Having the ability to turn your lights on and off at predetermined times can be really useful for a variety of reasons. But wiring your house for X10 and other home automation equipment can be pricy and time consuming. A simple alternative is this Automatic Wall Switch Timer which fits right over a standard wall switch plate and allows you to program up to 9 separate settings per 24 hour period (a total of 63 on/off settings per week). The switch is powered by 2 AA batteries and doesn’t require any wiring modifications or plate removal. The Automatic Wall Switch Timer is priced at $34.99 and is available from Skymall.
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I like it. Currently renting so can’t and don’t really want to wire up anything permanent.
Looks good, but we do not have those types of switches in our house, we have a more slimline switches.
I think you’re confused about X-10. The beauty of it is that it works through the power lines. Just like the kind of device you review here.
@Bob Y you’re absolutely right, I shouldn’t have used X10 as example in this news post. I’ve played around with X10 in the past, so I do know that it doesn’t require hard wiring. I guess all my synapses weren’t firing when I was writing that…
Julie:
It’s understandable that you would have forgotten about X10. After giving them my email address 15 years ago, I spend every waking moment trying to forget them.