasons.
Better to use one of these photocells, https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/STNM3000B.html
it automatically sorts this all out for you.

 

[JBR]

The trouble with a click timer on lights is that you’ll be constantly adjusting the settings to compensate as the night/day changes with the seasons.
Better to use one of these photocells, https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/STNM3000B.html
it automatically sorts this all out for you.

That looks useful.
I, too, have a switched timer which, as you say, needs changing periodically for night/day times changes.
I'd like to use such a photocell timer, but I'm not sure where I could wire it in. I installed the switched timer in the small lobby inside our front door where the original light switch was located, but clearly the photocell unit would have to be outside or at least with an outdoor view.
The trouble is that the seven outdoor lights all have external cabling, some of which enter the house at different locations.

 

[333rocky333]

That looks useful.
I, too, have a switched timer which, as you say, needs changing periodically for night/day times changes.
I'd like to use such a photocell timer, but I'm not sure where I could wire it in. I installed the switched timer in the small lobby inside our front door where the original light switch was located, but clearly the photocell unit would have to be outside or at least with an outdoor view.
The trouble is that the seven outdoor lights all have external cabling, some of which enter the house at different locations.

Schneider do a timer where the light sensor is remote fromthe timer body and you link it with just 2 core ELV cable, even cat 5, or there are Digital timers that track the sun with early off settings, like the Sangamo Astra but there 70 quid

 

[AndyPRK]

Or you have a timer inside and a dusk till dawn sensor outside.

The timer could always switch off at 11pm rather than a number of hours of darkness.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Or you have a timer inside and a dusk till dawn sensor outside.

The timer could always switch off at 11pm rather than a number of hours of darkness.

Which is what the photocell I linked to does. In addition it adjusts for the varying lengths of night time periods.

 

[AndyPRK]

I thought it said it ran for a fixed time after dusk.

In summer I would only want 1 hour or so.
In winter I would want around 7 hours

if you assume you want the lights off at 11pm

 

[Taylortwocities]

It has a number of options.
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/DataSheets/Steinel/NW3000a.pdf

 

[JohnD]

Let's consider that modern low-wattage LED lamps cost next to nothing to run, and a simple photocell is cheap.

How much extra do you want to spend, to make it more complicated?

 

[RichA]

My question was really more about how easily the wiring would be than the features of the timer/sensor.

- Is it likely that outside lighting like this would be on a dedicated loop, and therefore the timer/sensor could be wired in near/at the consumer unit?
- Or might the outside lighting be part of, say, the GF lighting circuit, etc, and therefore the timer/sensor would need to be wired near/at the switch in the hall (and in full view).

Thanks.

 

[JohnW2]

Or you have a timer inside and a dusk till dawn sensor outside. The timer could always switch off at 11pm rather than a number of hours of darkness.

As I've have discussed in the past, that's precisely what I do (well, off at 10.30pm in my case).

I thought it said it ran for a fixed time after dusk.

That's what I thought, but maybe it has other options.

In summer I would only want 1 hour or so. In winter I would want around 7 hours ... if you assume you want the lights off at 11pm

Again, that precisely what I need (and get). Looking at my electricity monitoring records for yesterday, the lights came on (per photocell) at 9:35pm and went off (as always, by timeswitch) at 10:30pm - hence 'on' for 55 mins. In mid-Winder, thjey would come on around 4pm and go off at 10:30pm, hence about 6.5 hours 'on'.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

- Is it likely that outside lighting like this would be on a dedicated loop, and therefore the timer/sensor could be wired in near/at the consumer unit?
- Or might the outside lighting be part of, say, the GF lighting circuit, etc, and therefore the timer/sensor would need to be wired near/at the switch in the hall (and in full view).

No-one can tell without looking, but I would say (even if it's not what you want to hear!) that the latter (supplied from the GF lighting circuit) would be much more likely.

In any event, you surely should be able to answer your question by looking at the CU? If the outside light were on a dedicated circuit, it would have a dedicated MCB in the CU (and switching that 'off' would stop the outside light working). On the other hand, if it were on the GF lighting circuit, then switching off that circuit's MCB would stop the outside light working.

Kind
Regards, John

 

[JohnD]

If it currently all works on one light switch, it's easy.

And you can get a lightswitch that includes both a photocall and a timer. Very easy to fit and use.

For example
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_I...ex.html#24Hr_7Day_Security_Lightswitch_ZV700B

The flap closes to hide the controls.

 

[JohnW2]

... you can get a lightswitch that includes both a photocall and a timer. Very easy to fit and use. For example ... https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SMZV700B.html

I don't really understand how that would work reliably, given that it is designed to be (and is only suitable to be) installed indoors, and does not appear to have provision for a remotre photocell.

A device which switches the outside light on when the indoor light level falls below a certain level is surely unlikley to reliably achieve "on at dusk". Indeed, depending upon one's habits in terms of turning on one's indoor lighting, the outdoor lighting may never come on

[and, in passing, any idea why it is said that it can switch 400W of incandescent lighting but only 20W of LEDs]

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnD]

In my previous house, I had one beside the front door (which was part-glazed) and one in a room with patio doors and a window (both of which had venetian blinds, which were closed in hot weather.

Worked fine.