Customer Reviews for Defiant 5-Amp In-Wall Digital Timer with No Neutral Wire

I returned this switch. I had a string of led Christmas lights on the circuit . I came home and my lights were dim. When I pressed the over ride button the lights came on at full power. Pushed again , and back to dim.

I installed this for use with Christmas lights. Discovered that it is incandescent ONLY. Also wired it in and it did not turn on. I don't have my Christmas lights plugged in, it is not getting power. While the device does not need a neutral, one typically has to join the neutrals. It only includes three wire nuts, lacking a fourth for the neutral. Taking it back. Why is Home Depot selling an incandescent-only timer anyway?

hard to program,other than that works great manualy

Doesn't work with 99.9999% of the bulbs sold at HD. Very disappointed. Going to send it to a lefty friend for Christmas and let him deal with his decision to support the ban on incandescent bulbs. :)

I thought the product was good and works great, and easy to use

Had to use a magnifying glass to program but once programed it works well. Love the "no battery" backup feature.

This timer has been great. I faced an expensive electrician's bill to run new wires in our house to accommodate the timers with more wires and then I found this. I was able to easily install and program it, and it's worked wonderfully. It doesn't work with fluorescent bulbs but I don't use fluorescent bulbs for health reasons so that hasn't been an issue.

I bought this to replace my old switch/timer, which had died. After wiring it in, my LED Xmas lights were always on. Since the instructions say that a light bulb needs to be plugged it, I connected one to the outlet. The LED's went off and the bulb was not lit. That's when I realized that the switch is not compatible with just LED's. I can't believe that the box does not warn you of this. Showing that it is incandescent compatible does not warn you that it won' t work with CFL and LED lights. I'm taking it back.

Did not work with cfl lights and does not say this on the package! Can't see to program. Disappointed that Home Depot even sells this?

Bought 2 of these installed them myself. They often need to be reprogrammed and when it seemed the batteries died I couldn't get them to work again. I'm now looking for a better quality alternative. Here you get what you pay for:(

Lousy timer don't work with LED lights! Why would you sell this? When you intall with LED lights they just continuously flash!

Replaced a semi-mechanical timer that turned on my garage lights. It just wore out after years of use. Found & installed this unit. It will NOT work w/most energy saving bulbs. The packaging warns about this & it is true. I had CFL's installed & had to go back to old/tungsten filiment bulbs to make it work. Very disappointing. Also: NO BACKLIGHT -&- very small display. I had to go get my magnifying glasses to program it. I would not buy this product if I'd known what a dud it was.

When installed, it made my sub-panel BUZZ. I have CFLs.

Warning - this timer is for incandescent bulbs only; as the picture on the package shows. The problem is that neither the instructions, nor the picture, indicate that this timer will NOT work for CFL or LED bulbs. After two times assembling and disassembling, and blowing out two CFL bulbs, I looked these reviews. So, I went back to Home Depot, returned this timer, and purchased the timer, for an additional $5.00, that has a picture of CFL and LED on the packaging. Bottom line - the manufacturer would be providing a greater service if they had a picture of the CFL & LED bulbs on the packaging, with a line through them, indicating that they are not compatible with this timer. Certainly it should have been stated in the operating/installation instructions as a minimum. In any case, the quality is fine in both cases and easy to install and program. I'll find out this evening if it works properly; fingers crossed! Yes, I would recommend this product...but only in the correct application.

CFL interfers with the on-off function. In the off position I still read >80 volts going to the fixture. The CFL would occasionally flicker in this state. In the on position 110 volts and the CFL flickered really fast. I did find a 43W GE Halogen bulb that works ok.

Got it to turn outside garage lites on at dusk n off at dawn, but lites are candelabra CFLs. Lites came on for 10 secs n then went off. Every time. Had to get different timer. HD used to carry Intermatic which worked fine, but don't see it in stores anymore.

This absolutely does not work with cfl or fluorescent bulbs, I am reading the instructions as I type and how the other guy said the instructions say it is for those is beyond me. Very easy to install however no backlight and I have spent hours going to box stores and online trying to find a bulb that will work with this and there is none, I had to purchase from another online store an adapter that will allow me to use a regular light bulb but it wont be here for another week, and also I was told that NO timer is made now for halogen lights or incandescent so do not waste your money it wont work without buying an adapter if you can find one it is a GU24 to E26/E27 Adapter but good luck finding one. This product is horrible do not buy.....

to dafynt1 .... i agree, the unit works OK but the nice green backlight display shown on the product packaging doesn't exist and it is very hard to see the display

Not compatible with compact flourescent bulbs , so cheap price equals dinosaur technologly. so you will waste all saved cash on running a power hungry incandescent bulb all night :(

Easy to install / But lite on screen doesnt work and it doesnt work with CFL

Other reviewers have noted that this does not work with CFL bulbs. It won't work with LED bulbs either. Planned obsolescence - what do you do when Incandescent's are gone? This timer has no neutral connection, there is no way to power the timer unless a trickle current runs through the bulb. This small current won't light an incandescent bulb, but is not compatible with energy saving bulbs. One star for a product that is about to be obsolete an no mention on the package that it only works with old style energy burning bulbs.

Interesting that the package and advertisement doesn't include the operation for fluorescent bulbs. Only when you open the package and read the directions does it say it works for those as well. I wouldn't have purchased it except that I saw these same comments by another reviewer and they were correct. Works great, took about five minutes to install-life is good now.

Timer does not work with CFL bulbs. With the CFL's becoming the most popular choice for light bulbs I thought that this product would work. I was wrong.

Easy to follow wiring diagram, powering up sequencing, and setting of current day and time. Programming instructions are difficult to follow and small display screen and buttons make any attempt at programming even more difficult. More importantly, product literature does it state that one cannot use device to control CFL bulbs. So if your timer works initially (mine did) and then turns off unexpectedly or will not turn on without cycling on/off switch, your installed light bulbs may not work with this timer.