Ratings & Reviews for Utilitech 15 -Amps 120-volt Indoor Programmable Digital Lighting Timer
Ratings may include incentivized customer reviews.
What Customers Are Saying
Customers are divided on this in-wall timer. Many praise its programming flexibility, accurate scheduling, backup battery, and straightforward installation once powered up. However, a substantial group reports frustrating power-up delays—ranging from 15 minutes to several hours—with some units never activating despite correct wiring. Reviewers frequently note instructions fail to mention the charging requirement, creating confusion and distrust. Those who overcome the initial hurdle find the device reliable and energy-efficient, though some experience outright failure or compatibility issues with older wiring setups.
Customer review summary generated by AI, including incentivized reviews.Allow timer several hours to charge
Would RecommendDirections do not say product may not work until several hours after installation. Made 2 trips to Lowe's 15 miles away to return product only to find this out after installing 2 timers. Gas high, time valuable.
Verified Purchaser
bad light timer
does not light up not easy to program i want to give it back but i open it this shouldn't be this hard
Verified Purchaser
cant program and tech support was useless
Would Not Recommend0 for 3 , cant program a sinlge one , first one was broken in the box, the next two power up fine , but cant be programmed and when i called tech support i was told maybe my power was bad, light go on and off but not programable
Eric, we are so sorry that this happened. This is certainly something that we did not expect to occur. We would love to have the opportunity to work ... Read More
be patient - let charge 1st use
Would Recommendinstructions and even tech support in these comments say it can take up to ONE minute to charge after turning power on. it takes much longer than that. NOI returned 2 switches and then finally realized they weren't broken they just needed a long charge time for initial start up. FIX THE INSTRUCTIONS
Joe, thank you for your review. Your honest feedback is the key to helping us improve our product and future customer experiences. If there is anythi... Read More
Better Switch options
Switch would not work on 3way install. Wired as songle pole and had trouble setting program which won't hold
Verified Purchaser
Thank you for your review. Your honest feedback is the key to helping us improve our product and future customer experiences. If there is anything we... Read More
Don’t waste your time and money
Would Not RecommendI was hopeful that this would be the answer to help me have my front lights come on in the evening. I wasn’t as sure about installing it when I got the instructions out so I had my friend that has done a lot more electrical stuff than I do it. It did not work and now I can’t return it because it’s beyond the return time. I’m out a switch hat doesn’t work and $35. Not happy.
Henry, we would love to have the opportunity to work with you directly and help walk you through the troubleshooting steps for this product, so you c... Read More
Patience
Would RecommendFor some reason this switch takes a lot of patience to power up. Took mine eight hours. Very frustrating if you’re trying get working, before it’s completed the power up cycle. But the end result is, it works, and looks great. Definitely a five star product.
Great timer
Would RecommendEasy install and plenty of features.
Verified Purchaser
Good idea
Unable to get it to work however this may not be products fault
Verified Purchaser
Save the directions!
Would RecommendWorks as it should. Make sure you save the directions so you can reprogram it if you lose power.
Verified Purchaser
Don’t bother
Would Not RecommendAs other reviews have stated, I bought one of these 7-day programmable light switches for a very simple, single pole porch light installation, and it never powered up. So I returned it and picked up a second switch just in case the first might have been a one-off defective in the box - same thing with the second switch - it never powered up. Don’t waste your time with this switch! It’s junk!!
Once power is restored at the circuit breaker, the timer takes about one minute to fully charge. The timer will not function until fully charged. A c... Read More
3hrs to "charge up", patience helped
Funny that the 1st one had the terminals mismarked. Still got it wired up right (single pole, nothing fancy) but after 10 minutes of not working figured it was kaput so went and exchanged it. 2nd one was marked correctly. Installed it, waited 10 minutes and still nothing. Went online and saw the reviews where some had to wait several hours for it to "charge up". So found something else to do, came back a few hours later and it had "charged up". Since it's no neutral, the "charge up" time might d...
Timer never powered-up
Would Not RecommendLeft the timer wired for 9 hrs and it never powered up. Removed and replaced rocker switch following same line/load wire arrangement and all is good. There are issues with this timer as evident from other comments.
We are so sorry that this happened. This is certainly something that we did not expect to occur. We would love to have the opportunity to work with y... Read More
Read the instructions and be patient
Would RecommendI've had this switch installed for a couple of months and it works great to keep the exterior lights on at night including across a seasonal time change to come out of daylight savings time. I understand why a lot of reviewers think the switch is DOA. I thought the same thing because nothing seemed to function with it when I first hooked it up. In the install section of the instructions, it said nothing about the switch not working until it was fully charged. That was only stated in the progra...
Either its DOA, Customer Service worst
Would Not RecommendMichael, thank you for your review. Your honest feedback is the key to helping us improve our product and future customer experiences. If there is an... Read More
Junk
Would Not RecommendNever powered up. Wired it both ways like the directions say for single pole.
Verified Pro
Jake, we would love to have the opportunity to work with you directly and help walk you through the troubleshooting steps for this product, so you ca... Read More
Instructions suck; switch is great!
Would RecommendAfter struggling with this thing for a while before I could get it to work, I just HAD to leave a review to hopefully help others. If you follow all the steps to install below it WILL work. I'm super happy with it. You can hear a very quiet little click sound when it turns on/off and I actually really love that! * Verify which wire is hot/line and connect the wires as described on the switch. * You MUST attach the ground screw. In one instance, I do not have a ground wire, but my sy...
Frank, We would love to have the opportunity to work with you directly and help walk you through the troubleshooting steps for this product, so you c... Read More