Uxcell a12031200ux0078 Power Programmable Timer Time Switch Relay

Why we love it?

Had to jiggle the wires & tap on it with a wrench to get it started working but now it works great. To that other reviewer who wondered about accessing time & program adjustment without having to completely reset it ever time, just depress the bottom right button (c/r) 4 times and then, when you see the “a” for auto disappear you have about 5 seconds to start entering your changes, you know, hit program if you want to change timer(s), or “manual” if you want to turn lights on immediately. Note: I had to hit “manual” twice every time for some reason. Had to hit some other things twice to get them to respond too. I ordered this timer to hook up to some 12V lights in my camper on mornings when I stay overnight on the lake and want to get up early. Alarm clocks themselves don’t always work to get me up, but bright lights definitely help. For $10 I wasn’t too sure of the performance but once I received the clock from china I was surprised at how well it was built. Yes I said FROM china. It said 3 - 4 weeks delivery but I got it in about 1 ¹⁄₂ weeks and it was free shipping. Sorry. Directions weren’t the best but from the diagrams I could figure out how to hook it up. You have one pair of terminals to power the clock (pos and neg) and then another set for the load (pos) Just like a standard spst switch. Once i wired it to the circut the lights are on, it pretty much functions as your standard plug in timers do only it is designed for 12v systems. Yes you can power higher voltage on the switch side but for my application it worked perfectly. It even has a red LED indicator to tell you when the circut is on. Programming is the same as your standard light timers. The only thing that is a con is it comes with a factory installed lithium battery that is already on when you receive it. (It serves as a battery backup for the clock, it will not power the switch is there is no power present.) This means, depending on when they manufactured it a quarter of the battery life may be exhaused. I don’t believe the battery is rechargable so you may have to open it up and do some soldering to replace the battery if you don’t leave it hooked up to power all the time. A battery pull tab to delay activating the battery really would have been a plus but overall a good buy for the price

Some comments about this we saw on the web:

* /u/Burn-O-Matic on /r/BurningMan LED’s like these are nice with lots of options (no arduino required). One inside with one or two outside should cover your needs. They use way less than the 5A rating. I would say each 1A inside and 2A outside (assuming bright white always on).

Given the relatively low power usage, I would suggest buying 2-3 sizable SLA batteries for less than an even a modest solar panel and charge controller kit would cost. 12v 35Ah batteries like these kinda hit the sweet spot for size/price/capacity.

Since the exterior lights use the most power, you can save yourself a fair bit of power by setting them up on a timer that drives 3 automotive relays (junkyard or like this). The relays would replace the controller and just supply voltage directly the the RGB channels resulting in maximum white light. Pick 2 channels to make a color if you want. Importantly, use the normally closed (NC) switch on the relay to make it fail safe (lights are on unless switch and relays are working to interrupt the power).

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