As a commercial and residential electrician for over 14 years, I have been a fan of Lutron Products. I have always like the sleek styling of their dimming switches, with the small sliders . One of the reasons i bought this switch over the Leviton (Leviton LTB30-1LZ) one was it does not need a neutral for it to work. I also like the tap twice to turn on ( and by passing the countdown timer ). I use this in a small bathroom to control the fan ( Panasonic ) as i like to let it run a few minutes after a shower to full vent out the moisture, and the easy tap up or down to adjust the time works well. Installation was simple, 3 wires, the ground wire, the hot and the switch leg. That's it. The switch does not get hot since it's not dimming. The switch is a bit bulky, and it's not a problem if you do not have a lot of wire coming in or out of the switch box, in my case i had a separate feed for my lighting. Lutron MA-T51-WH Maestro Countdown Timer, White
I bought the MA-T51-WH switch because it was a good looking countdown timer with increments up to 60 minutes as well as an always-on mode. I also liked the fact that it didn't require a neutral connection... until I installed it and found out that the lack of a neutral caused a problem.
I have a fan and fluorescent light which are connected to the switch, and when I pushed the switch, it would turn on for a moment then turn off for a second or two and then turn on again (and stay on). After contacting Lutron technical support (which is excellent), I learned that the lack of a neutral connection makes the switch less robust for certain types of loads. It probably works for most people, but since it didn't work for me, they recommended that I get the same model of switch that also has a neutral connection (MA-T51MN-WH). Since I have a neutral connection in my switch box, this wasn't a problem for me. The neutral connection did the trick and now the switch turns on as it should. One more thing that I learned is that the model without the neutral can have the two wire leads connected in either order, but once a switch with a neutral connection is added, the order of the live leads is very important. If they are connected in the wrong order, the switch won't work.
Now that I have the correct switch and all the wires connected correctly, it's working admirably. If you have a neutral connection in your switch box, you may want to play it safe and just get the switch with the neutral. It only costs a little bit more and could save you some trouble.
this a great simple countdown timer switch for exhaust fans or whatever you want to set to run and then shut off automatically after a predetermined period of time (adjustable). Best thing is that it works in a switch loop wiring configuration which means you don't need a common (white) wire in the box to make it work. Connect the green to the ground and the other two wires to the two terminals (doesn't matter which one where) and you are good to go.
This is a very easy timer to install, and I am happy with it....
I basically just removed the plate, unplugged the existing wires, and plugged in the new ones. Had to fiddle with the grounding wire a bit (not an issue with the product....it was an issue with what was available in the junction box), but eventually managed to get a good connection to the existing grounds. This outlet supports both screw type terminals, and plug in terminals for 14 gauge wire (14 gauge max size for plug in terminals). No neutral wire is required. Apparently, the NEC allows you to also not ground the thing under very specific circumstances where a ground is not available. I had a ground available, so I used it.
Note the following:
This timer has a maximum current load rating of 5A (~600W). It is probably not appropriate for heating lamps (at least, it will be a close thing for these items - check your application). If you have a very tight fit in the junction box, you have to remove some metal fins from the side of the switch, and this will reduce the load rating by 1A or so.
The timer has good features - you can use the rocker switch on the side to adjust the timer from 5 minutes to 60 minutes. It also has an "manual off" mode, activated by pressing the switch twice quickly. This turns on the switch until you manually turn it off. Nice feature....
It has an "off override" (used when changing lights, etc.) to ensure that power is shut off to the switched circuit. There is a little plastic piece you pull out from the front of the switch to activate this mode.
On the negative side:
The switch feels a little bit cheap and rickety....it's not super "solid". If you place your finger on the switch and move your finger slightly, the plastic switch will move a little bit...it's a little bit loose. Not a big deal, and I don't have any concerns about longevity/reliability - it's just simply an aesthetic issue.
I haven't measured this, but I think there may be a very small (less than 1W?) amount of standby power used when the switch is OFF. It feels very slightly warm to the touch when the switch has been off for a while. Again, I'm not sure about this. It also may be normal for these types of switches.
For certain, there is some loss in the switch when it is in the ON position. The switch warms up slightly when the switched circuit is drawing current. Not sure how much loss there is, probably a few % of the load wattage. I suppose this is normal for these types of switches, but I don't really know.
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Edit:
This switch is still going strong. I like it! I recently discovered (reading documentation on Lutron website), that there are a couple of nice features that I didn't know about, which can be useful in certain situations:
- You can make sure that the timer ALWAYS reverts back to a certain "timeout" period (say 15 minutes), even if someone manually adjusts it one time to make the period shorter or longer. This is useful if you have kids fiddling with the lights, or someone who doesn't know how to use it, and they accidentally adjust the timeout period. This way, you don't always have to be adjusting it back to the right setting (say, for a bathroom fan, you might always want 30 minutes of run time).
- You can override the "double-click" function, which normally turns the light on without timer (it stays on until turned off). If you always want the light to turn off, without the possibility of it staying on indefinitely, you can change the mode of the switch so that a double click will result in the maximum timeout period (60 minutes).
Both of these modes are accessed via a relatively simple programming sequence - pull out the FASS switch, hold the switch button down, push FASS switch back in while continuing to hold down switch button for 5 more seconds. Then you use a sequence of pushes and selections using the small rocker switch to navigate through the "menus". See the Lutron site for more information. I didn't see this information in the manual that came with the switch.... - Countdown Timer - Lutron - Bathroom Fan Timer - Timer Switch'
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