April 15, 20197 yr I have 6 cbi touch screen timers at our home. 5 of them looses the time setting within minutes when we experience an outage. I'm not a sparkle but find it absolutely frustrating to reset it so often. Anyone else with the same issue or am I missing something ?
April 15, 20197 yr I see they say: Backup power displays time for 12 hours and keeps time for at least 24 hours. The programmed schedule is always retained.
April 15, 20197 yr 25 minutes ago, Gerald Phaal said: . Anyone else with the same issue Yes indeed. After about 18 months that battery doesn't work at all, you get minutes at best from them. Early in February I reinstalled a timer for my swimming pool that I have removed 13 months ago. It's a cheap Chinese timer I ordered from eBay.. to my supprise the program as well as the time and date were still correct. I asked a friend about it and he explained how it's possible with the backup batterys they use in newer electronics. He also mentioned what tipe they use but i can not remember now.. I am planing to replace my CBIs with those , if I can just find them again.
April 16, 20197 yr 10 hours ago, Jaco de Jongh said: Yes indeed. After about 18 months that battery doesn't work at all, you get minutes at best from them. After a few more months it degrades so badly that it can't hold the relay closed. Mine would start to make clicking at a one-second interval and I had to throw it out. They don't last and I won't use them anymore. 10 hours ago, Jaco de Jongh said: I asked a friend about it and he explained how it's possible with the backup batterys they use in newer electronics. He also mentioned what tipe they use but i can not remember now 🙂 Generally you use either a capacitor (which gives you a few hours of backup), a supercapacitor (which gives you a few days of backup), or a small NiMH battery (which gives you 6 months or more). If you are cheap you use a capacitor. And that poor thing fails in 24 months because it is heat-soaked to death. NiMH also eventually fails, but usually lasts quite a few years, and is cheap enough that you'll find them in cheap Chinese-made switches.
July 17, 20206 yr Can anyone tell me if there is a timer on the market that has sufficient back up power to be able to retain its timing schedule given all our power cuts ? I have read that the Geyserwise is a better alternative. We have 40 units in a Retirement Village and installed a solar system that doesn’t have backup batteries so we have tried to put timers on the Geysers, but a cost of R1000.00 per installation by a registered electrician and them failing to reset after power cuts we have a lot of very unhappy old ladies. Help please.....
July 18, 20206 yr 20 hours ago, Judy said: Can anyone tell me if there is a timer on the market that has sufficient back up power to be able to retain its timing schedule given all our power cuts ? I have read that the Geyserwise is a better alternative. We have 40 units in a Retirement Village and installed a solar system that doesn’t have backup batteries so we have tried to put timers on the Geysers, but a cost of R1000.00 per installation by a registered electrician and them failing to reset after power cuts we have a lot of very unhappy old ladies. Help please..... I use these timers. They are fairly cheap - think about R300 a piece. They keep time for days. I lost 1 in about 6 months. Clock still works, but it doesn't switch. I have 3 more that is working without a problem.
July 19, 20206 yr 20 hours ago, LouisT said: I use these timers. They are fairly cheap - think about R300 a piece. They keep time for days. I lost 1 in about 6 months. Clock still works, but it doesn't switch. I have 3 more that is working without a problem. Thank you for the advice.
July 19, 20206 yr On 2020/07/18 at 6:50 PM, LouisT said: I use these timers. They are fairly cheap - think about R300 a piece. They keep time for days. I lost 1 in about 6 months. Clock still works, but it doesn't switch. I have 3 more that is working without a problem. I use the same timer for my geyser after researching it for a day or so and finding out that most don't keep time with loadshedding. Installed it in February and it's so far working just fine and surviving the 4 hour (6 because City Power always trips after switching on again) loadshedding without issues.
March 13, 20215 yr I had the CBI timers for my Pool pump.... replaced a previous one with the same... during the latest load-shedding, it retained the program but not the time... extremely frustrating to have to reset the clock after each power cut.... last one was replaced in Oct 2019 - so less than 18 months. I was advised by an electrician friend to replace the CBIs with the Hellerman TDDGT timer. Cost about R350. Its advertised as having a 3 year battery backup. I certainly hope it works.
June 1, 20233 yr Do anyone knows of a timer that switches even if it is on it's battery backup. My application is to switch a generator on and off . My timer keeps the time and displays the LED but does not triger the contactor either on or off while on battery power.
June 1, 20233 yr 1 hour ago, lancelot said: Do anyone knows of a timer that switches even if it is on it's battery backup. My application is to switch a generator on and off . My timer keeps the time and displays the LED but does not triger the contactor either on or off while on battery power. AFAIK and from what I have seen the timers with battery back up only uses a few button cells. These cells are purely for retaining the time. You can never energize a relay and keep it powered for days if the grid is off. One would not want to set the time on a regular basis. I have a few of the 3 pin socket type that still keeps time after over 4 years. Even when not powered daily they keep the time for more than a week although the display does dim as rechargeable battery discharges. A typical relay used in these timers can use about 1W - 24/7 Why not get the 12V version that can run in the house on a battery. Normal wired unit or Sonoff for 5-32V I think and worked from the APP. Edited June 1, 20233 yr by Scorp007
June 1, 20233 yr I think the mechanical rotary type timers with backup will work as they turn and switch the relay mechanically although I wanted more exact timing, i.e. send signal to switch the generator at shopping center of exactly at 7pm(even if mains are still off). I can not program my generator panel with that function.(Panel only allows to set time during which generator should not start) Normally the timer will be powered by mains but during load shedding it is on its own battery backup. (can't feed timer with both mains and generator power) At the outdoor generator there is no single point that has 220v during both mains and generator power.
June 1, 20233 yr 24 minutes ago, lancelot said: I think the mechanical rotary type timers with backup will work as they turn and switch the relay mechanically although I wanted more exact timing, i.e. send signal to switch the generator at shopping center of exactly at 7pm(even if mains are still off). I can not program my generator panel with that function.(Panel only allows to set time during which generator should not start) Normally the timer will be powered by mains but during load shedding it is on its own battery backup. (can't feed timer with both mains and generator power) At the outdoor generator there is no single point that has 220v during both mains and generator power. Mechanical timers dont have battery reserve power. Can this not work. It has all the settings of the normal 3 pin plug type timers. Works from 12V and here you have the gen starter battery to supply it 24/7. Edited June 1, 20233 yr by Scorp007
June 1, 20233 yr Great idea thx. Kinda forgot about those starter batteries. What are they called? Hope they can do 24v.
June 1, 20233 yr 1 hour ago, lancelot said: Great idea thx. Kinda forgot about those starter batteries. What are they called? Hope they can do 24v. Only 12V that I have seen. I thought the genny would have 2x12V batteries. 24V single not common. Cannot remember the name. Google for 12V electronic timer or look on the electromann web site. Also some on bobshop. Edited June 1, 20233 yr by Scorp007
June 11, 20233 yr Can manually switch it off and then set the timer to switch back on at a specific time. I assume it’s the Astute Wi-Fi timer. Edited June 11, 20233 yr by ZaydS
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