I have installed a GE (Jasco) 24-Hour Timer 15070 for my outdoor floodlights as a replacement for my wall flip switch. I can still only turn lights off and on manually, as the timer's 24-hour clock-like dial is not moving, but its manual switches do operate. There are only three wires involved; black, red and white (neutral). What installation error could I possibly be making? I've done two separate installations and they both are doing the same thing. :mad:

Thanks in advance for any insight.

I had exactly the ame problem. I'm no expert, but I've installed countless ceiling fans, wall outlets, photo sensors & timers. That's why tomorrow I'm going to buy their digital version, so that I can actually see the time changing. What's weird is that the lights do respond to the manual on/off, just as they do for you. I did just as the intructions say, set it for the time & then flipped the pins in/out to trigger the lights. I put it on timer & the lights never came on when they should, later I was told that they came on (much later) & then stayed on much later. It's almost like the timer is moving very slow (not enough voltage). I know on this circuit their previous timer had worked for years, but then was having problems keeping time. We suspected that the old timer was garbage because it was pretty severely beaten up. The pity is that I installed it elsewhere & now have to take another road trip (didn't have enough time to stick around after my initial install) to fix the situation. It's no biggie, but I'm glad I'm not alone. It really leaves you saying, "Dude, I'm not an idiot. This thing should be so basic." And what I wanted was something that people could easily manipulate; something that was a no-brainer. Well, now they're going to have a digital one & I'll be able to KNOW I've installed it correctly & it's working. Sorry I couldn't help, but you helped me in knowing that I'm not alone. Hey, at least the thing doesn't spontaneously combust.

I just picked up and installed the 15070 for exterior lights and had the same problem.
That said, I've got a very old house with an ungrounded wiring system. I only HAD 2 wires in the receptacle to hook up to. After determining which one was hot (they're both wrapped in black cloth) and making that connection, I tried hooking up the white (neutral) wire to the remaining wire in the receptacle, which didn't result in anything working. That left the red (load) wire. I've hooked up a lot of timers and other electrical devices (I got tired of every Intermatic timer I installed crapping out after a year or two, which is why I tried the basic GE model) - and I've never run across this "load" nomenclature. I hooked up the load (red) wire, and the lights operated.
I had to cap the white neutral wire coming out of the timer, since there was no other wire for me to hook it up to. I don't know whether I should try to attach it WITH the load wire to the neutral - but right now, the timer's working only as a manual switch - not as a timer.

I just purchased and installed the 15070 and had the same problem. It works manually, but the timer function does not work

Take off the white cover and see if the timer works. The white cover was rubbing against the timer keeping it from working

That timer requires a neutral to work. Unfortunately very often there isn't a neutral wire available in a switch leg.

Just purchased the same timer and here is my problem. The timer works and when I place my ear next to it, I can hear it running. It will turn the lights on but then the timer stops working and will not turn the lights off. Put my ear next to it and can't hear it running. It's almost like it doesn't have enough power to turn past the "pushed out" tabs.

If you are using flourescents they may not work.
Verify line and load wire.

To the guy with two wires in the switch box: The clock motor requires a complete circuit to run -this type of timer will never work for you, You're probably stuck with one of the two-wire timers that pull a little current from the circuit it's controlling (like a lighted switch). I think all of the intermatic digital in-wall timers work without a neutral.
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About the correctly installed timers not working: Jaco products are junk! I have had to go back and replace at least a dozen jasco digital timers (OEM GE brand) because of intermittent reset problems, so I started using Woods/Coleman Cable #59018 and now THEY are using the Jasco POS timer (must be the cheapest)! Next stop is Lowe's, I believe they sell the timer I'm looking for: It has a white lighted on/off button on the front and the door swings downward rather than up from the bottom. It also has a lighter metal mounting bracket that can be easily bent to install in steel exposed-work boxes (I had to cut the Jasco to fit).
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Upon internal inspection of both models, the Jasco has a spot on the main circuit board for an MOV surge protector but it was EMPTY. The other, better design has TWO MOV's, one between hot & ground & another between neutral & ground -Much better protection against noise and voltage fluctuations. Another test: flipping the breaker on/off over and over to simulate noise. Jasco resets EVERY TIME. Other timer never reset, in fct I couldn't cause it to reset under any condition (maybe if I remove the 12-cent MOV like Jaco did to cut costs).
Just goes to prove that Jasco will market a defective product to cut costs. It seems to be working for them since Coleman went with their product to replace one that performed flawlessly!
Dan Weddle www.dxsoundco.com -manufacturer of custom lighting control panels for horticulture.

