I have an Intermatic spring wound interval switch. Normally it's used to replace a wall on/off switch, but I thought I could adapt it to an extension cord so we could automatically turn our radio off at night. Not so... when I plug the extension cord into an outlet it shorts out (sparks at the outlet). What am I doing wrong? The radio isn't plugged into the extension cord when this happens. Also, shouldn't the circuit breaker turn off, because it doesn't?

Well, not knowing what timer you used, and not knowing exactly how you wired it, all I could say is that you wired it wrong.

How could you possibly wire an in-wall timer switch to an extension cord? I hope you used a box and the correct fittings for the wire.

Some certain older brands of breakers have a nasty habit of not tripping on a dead short all the time. FPE is one such brand.

Yes, I have it in a junction box. What I did was cut one of the extension cord wires and took those ends and wired them to the 2 terminals on the switch. And like I said before, at this point the radio was not been plugged into the cord's outlet. The timer was turned on thinking the next step would be to plug in the radio and wait for the timer to turn it off.

If the one I think it is,
Connect green to green, white to white, and a black to each terminal on timer.

U replaced an outlet with timer and wired extension to timer?

Then u plug extension into a deferent outlet?

This is what I get from your 2 posts.

Chuck

No I didn't replace outlet with timer. I wired the timer to an extension cord and plugged the extension cord into the outlet.

So you connected the two leads of a cord into a timer switch? If so then you are creating a dead short when the timer closes it's contacts.
From your description I still have no idea how you wired this thing.

We also still do not know what timer you used. Again, that would help to know. :rolleyes:

How about some pics?

A hand drawn schematic is attached to illustrate how I wired the timer to the extension cord.

If u wired it the way it shows, then switch may have a short in it.

U could have bought a plug in timer and run extension cord from it.

Chuck

I want a mechanical timer, not digital. Do you know of any mechancial plug in timers?

That should work, neutral is intact, and no way to touch the hot.
May be at the end/s of the cord.
Try removing wires at switch(power off) and wirenut together, to verify no short in cord.

You would be much better off using a plug in timer, such as the found in the following link, rather than making your own corded device.

PLUG-IN TIMER by Intermatic - More Time controlled switches at doitbest.com

As mentioned, the timer you have may be defective, or there is a poor connection that is shorted.

It's the friggin' Dollar Store extension cord! I didn't want to cut up one of my good extension cords so I went the cheap route. I know this isn't the best way, but even the simpler plug in timers can be complicated. We want a simple device that can be set for 1 hr whenever we decide to turn in which varies from time to time.

OK I see why a plug in timer I offered will not work. I don't think you will find a plug in twist timer that you can chose to start at random times. You have no other choice but to make up your own corded system using the twist timer you have, just use a good cord and make up good connections in a junction box.

Now, if you can use cord clamps to secure the wires in the box, may want both out of the bottom, not 1 out of the top and 1 out of the bottom?then a cover plate, shoud be safe.
If it is a metal box, ground the box.

Thanks to everyone for their help. Electrical issues for me are a challenge, even the simple ones.