I had one of these fitted a few months back to automate one task for me. Today I had four more fitted. Now my life is remotely controllable, automated and complicated. But well, I have to have something to keep me busy in retirement.

Now, the usual digital timer switch that one can buy has four modes
1) On - irrespective of the timer
2) On and paying attention to the timer
3) Off - irrespective of the timer
4) Off and paying attention to the timer.

So in the case of my guest geyser, which I only want to run when we have guests, I could program it, then leave it in the third mode and it would just be off and stay off until I put it into mode 1 or (more likely) 2. When the guest is gone, I just put it back into (3) again.

Now am I right that the ASC can't do this? If the schedule says that it turns on at 10:00, then even if I physically set it to off, at 10:00 the next day it will turn on again. IE with reference to the four modes I list, it only really has 2 and 4. So I can never just turn it off and it stays off until I change the mode it's in.

This must be because with the non-smart timers all the information the timer needs is on the timer itself. The ASC doesn't store any time or timing information.

Edited December 18, 2025Dec 18 by Bobster.

You can disable the schedule entries (timer) individually and the schedule won't run.

Edited December 18, 2025Dec 18 by abd7

49 minutes ago, abd7 said:

You can disable the schedule entries (timer) individually and the schedule won't run.

Thanks. That works a treat. In fact I only have to disable the on entry. I don't mind if the controller goes from off to off.

1 hour ago, abd7 said:

You can disable the schedule entries (timer) individually and the schedule won't run.

That is how I use mine, disable the schedule and turn on again when needed, have been running 3 of these now for 2 years no problems at all.

On 2025/12/18 at 3:14 PM, Bobster. said:

The ASC doesn't store any time or timing information.

ISTM that these devices store very little information. Not saying that's good or bad, I'm saying that's how it appears to be. Schedules, automations etc are all stored in the cloud. So if my internet connection goes down I have to resort to manual methods of control.

1 hour ago, Bobster. said:

ISTM that these devices store very little information. Not saying that's good or bad, I'm saying that's how it appears to be. Schedules, automations etc are all stored in the cloud. So if my internet connection goes down I have to resort to manual methods of control.

Your assessment is 100% correct.

If a system is cloud dependent, loss of internet means loss of “smart” features. Most smart switches and cloud-based monitoring stop working via the app when the internet is down. Manual switching still works, automations usually stops.

Remote inverter monitoring is also lost if it’s cloud-only, better systems work locally first if internet is down automations continue and only remote access is lost.

Cloud = convenience, local control = reliability. Critical systems should always work without the internet.