Another timer question

[La Poste]

Greetings.

A friend of mine has 10 low voltage 50 watt lights surrounding the outside of his house.

He wants to have these lights on a timer so they switch on at about 5 PM in the evening.

The outside lights are connected to other lights inside the house on the same circuit so a simple timer at the fuse board is a bit out of the question.

I have been looking at timer switches:
http://www.timeguard.com/products/light/automatic-light-switches/7-day-digital-security-light-switch


You know the type that you use to replace your light switch but the load tolerance of them seems pretty low, time guard do a timed light switch that will only switch 200 watts of low voltage lighting which is only four 50 Watt lights which is not enough.

Does anyone have any advice about a timed light switch that can carry more load?

Thanks.

 

[The Ranger]

them timer switches are rubbish but could you not use that to switch a relay outside nicely concealed to switch the lights?

 

[mackers]

Could u not fit a photo cell between leg up and first light then the switch could be used to turn off if not required

 

[La Poste]

Both those are really good ideas.

It looks like some sort of relay is the best option for the timer but thinking about it why not just have the lights on a photocell, I mean all he is really interested in is the lights coming on when it gets dark before he gets home from work.

 

[gigeyes]

Both those are really good ideas.

It looks like some sort of relay is the best option for the timer but thinking about it why not just have the lights on a photocell, I mean all he is really interested in is the lights coming on when it gets dark before he gets home from work.

The thing is with a photocell they will be on all night, so a photocell and a timer gets you out of that hole. The timer I suggest would be a Sangamo timer, typically used for swithing on central heating systems, so they have a higher switching load