Problem wiring new timer switch, please help

amg1978

14 years ago

I tried, I am confused and so I am reaching out to you guys who know what your doing, as I obviously don't in this situation.

Near my front door there is a standard light switch which has 2 wires going to it. This light switch controls three lights outside, all go on and off at the same time (the porch light and the two on the side of the garage) when you operate it. There are two wires going in to the switch, both appear black with no white stripe, etc. but the box has lots of paint and on the wires, etc. Inside the box are what appear to be a ton of unshielded copper ground wires bundled together that terminate in a pack. The other two light switches have 3 wires going to them and those are three way switches as I have other areas near my staircase that i can operate and those lights (inside lights and such) which switch.

The switch I bought at Home Depot was this GE Sunsmart digital timer

3-Way Sunsmart In-Wall Digital Timer-15312 at The Home Depot

Here is a link to the wiring guide

http://www.jascoproducts.com/support...al-eng-spn.pdf

There are BLACK, WHITE, BLUE, GREEN and RED wires. The box says for 3-way or single light operation, but I just don't see how I can make this work.

In the picture below the switch on the left with the two wires in it, is the switch that I want to replace with this GE timer. I have a nice digital multimeter which I can use to check continuity and voltage. I know that I checked and obviously one of the wires going to that switch on the left (the top wire) is 120V so that is LOAD I assume? and the one on the bottom is LINE? What do I do? Do I need a different timer? Can I make this work? Thanks!!

http://www.doityourself.com/forum/electrical-c-d-c/467074-help-wiring-up-timer-switch-single-light.html#ixzz1nkyoaCWo

Here is the link to my wiring so far ,the switch is on the left that i want to remove.

http://www.farturator.com/amg/wiring.JPG

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Comments (5)

Ron Natalie
14 years ago
The green gets connected to the ground wires (those bare ones clipped together int he back.

The white goes to that bunch of white wires already connected by wire nut.

The black wire goes to the mess of black ones in the wire nut (one of which is connected to the switch you are replacing).

The blue wire goes to the other wire connected to the switch you are replacing.
brickeyee
14 years ago
"two wires going in to the switch"

Sounds like a switch loop.

There is no neutral in the box to run a load on.
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Ron Natalie
14 years ago
Checkout the picture at the last link in his first post. The box appears to have power running to it rather than being switch loops.

Here is a link that might be useful:
brickeyee
14 years ago
"The box appears to have power running to it rather than being switch loops."

Link was not working when I tried.

Looks like power is there and NOT just a switch loop.
DrGuitar
14 years ago
If you have the hot coming in on top then it is the line and it continues out on the second black to the load so its not a switch loop youre just switching the hot before it reahes the load which is to be expected...on a switch loop the hot comes into the switch after the load and continues back out after being relabeled white where it pigtails to the second terminal on the load...remember the line comes in thru the switch on black wire to the load then returns to the panel on the white

or it could be coming from the load hot and returning to the other screw on the load after the switch

the timer is single pole