Customer Reviews for Defiant 15 Amp 4-Hour In-Wall Push Button Countdown Timer Switch with Screw Terminals, White

Ihad these installed for my new bathrooms exhaust fans.

I bought this to switch out an on/off switch for a bathroom fan. (Bathroom fans are surprisingly a big fire hazard and putting it on a timer helps reduce risk). I have minimal electrical experience so this was initially a bit tricky to install. I ended up needing an additional jump wire (the package comes with one) one for the neutral and an additional one for the line (as it was 3 wires). My brother in law is an electrician and was able to talk me through it on FaceTime as I didn’t know which wires were which on the original switch. Had the original switch been labeled as to what wire was what, it would have been a super easy install as the timer switch had each part labeled. The neutral wires were just capped together in the back of the electrical box so it was no big deal to add the jumper wire to that and hook it up. I did need an additional joining cap (I don’t know the official word for it but the cap that screws multiple wires together) and jumper wire to hook the line up because this timer only accommodates 2. It was super simple to install once I identified each wire. It works well and the timer appears fairly accurate. I would recommend this product and will be purchasing additional ones for each bathroom in the house.

I connected a bathroom attic fan with two of these switches (using relays) from 2 bathrooms. These switches should not be connected in parallel as they are not designed to be so, I can guarantee that it will trip your breakers if you did. The only way around it is to connect these to 2 separate relays that are compatible with 120Vac inputs to the coils and contacts. I am just pointing out what I did with mine and won't be responsible for your installation and outcome.

You must have power to the box this is installed in... not just a switch line as many houses are wired. Seems to be working fine but time will tell. This replaces a mechanical timer switch for my bath fan. Please note the instructions have an incorrect drawing of the wiring but a correct schematic. I called the product help line and actually got to talk to a pleasant person who verified the error... so you may get a corrected drawing in the future.

I've been using the timer for about a week & haven't experienced any issues. Simple operation, first you push the length of time button then the big white button for on/off. The led lights are a very bright blue, so I'm glad they don't stay on all the time. Last night I set the timer for 6 hours, but turned it off prior to the cycle being completed by my pain power button, not the timer switch's on/off button. When I just turned my main power button back on, the 4 hr & the 30 min buttons flashed at me & the fan started. I guess if you don't turn it off using its own power button, the timer will start from where it left off. Hmm, interesting. Like I said, I just got it, so still learning it. I didn't even realize it had an on/off button when I bought it, thought it was a timer only. In the picture I've included you see a main on/off switch, which came with my new whole house fan. Now that I know this switch has its own on/off feature I think I'll replace my main power button with a high/low switch. I wish this was a smart timer so it could be linked to a smart home/Amazon Echo/Google. If it did, I'd give it 5 stars. I can not speak to the ease of installation, as my bf installed it, not me. I didn't hear a lot of complaining, so it must have not been too bad. I would recommend this product.

I removed the “Terminal Screws” so that I could rap the wires around the screws and the screws would not thread back into the outlet. I am going to return this product because. Terminal Screws are not threading.

I was looking for a timer to use for a small floor heating mat I plan to put underneath bathroom tile that will be going in next month. Many of the reviews for this Defiant timer were from people who used it to control a vent fan in their bathroom, so I decided to get two timers and do a test installation with one to control our bathroom vent. Installation took about half an hour between removing the old switch and installing the new electronic timer, and it works as advertised. I'm glad I took time to read the reviews, as I'd never have thought about using it to control the vent. It will probably pay for itself eventually in saved electricity and heat not exhausted outside, and is certainly a nice convenience. I'm sure it will do a good job controlling the floor heater, too.

Just installed it, in about 10 minutes. Easy. I do already have a white common wire in my box, which according to the instructions is necessary. Then you just need the load and line wires, and a ground wire. Appears to work as advertised, tested the 5 minute setting and it works great. Pressing the 5 and 10 buttons together toggles the LED lights from intermittent to steady on....I chose the latter. Will be curious to see how long the unit will last in every day use with the bathroom fan. For $20, it seems to be a value. Time will tell. Initial 5 stars.

I wrote a review yesterday entitled 'Does not work'. It does work. I miss wired it (the lead and the Load). All 4 work perfectly. I have 2 older ones with wires in the back for the past year. I loved those. The new ones are replacements for the ones with the maximum time of one hour. This one is also compatible with CFL and LED lights. I use both types.

Just the right timer for our bathroom timers! I changed the options to have the LED for the applicable time "ON" when the fan is running. The only improvement would be to have the LED countdown to how much time is left.Installation was easy once I identified all the wires. We liked it so much I have now installed three!

Easy install, works great I had this exact timer as my control before I started my remodel, but after I had to rewire the switch to move its location and I reinstalled the old one it stopped working (it ran continuously, wouldn't turn off or run for set times) so I went back to the store and bought this one. The previous one also had to "charge" or something after it installed, but this one worked immediately - once I figured out which was the load wire and which was the line wire. Once those were done correctly it was easy-peasy! This timer also utilizes a kind of "push-in" system for wiring. You don't have to curl the wire to wrap it around the screw, but you also don't just push it in the hole and call it a day either, like some other devices. With this one, you put the wire in the hole and then tighten the screw down and it tightens a little crimp down on the wire to hold it in place, so if you need to rewire it in the future you can loosen the screw, pull the wire out and still get the "push-in" ease of wiring that you lose in other fixtures where you have to cut the wire out of the back and do the curl-and-screw. Note that you need the neutral wire in addition to the line, load and ground wires in order to wire this device properly which leads me to think that my previous timer (that stopped working) might have been either and earlier model of this one or was a different brand timer. Note also that the device is quite large so if your junction box is already full you may need to replace it with one with more capacity.

