Honeywell RPLS540A ECONOSwitch Programmable Timer Switch, White (Requires 40 W Minimum), 1.5"D x 1.69"W x 4.06"H

I purchased two of these becuase I wanted a matching pair to go in place of existing toggle switches on both sides of my front door -- one operates a single pole light switch to the lights outside the front door, and the other operates a 3-way to the lights outside of my large garage door. I chose thise model after calling Honeywell for their advice, because it works with EITHER a single pole or a 3-way. They look great installed. The small display is backlit (blue light) all the time--so it is easy to see in day or night. The time of day and the program settings are displayed all the time. It looks attractive and modern on my walls. The blue backlight is not disturbing--it is just right. There are numerous pre-programmed settings to choose from to operate your lights, and I love the one where you select your city, so that the timer comes on dusk (and goes off at 11pm) every night even as the days get longer/shorter without me having to reset the timer. I had no trouble installing the first timer as a single pole switch. One bit of caution though---I live in a relatively new house, but I found that for my 3way switch to the garage lights, my house electrical wiring is not consistent with the installation instructions for this timer. With my brother's help over the phone (he is a licensed electrician), I tried a couple of different configurations, but could not get it just right. Until he comes over at the next holiday to correct this, here is what I have: My garage lights should be operated by both this timer switch located by my front doors, and a regular toggle switch which located inside the garage. However, the garage toggle switch must always be in the "up" position for this timer to receive power and thus to operate. If I move the garage toggle switch to the"down" position, the power to this timer switch is then totally cut off and it does not operate. I temporarily placed a piece of tape over the garage toggle switch in the "up" position to make sure nobody moves it to the "down" position. The timer works fine in the meantime, but at some point I do need to get this corrected. By the way, before I purchsaed these timers, when I was on the phone with Honeywell asking them which product would operate with both a single pole or a 3 way, they offered that once I received the timers and was intalling them, to phone them if I needed any installation help. I never did call them during installation, but I did appreciate the offer.

I have been freed from one more time wasting task. I have 3 lights on the front of my house, 2 by the garage and one over my front door. The garage lights and the front door lights were on different switches (which I found pretty annoying). The front door light was hooked up to one switch but the garage lights were hooked up to separate 3-way switch. My goal was to combine all of my lights on this magical automatic switch. :) The ECONOSwitch came with very good instructions with several diagrams of how it could be installed. I had more trouble figuring out my own home wiring than the switch. You do need to know some basics about electrical wiring to install this thing. A multi-tester is very helpful in identifying wires for 3-way installations. *yes, I said 3-way. Also you should make sure the power is completely off when installing it as it could damage the switch. Programming wasn't too difficult, I set in my coordinates, and it was rolling in no time. The first night it didn't turn off properly because I had turned it on manually. The next night, I didn't touch it that day and it worked perfectly. It turns on at sundown and off at sunrise. Like I said, magic. The LCD screen was darker in the two top corners like there was extra pressure in that area from the manufacturing process but it was mild and hardly noticeable. Seriously, it's not a TV screen. You don't watch it. You set it and forget it. Who cares? I am wondering if I will need to reprogram it if the power goes out. I will update later once that happens. Now that it's installed. I love it. Yes, I want to marry it too. Yes, that much. I walk by it now and see the little blue light telling me that the lights are on and I just smile. Okay, sometimes a fist-pump and a let out a "Yessss!" too, but that's revealing what a geek I am. One less thing to worry about in my day. One less thing to do. Thanks ECONOSwitch! Oh, by the way... I have 2 - 60 watt equivalent CFL bulbs and 1 - 60 watt incandescent bulb on the switch. Haven't experienced any problems. Also, the LCD has a backlight setting that you can adjust. The device can double as a night-light. So cool when technology works the way it's supposed to. I may put more of these around the house as it has a setting to randomly turn lights on and off when you are on vacation. Good fun! I'm picturing a disco light flashing setting even though I know that's not what it does. I guess I just have a very active imagination. I don't think you can go wrong with this switch as long as you have more than 40 watts connected to it (said in instructions). It's a bit pricey for for a switch but if you add up how many minutes in your life you spent turning your outside lights on and off, wondering if you did or didn't, and calculated you hourly pay rate, I think you'd find that it's worth it. Just my 2 cents. 12-27-2013 UPDATE - now that I've had the switch for few months, I thought I'd add a little more info about the experience. I'm since using 3 CFL bulbs now (no incandescent bulbs). Everything still works fine and I stand by my initial review but I've had one of the problems mentioned by other customers. The illumination on the switch started pulsing. At first, I thought it was due to electrical line noise when my air conditioner/heater was running. Sadly, it seems to consistently happen regardless of any other outside influences. I really did like the night-light function but the pulsing effect was just too annoying. I know that I could probably contact the manufacturer and they might send me a replacement but frankly, it's not worth it at this point. Plus I don't want to uninstall/re-install the thing. I didn't buy it for the night-light and have since disabled it to avoid the pulsing effect. I'm not removing a star for this because I really don't know what's causing it. I'm still happy with the purchase. I turns my lights on and off so I don't have to. That's what I wanted.

