Convert Digital Mains Timer To Low Voltage


Posted on Feb 7, 2014

If you go to most supermarkets today you will see plug in mains powered digital programmable timers. These are designed to be used to automatically turn lights on and off, to turn washing machines on when you are out and so on. Prices start from as little as 5 pounds ($10) and these products are very feature rich often offering full seven-day programming and multiple


Convert Digital Mains Timer To Low Voltage
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on-off cycles per day. Sadly these mass-produced units are only designed for mains powered devices. If you want to purchase a 12V Programmable Timer Switch you`ll find them to be feature-poor and very expensive (read linked-to article to find out more). In our article Convert Thermostat to 12V Timer Switch we showed how a £20 battery powered timer thermostat could be converted easily to operate as a programmable timer relay switch. Unfortunately such a thermostat can be programmed with only one on-off cycle per day, and the shortest on (or off) interval it can provide is 15 minutes. In this article we will show you how a cheap supermarket bought mains timer can be converted to operate on low voltage and control (i. e. switch on and off at programmed times) low voltage devices. The timer pictured above is a TE7 7 Day Electronic Timer marketed within Tesco`s energy saving promotion and priced at just £8. This is the timer we will convert in this article. NEW - After publishing this article, we discovered that the exact same timer is also sold by Sainsburys for around £8, but this time branded as Masterplug 7 Day Electronic Timer. With this branding it is also sold in the UK at Halfords, Woolworths, Focus DIY, and numerous other outlets. The display on a programmable digital timer is not powered directly by mains electricity. Instead a small 1. 2V NiMH rechargeable backup cell is kept charged, and the display and electronics...




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