I bought this to be used with my whole house fan. wired it up last night and used it several times to try different time settings to ensure proper function / countdown. worked great. used it a few times this morning and still worked quite well. have it set to keep the lights on while in operation and that makes it easier to know how long it will be on for. hope it lasts a long time because it's very convenient.

I was looking for a timer switch that I could put in place of the regular On/Off switch that controlled my attic exhaust fan in my house. I wanted a nice looking, easy to install, and most importantly, easy to use switch to control the fan. People in my house kept forgetting to shut the fan off after it had run for awhile and cooled off the attic, and some days it would stay on almost all day!! Not good for the electric bill!! I wanted a timer switch that had the ability to run the fan for a few hours at a time and then shut off. I found this switch at Home Depot and it has the ability to run my fan up to 4 hours and then shut off! No more leaving the fan running all day!!! There are 6 small buttons on it that allow you to choose the amount of time you want your item to stay on. You can choose from 5, 10 and 30 minutes as well as 1, 2 and 4 hours Each button has a small blue LED light on it that lets you know which button was pushed to show you the time that was selected. You can set the switch to have the LED light stay on with each button push or you can set the LED lights to go off after a few seconds. I set up my switch to have the LED stay on so that people in my house would know the attic fan was on, and which time was selected. My switch is installed in a closet, so leaving the LED lights on is not a problem. The LED's are bright, and if you had this switch installed in a room, you might want to set the switch to turn the LED lights off after a few seconds. One of my pictures shows the switch with the 10 minute button pushed and the LED light on. This switch DOES require a neutral (white) wire to work, so if you don't have that, then this switch will NOT work. I was lucky, and my switch box had the neutral (white) wire so I was good to go. Also, the back of this switch is VERY large and deep. If you have any of the older metal switch boxes that are narrow and shallow, then this timer switch might not work for you. The switch box I installed this in was a small metal box and the switch just barely fit. Once I had the wires hooked up I applied some electrical tape around the screws on the switch to protect them from accidently hitting the metal box and causing a short. Also, because this switch is deep, and the wires, when installed, stick out the back, when I pushed the switch into the box it would not fit all the way in. It stuck out about a quarter of an inch. I installed a quarter inch box extension ring that Home Depot sells and used that to take up the space and mount the switch securely. Since no one seems to sell deep switch cover plates (Home Depot did NOT have any), I used two plates to cover the switch. One large one cut to cover the extention ring, and one to cover the switch. It took me about two minutes to cut the large plate with my rotary tool, and I was good to go. You can see this dual cover plate set-up in the pictures I have attached to my review. Other than those few glitches, I would rate this switch a great buy. Time will tell how long it will last, but for the moment, this switch works great, looks very nice, is easy to use, and most of all, will save me money!!! For reference, the attic fan I have this switch controlling is a 1/2 hp fan that is a slow start fan.

easy to install and very reliable

We could not get it to function, had to return.

I like that it’s push button and have longer times. Just installed it today. Time will tell if it’s quality or not.

A little tricky to install, even for a professional. You need to know what you are doing.

Just what I needed in my Shower room. I use it on my vent fan now the grand kids don’t complain so much ?.

I like it but wish they had a 15 min option.

Worked fine to replace blown switch

This is the third one I’ve purchased and all work perfectly.

Worked as expected. Need more than casual knowledge to install correctly.

I bought this switch to use with a whole-house fan in my attic. The old fan switch (made by Woods) worked fine for about five years, but then would turn itself off much sooner than the time that was set. Anyway, I had no problem installing this new Defiant switch. It is made for a four-wire system: a line wire, a load wire, neutral wire, and ground. Fortunately, our old switch was the same way. I watched some videos on YouTube so I could learn which wire was the line wire, and which was the load wire. I installed this switch this morning and it is working fine. The way this switch works is, when you push the button for your desired time, the LED light will blink a couple of times and then go out. So, if you later glance at the switch, it won't be obvious how much time it was set to run for. However, the instructions explain how you can set it up such that the LED light stays on after you push the button. So, if you push the 60 minute button, that LED light will stay lit the entire 60 minutes. This is a nice feature. You can accomplish this by pressing the 5 and 10 minute buttons at the same time and holding them down for 3 seconds.

This switch is great. It's well-built, and it works exactly like you'd expect it to. However, before you buy it, ask yourself why you're not getting a classic dial timer instead. With a dial, you aren't limited to the preset times. A dial shows the time remaining at a glance. A dial doesn't have harsh blue LEDs. (Does anyone actually like blue LEDs?) After using this for a week, I don't think there's any reason to get it over a traditional timer, unless you will use the 2-hour button.

Exactly what I was looking for