I had the same problem. I only had 2 wires to connect to in my electrical box, and lights turned on and off, but the timer wouldn't work. I had capped off the white neutral wire, because I didn't have a ground wire to connect it to. I discovered that this timer (ge basic 15070) needs the white wire to be grounded in order to operate. I ended up wrapping white wire around the screw of the electrical box in the wall (the home depot guy told me the eletrical boxes themselves are all grounded). I put my ear next to the timer and it started to tick! I wrapped everything up with black electrical tape and closed up shop.

Good morning Mom,

To begin with, the fellow at Home Depot is a moron!

Not all boxes are grounded. To begin with, if you are using a "Old work box" (Blue plastic boxes) cannot be grounded.

To be a grounded box, then two things have to happen. (1) the box must be connected to the bare ground wire from the panel.

(2) If the electrical box is metal and connected to the panel box by metallic conduit (EMT).

As to you problem, switches do not normally require a "Neutral" connection. Switches are used to interrupt the "Hot" conductor by opening and reconnecting the circuit. This is especially true for switches that are part of a "Switch Loop".

For example, the supply for the fixture, comes into the ceiling. From there a switch loop (usually a run of non metallic cable) is made to redirect the supply voltage to the switch and then back to the fixture.

According to the NEC, you connect the white conductor < going to the switch> to the black supply conductor. Then you wrap black tape or paint the white conductor black to signify that this conductor is being retasked and is now carrying a Hot circuit.

The black conductor from the loop cable will be the return from the switch. It is connected to the fixture.

At the wall switch, again paint or tape the white conductor to black and connect it to the bottom (my preference) of the switch. The black conductor goes to the top screw.

No neutral is used. Neutral is also known as the "Grounded Conductor". It has this definition because the Neutral is actually grounded back at the power company.

There is another way to do this. Instead of using a switch loop, you would use a three wire (Black - Red - White - Bare Ground) cable to connect at the ceiling cable and bring the complete circuit over to the switch. In this method, the white and black are connected to the white and black (individually) to the supply circuit. Ground would go to ground. At the ceiling, the red is connected to the fixture. White is connected to all of the whites in the ceiling.

At the switch, White is connected according to the instructions given. Black is connected to the bottom of the switch (again my preference) and red is connected to the top screw of the switch.

This method brings a complete circuit down to the switch box.

Mominjersy, what you did was wrong, by connecting the white wire from the timer to the grounded metal box.

The timer you have needs a neutral white wire to operate properly.
Many switch boxes do not have a neutral in the box.

What you have done made the timer operate, but you have not connected it properly.

Disconnect that white wire from the metal box. Either find a timer that does not need a neutral, or do without a timer.

If you must have a timer, and the timer you have must have a neutral, then you need to cal lin an electrician to have it wired properly.

Thank you Mominjersey!! I did the same thing you described and I have BOTH the lights working and the timer working. Hooray!!
Also, I noticed that if you ask for the timer to turn on/off at a certain hour, it dependably turns on/off one hour later. So if you want on at 7pm, push out the 6pm pin, etc.
Thanks again!

I have had an identical problem as the comment above in the older house with two black wires wrapped in cloth (old knob and tube wiring). I have had other timers on this circuit, always Intermatic. However as someone else mentioned, I got tired of changing out the timer every year or so. So I replaced the last Intrmatic with a GE digital timer switch marked "CFL ready". Well, it certainly wasn't. I got the switch wired up, the digital clock ran and the light blinked at a nice steady on and off cycle, about once a second. Took that back and got the basic model. Timer is not running and I have configured the wiring in every conceivable manner and nothing works. It goes back tomorrow for a refund and my search will continue. Probably over to Lowe's to se what they have HD only carries this junk. Am going to try attaching the neutral to the switch box but am not holding my breath...

AHEM... the neutral is a neutral, the ground is a ground. They are not interchangeable. Using the ground as the path to complete the circuit is never safe, and in some circumstances a life threatening mistake... pay attention to the advice given here by the experts.

I guess the answer is DON'T BUY GE

We had the same problem with our timer using it to turn on/off the pool light. I just re-wired it and attached the white wire to the ground wire in the box, (if you have one). The dial is turning but I think the biggest issue was that we did not have the time "legs" applied correctly. We had one leg out for when we wanted the light turned on and one leg out for when we wanted the light to turn off. The installation instructions said to then put out all the legs in between. It works now. If you want the light to turn on at 8pm pull out that leg, if you want the light off at 1am pull out that leg AND then pull out ALL the legs between 8pm and 1am.