While this is the only timer I have ever purchased/installed/used...I can honestly say that this is a relatively inexpensive, easy, and functional home improvement project. I have two of these. One is installed to control the exterior lights out front of my garage, while the other is installed to control the light outside the front door. They both turn on at sunset...with the front door light turning off at 830pm...and the lights outside the garage turning off at 11pm. While as others have noted, the setup and use of the unit is pretty easy...the installation can be a little difficult depending on the depth of the electrical boxes installed in your home, along with how much wiring is already in there. The Honeywell switch is much deeper and wider than the standard light switch, so you MAY have difficulty getting it to fit into the electrical box. I installed the the one in my garage first, which is a triple-gang box. The fit was pretty tight...but I was able to squeeze it in there by man-handling some of the wiring that was already in there. When I went to install the one controlling my front door lights, however, which was in a double-gang...I simply couldn't get it to fit, despite a liberal dose of cussing. After some research, however, I ordered an Arlington BES2 Gang Extender, which expands the box outwards by ~3/4 of an inch. Installation was MUCH easier with that additional space. I am uploading a picture of my timer with the BES2 installed for reference. As of right now, unfortunately, the BES2 is not available on Amazon. I purchased mine through Safemart for about $10. Also be aware that you'll likely need a new wallplate to install this timer. You'll need one that will have the same number of gangs that you're desired install site has...and can fit a GFCI sized component. For my two-gang install, I used a Leviton 80405-W 2-Gang 1-Toggle 1-Decora/GFCI Device Combination Wallplate, Standard Size, Thermoset, Device Mount, White

I installed this switch to control 4 x BR30 LED lights and so far it is working great (about one week). The switch has a lot of features packed into a compact unit and it looks really good in an existing installation. I installed it into an existing 4-gang old work receptable (blue) and there was enough room with all the existing wiring. When I turn lights off manually the display on the switch flickers for ~3 seconds then stops. I don't know if this is a problem with LED lights or just normal. I suppose there might be issues with burning out bulbs, or the switch, in the future. Time will tell but for now everything is working perfectly. I haven't seen any flickering or visible light from the bulbs when the lights are off. Installation was easy once I ignored the wiring diagrams in the instructions. A search for 'install Honeywell RPLS540A' produced some educational forum posts. Definitely recommended if you aren't sure like me. Setup can be a bit confusing. If you have ever programmed a Casio watch it will seem familiar. Don't lose the instructions. The reason for the four-star review is because of the misleading diagrams and generally poorly written manuals.

I just got off the phone with Honeywell trying to get a replacement for this switch which was purchased less than 8 months ago. The switch worked perfectly for 8 months and stopped. After 30+ minutes of answering all of the trouble shooting questions (how it was wired, approximate load, voltage, whether I placed another switch in service to verify it worked (yes, I did and it did)) from my phone at work (I was not at home next to the switch), the questions keep getting more and more detailed until I finally could not answer one. I even asked if I needed to send in my switch and they could decide if it was bad. At this point, I was told that there was no way to move forward in the claim without answering all of the questions. It this point I said it is clear that they have no intention to honoring the warranty. I am a reasonable person, but after 30 minutes of interrogation answering electrician level questuons, I asked if they would prefer that I write a negative review on Amazon. He repeated that without answering all the questions, there was nothing he could do. I asked again if this is how he wanted to end the call. He placed me on hold to speak to his "resources" and returned to give me the same message as before. So here I am writing my review of Honeywell's terrible customer support and joke of a warranty. Buy at your own risk.

