slo’s WEDNESDAY 12/3 poll - Timers For Lights

[HopperFan]

Always had timers, just hate a dark house. We are 1-3. We used to have outdoor lights on time at Christmas but I used to worry about them on while we were gone so now I have a remote I can click to turn them on.

One timer is on a 6 ft slim "holiday" tree in my dining room in window facing street. Right now it is Christmas, then it will be Mardi Gras, then Easter, then Garden theme, then Halloween .... And if there is a special event like our Coronation Party, it was decorated for that.

Now DS#2 is all a smart house. I was at his place the other day (he was on a long trip and wanted it to have appearance of someone there) I had to tell it to turn on the lights .... and it did but not before telling me it didn't know my voice. I don't even have my phone spy turned on so not my thing.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

We don't use timers. I just plug everything in whenever I get home. And when it's time to go to bed, I just walk outside and unplug everything. Just easier. Heck, I wouldn't even know how to hook up a timer or set it or anything.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We have a lighting program on one of our small laptops that controls most of the outdoor (Christmas) lights. And a basic timer to turn on/off about 1/3 of the outdoor lights during the program (they stay on all the time during the performance time).

We used to have 4 timers on our indoor, regular, house lights for when we travel, but we have people living in our house when we're gone now, so no need for them.

 

[tvguy]

We only use a timer on the exterior Christmas lights, just one.
Maybe a spinoff question could be, do you have night lights in your house?
I have 11 LED night lights. Every room except the master bedroom has one (the one in the master bath makes one in the actual bedroom unnecessary). And there are three in the garage.....one on each of the three walls.

 

[Diznygrl]

I don't have any outside Christmas lights so no real need for one. My Christmas tree is plugged into the outlet that is controlled by the wall switch, so just turn on and off like a regular light. My Christmas village is all connected to one foot switch so not that big of a deal to turn on and off.

I do have some decorative pieces that run on alkaline batteries so they all have to be turned on individually, which is annoying. Those things I don't turn on every night.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The only timers we use are for the outdoor lights both for Halloween and for Christmas.

For the Christmas tree we use foot pedal which is connected to the lighted garland around the staircase to upstairs. I had a smaller tree I'd put by the front door that also was hooked up with a foot pedal but the lights stopped working 2 yrs ago so I don't plug it in anymore.

That said we do use a smart outlet plug for the lamp in the great room and the lamp in the bedroom. Both are controlled via Alexa. We have pendant lights over our island in the kitchen as smart bulbs also controlled by Alexa but those haven't really worked well so the rare times we use the lights over the island we just flip the switch.

You can use your Echo device as a timer for things plugged into the smart outlets but we haven't done that yet.

 

[amcnj]

No timers here. But any exterior holiday decorations all get plugged into a three plug “remote control outlet”. It gets turned on and off by a small battery powered remote kept inside the house.

I have had it for decades and it seemed pretty sophisticated at the time. Now my kids are running their things via smart outlets and their phones. As usual, I am technologically obsolete.

 

[clappyclaps]

I'm presuming by timer we can include lights that are on automated routines/programmes? Effectively electronic/technological timers?

If yes, I have a lamp in my lounge and my kitchen unit lighting that are set on pre-defined routines all year round.

At Christmas time I have around half a dozen types of Christmas lights indoor and outdoor that all have various timers built into them to come on in the evenings.