GE in-Wall Motion Sensor Light Switch, Motion Sensor Light Indoor Switch, Occupancy & Vacancy Options, Single Pole, 150 Degree 30ft Detection Zone, Custom Timer, 11927

This review is for GE SunSmart Digital in-Wall Timer 32787. Easy to install. Make sure your electrical box has a neutral wire before ordering. Installed this to control our front porch light. The light has a photocell in it but is in an area that gets little sunlight especially on cloudy days, so it sometimes stays on all day. This switch solved that problem. We live in the Pacific Northwest so have very long dusk and dawn. Dusk and dawn don't really describe when the light should be turned on and off. It should be sunrise and sunset which would better describe when the light should cycle. Set ours to turn on 5 minutes before sunset and turn off 5 minutes after sunrise. Just Google to find when sunset and sunrise times are in your area. FYI, dusk and dawn times are not the same as sunset and sunrise times. Not sure why all the complaints about programming. I had no issues at all programming the switch following the instructions provided. To avoid frustration, make sure to read and understand the instruction before installing, setting up and programming the switch. The instructions are actually very well written. I found it was easy too setup and program. There is one major error in the instructions which could be confusing. Right above "A. Programming the ON/OFF days" it states "Setting the dawn/dusk region (zone):". This line should not be there and describes the previous step. Main thing is, don't confuse the "PRG" button with the "SET" button. The "SET" button is only used for initial setup of Time, Year, Month, Day, DST (on/off), Zone, Dusk (time), Dawn (time) and to select and set to memory settings in the programing steps. For programming there are 7 "PRG" that can be used. I only used "PRG 1" since all I want is to turn the light on and off at sunset and sunrise and nothing more. Press "PRG" until the PRG number you want to use is displayed and then press "SET". Now select the days using the arrow keys. There are 6 preprogrammed to use or also individual days. I used the one that displayed "MO, TU, WE, TH, FR, SA, SU", and pressed "SET" too select it. Then using the arrow key to scroll to "DUSK" for the on time and press "Set" which than goes to the off time. Then using the arrow key scroll to "DAWN" and pressed "SET". That's it, programming completed. It may be a good idea to make sure PRG 2-7 are empty of all settings if you do the same type of setup as I did. Found it was easy to program the switch on the workbench before actually installing it in the electrical box. The back light does not turn on if not installed but the LCD screen is still easy to read. Also, the instruction sheet that comes with the switch requires a microscope to read. Googled the part number and found the online PDF instruction sheet. It too has pretty small print. Used my computer and zoomed in on the pages needed, took screen shots and printed them so they could be read clearly during setup and programming.

Truly a "set it and forget it" device. I have tried quite a few different sunup, sundown type switches over the last 40 years. This one represents true evolution of the products! Easy to install and set up, if you have any electrical ability. The instructions are clear. Once it is set up it takes over. Using a microprocessor to automatically adjust itself for dusk and down, this thing works great! It as automatically adjusted for the changes in daylight hours based on location. In a power outages it holds its settings. I have had it now for several months. It adjusts perfectly and I have not touched it again. Perfect.

Other reviews were correct that the instructions are very difficult to follow and could be much easier to understand, especially programming the on/off times. Other than that the switch works as it should and is much less expensive than the Intermatic ST01 switch I've used in the past, which does the same thing. I would recommend not buying this from Amazon as a "Used - Very Good." The one I received was in its original package which was pretty beat up and taped together. The packaging was not a big deal, but it did not include the instructions so I had to go online to view them. Buying a new one would probably be worth the few extra dollars.

For my application, my box already had the white neutral wire inside the box so the installation is really easy. Take out your old switch, plug in the provided white extension wire to your new plug and put the two black wires that were on the old switch onto the new programmable switch. Seriously that is all you need to do in the wiring department. Programming is really easy set the time and various other things and its done. Set the on off time for me it was only one program on at dusk off at dawn. For my application, this was perfect. When setting the sunrise sunset times, I adjusted mine 27 minutes before the actual sunrise and 27 minutes after the actual sunset; I looked it up on a sunrise-sunset.org to see what the true dusk time was and for my area its about 27+ and - minutes and set my sunrise sunset to first light and last light actual time. This gives me true dusk to dawn timer. If you notice in the description, it says you can move the sunrise sunset times by 2 hours and this gave me exactly what I wanted. This also gives the appearance of someone turning on the lights as they don't come on when it starts getting a tiny bit dark and vary day to day; unless your bugler knows what the last light of the day is he'll, never know it was a timer. They come on when its last light and car lights wont turn off my outdoor lights. They also go off before the day starts so they're never on during daylight unless I turned them on. There are no other systems I know of that can set the lights on off at dusk dawn, this is the only one I know that can do it. Not even my computer goes off dusk to dawn just sunrise sunset. This switch also has a glow but it only works when you touch a function and it only stays on a minute or so. It'd be nice if the back light stayed on all the time or a setting to make it stay on all the time. It probably doesn't stay on to keep it from wearing out the light source. Its really nice though you can hit the switch and it turns on the lights and hit it again and it turns them off. There are other timer function but the super simple on off is great. The switch did require some some squeezing to get into my box but it fit.