I have installed many of these timers in the past and found this one to be excellent. Here is what I love and what I dislike. 1. Just two wires need, the load and the line. The line wire connects to the hot lead (usually Black) and the load goes back to the light (usually white). I had no ground so the green wire was not used and not a three way connection but the yellow, which is normally used for a three way switch, is connected to the line(hot) side when in a single switch configuration. This is important as many of the timers also require a connection to a neutral wire. Or the timers that don't need that third wire connections need a battery. Batteries require replacement. 2. When programming the display remains in that option until you decide to proceed. Lots of time to review the options and what that option does. 3. The display has a back light so you can easily see it. Two levels of intensity or off, so somewhat of a nightlight. 4. When timer program is activated there is a small blue led that indicates its operational 5. Even though packaging indicates it needs to connect to a 40 watt load (lights) I have it operating with three 7 watt LED lights. What I did notice is, when the switch is in the off position, certain LED lights stayed on with appears to be half power. Corrected by trying different LED lights. Then lights were totally off. 6. Programming has four different sections so no need to go through all of the programming to correct one area. 7. Unit has an option for DST (daylight savings time) or not (DST not used in Arizona or Hawaii) 8. Can be set for selected times or on at sunset and off at sunrise by add your cities latitudes or longitude which the paperwork provides. Also once you add the Latitude and Longitude you can see sun rise and sun set times, for that day, by pressing the small buttons above the on / off button. Don't like 1. The unit has so many options programming can be confusing but no rush in reviewing as it stays in that mode until you are finished, 2. Would like to see these units stick out a bit more from the outlet panel rather than into the box they are installed. The box is usually full of wires and has a lack of space. So make sure you keep the instructions if they are needed in the future. I would buy this unit again as it works great, I like the backlight for the display and the led that comes on when its activated. I think the model RPLS740B(white) or RPLS741B (almond) might be a better choice if you are using LED or CFL's. They do not have a minimum wattage requirement but might need that third wire connection. I didn't find these until recently.

Ordered in 2011, apparent failure in 2025 Switch began exhibiting anomalous behavior in the week prior to 6/29/2025 Contacted Honeywell support chat for RPLS540A dated 06292025 CONSUMER re-establishing prior chat I have a RPLS540A astronometric switch which is exhibiting failure a) drops date and time repeatedly while retaining programs b) Lights controlled by (switch) flash repeatedly when switch in undated mode is manually activated. flashing appears to be an error mode alert and stops after a period of time that I have not measures, more than a minute, less than 10 Switch has been installed for about 11 years with no issues current load is 2 20W LEDS (bulbs), meeting min load of 40W. Please advise. Appears to me to be an internal battery failure. No consumer facing documentation addresses anything like this and no internal battery is documented in consumer manual please advise. AGENT Thank you for contacting Resideo Honeywell Home, my name is *****. I would be more than happy to assist you with this! We don't have anything related to that in our manual since this is not supposed to happen. At this point, we would like to determine if the switch is no longer working properly and needs to be replaced or if something is going on with the power, which is causing the switch to lose the time and date, and also have this issue with your lights. Since this is high voltage, we don't suggest or assist our customers on how to check the voltage. However, we would like to check the voltage and amperage behind the switch to see if it's correct or not. We suggest working with a local contractor in order to do this. voltage etc is standard North American household, swapping in other smart and dumb switches results in proper operation of other smart and dumb switches. No contractor will be engaged unless it is at Honeywell expense. AGENT If you have verified that your current voltage and amperage are working, then you need to replace the switch. CONSUMER and switch is long out of warranty, yes? AGENT I apologize, we do not work with any contractors; we are only technical support for the manufacturer. Yes, it is out of the warranty now. CONSUMER Thank you. A transcipt of this chat will be posted on the Amazon listing for the product. Have a nice day.

1.5 year update: After having used 2 CFL bulbs with this for over a year the screen started doing the "strobe" that many others have mentioned. Switched to 2 incandescent bulbs and all is well. Still a great switch/timer and I can't fault it for not working as it clearly states it won't. With Edison style designer bulbs on the market there'll never be an issue with sourcing standard bulbs. Too bad those of us without the fancy neutral wire in our switch boxes can't use the upgraded Honeywell that works with CFL and LED bulbs but this is a fine alternative. Original review below: This timer is the perfect solution to those outdoor lights that you want to turn on and off every day at a certain time. After years of being sick and tired of seeing my garage lights on in the middle of the day due to the solar sensor sitting in the shade I decided to bite the bullet and buy this pricey switch. Wiring is straight forward and just like any other switch. Unfortunately, the depth of this switch caused some issues. As others have noted, in an electrical box for two switches, the wiring and wire nuts make it a very tight fit. But, just through making several adjustments to the placement of the wires I was eventually able to get it to sit (fairly) straight. Programing is also pretty simple with lots of options. Setting the timer to do different things on different days is a breeze with 7 programmable timers. The automatic program for turning on at Sundown and turning off at Sunrise is perfect for outdoor lights. It's also worth mentioning that it has a clever way to find out when the Sun has set; it uses your longitude and latitude (that you program in with a provided chart of large cities). When using these settings the time it turns on and off is automatically updated throughout the year.