Intermatic EJ500C Flush Mount Programmable 24 Hour Timer

Intermatic EJ500C Flush Mount Programmable 24 Hour Timer
Recently purchased this Item to rplace a similiar one that finally died.
Only difficulty is it requires a switch cover plate that is different from the original unit.
Although closely resembles the repaced item I should have checked further

I bought this timer to replace the former model that broke very fast since it seemed to be an actual cheap switch. This one is all digital so there are no moving parts to break. It is also all automatic sunup to sundown and you don't even have to adjust it for daylight savings time.
The one drawback is that you cannot use those money saving compact fluorescent bulbs with them.

This timer works great once you have set up time, and on/off schedule.

I have it replace a basic switch with 2 wires, and it only took about 2 minutes to swap it out. It did take a while to figure out the programming at first, but it's a breeze now.

Once you set it to manual mode, it turns back into switch mode. Just put the big button to turn things on and off.

I have had this product for several years and I too have experienced problems with using it with CFC. At first it was a bit concerning when the CFC would flash when the switch was off. I also found that if at least one of the lights in the circuit was not CFC then everything was okay. I thought about it for a minute and realized that the issue depended upon which way power was provided to the lights. If the power was through the switch, then you would not see any issues with using just CFCs, but if the power comes through the light first (which is legal - ie. Code) then you would see some problems.

The only complaint I have is that with the change in when daylight savings starts now, there was no way to update the unit to know that.

Have had this unit for two years with 15 watt porch light no problem whatsover, Will not work with cfl. Never have to reset. i LOVE THE AUTOMATIC SEASON FEATURE.
Cons: difficult to program. Instructions puzzling. NO CFL ALLOWED