My husband is a smart man. He graduated from a top medical school, attended a top residency, has a fellowship under his belt, and taught in a top 5 residency program for over thirty years for a tip top medical center. He is also a computer and electronics geek. In addition to his encyclopedic mind. He is wicked smart and a great problem solver. He has easily spent ten hours attempting to program this beast and cannot get it to turn on when programmed to. He has read all the instructions and watched all the videos multiple times. It will turn off when programmed to if we turn it on, but it will not turn on by itself. This is particularly frustrating in light of that we had the major competitor's brand previously, he programmed it, and it worked phenomenally well. (I think I switched brands due to the 'Amazon's Choice' recommendation - won't be listening to that again. The other national brand is rated higher.) In addition, our professional handy man cannot get these GE SunSmart Digital Timers to work. He has installed a half dozen in homes he works at and cannot get them programmed to work himself. However many hours he has tried. He also has spent infinite hours reading the instructions and watching the videos. I would have returned it however we missed the return window because installing it was not so easy in our older home. We had to replace the electric box in the wall it installs into with a deeper box. That just took some time, would have needed to do that with either model. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS GE SunSmart Digital Timer PRODUCT. Please purchase the other major brand. It's very sweet and and works well. We never had any issues with it for the seven or eight years, or longer, that we lived with it.

My timers have been installed now for a week. So far they are operating as programmed. Now for the good and bad. The 7 day programming I think is overkill and in my opinion not to many people will need it. I programmed mine to come on and off at certain times for everyday. I try to keep it simple. Yes, as some people have said programming it is a time consuming process. You have to push many buttons to get it programmed. It’s harder than most digital timers I have owned. Now wiring can be an easy process or in my case I had to hire an electrician to fix my mistake. I have a 3 switch box with a 3 way switch, regular light switch and a single pole switch. The 3 way and single pole switch operates outside lights. The regular switch operates an outlet in the foyer. This is one thing I really don’t like. The access door that drops down exposes all the programming buttons. Inside the access door has a little nib that when you press in the door it presses against the manual override button to either turn the lights on or off. It is a feature that you probably won’t use but you have to be careful when done programming you don’t close the door too far or you will operate the light unintentionally. Overall I’m happy with the timers. I can’t vouch for how long they will last, time will tell. Finally I didn’t go for programming the dusk/dawn. feature. I’m a control freak and like to turn on/off my lights myself. One last thing. The timer had no wires coming out of it. The existing wires in the box get pushed in the back and are secured by side screws. You don’t attach wires to the side screws. Don’t unscrew those screws too far or you won’t get them back in.

This was very easy to install and since I can program the time zone, this Dusk to Dawn operation will be perfect year round. I had 5 of them that replaced light switches and I set Program 1 to go ON at Dusk and OFF at Dawn, and they all came on within 20 seconds of each other, sot this was a great setup and much cheaper than attempting to merge all 5 areas onto a photocell to turn them on at the same time. I was glad that the wiring locations were labeled on the timer, so was easier to properly install them. And placing the wires into a whole and tightening them worked well and was much simpler than screwing a turned wire onto the switch and this worked with the ground as well, which is typically required to be screwed onto the switch, so this again simplified things. I also tested the programming by turning off the breaker feeding it and when it came back on, it retained the Date and Time and the Program still existing, so a power outage will not negatively impact these timers. Very happy with them and a reasonable price.

Great timer, the backlit display is a big positive bc I can actually see it without my glasses. Easier to YouTube how to set it up than to try to read the instructions, took me about five minutes. Once you get the interface it’s pretty easy. Dusk til dawn feature is convenient- we haven’t touched the unit in over six months and it works great.