Intermatic Timer with Dawn & Dusk Functions

Veronica and I have a rather nice low voltage light system to set off our backyard. It was a lot of backbreaking time and effort to get all the wiring run, buried and connected to a timer which is in our garage. We are using a 600 watt Malibu transformer pack (ML600TW). It has a timer where pins are inserted for stop and start events (see below).

The timer is simple and works well. The problem is that I have the timer set to come on near dusk every day and then to go off around 11:00pm. It is also set to come on at 4:00am and to go off near dawn. I am always moving the pins around as dawn and dusk change as we go from season to season. Depending on how lazy I am or am not, the low voltage lights will often run far longer than they need to. I tend to fudge the on and off times for dawn and dusk so that the lights always come on before it gets dark or light out. The Brick Reservoir is in our backyard and people walking by can see the low voltage lighting so we like to make sure that it is on when it is supposed to be. I have been using the timer on the Malibu transformer pack for a few years and I finally got tired of changing the pins. It may seem like a really picky thing but here’s what always happens. I think about changing the pins just before the lights come on or go off so I have to wait until the event happens before making the change. I usually forget to do it and then a few days later, I am back in the same situation again.

Initially, I looked for a photo cell to connect to the transformer that would sense dawn and dusk. I found this Malibu item:

It is the Malibu ML814PR photo cell. It is not terribly expensive (around $17 USD plus shipping). After a little research, I found that I need two of these – one for each of the circuits on the Malibu transformer pack. I would have to run the wires from the inside of my garage where the transformer pack is located to the outside and mount the photo cells in a suitable location. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go through all of this work just to make my timer situation more convenient.

I googled dawn/dusk timers and found the Intermatic DT620CL 15-amp timer on Amazon.

The timer was just under $20 USD (plus shipping – around $5 USD) and it had everything that I was looking for. I placed my order and received the timer in less than a week. It comes with a battery backup (2-LR44 batteries – supplied with unit) that is supposed to run the timer for three months without power. It allows the setting of 28 on/off events, automatically adjusts for daylight savings times, auto adjusts to dawn and dusk changes on a daily basis and allows for setting times that vary with +- 30 minutes each day so that it looks like someone is always home and turning the lights (or appliances) on and off. It has two timed sockets.

It took me about five minutes to program the unit. Because of the battery backup, you can sit in a comfortable chair and do your programming and then simply, plug it into an outlet and plug in your device.

If you are trying to use the timer on a Malibu transformer pack like I did, you need to remove all the pins from the transformer pack and turn the little round on/off post to the “ON” position.

It works like a charm. Our low voltage lighting comes on and goes off every day at the correct time. It’s nice to think that I won’t have to worry about changing those pins anymore. If you would like to read the user manual for the timer before buying, you can see the pdf file on the Intermatic site by clicking here.

I’m 63 years old and hope that retirement is somewhere in my future. Each time that I do something like this, I convince myself that I am doing this to make my retirement years easier or maybe I am just justifying spending some more money. I don’t seem to have any problems making that justification at all.

© 2010, Herb Segars. All rights reserved.