NEARPOW Dual Digital Outlet Timer - 2 Independently Controlled Outlets, 18 ON/OFF Programs, 24-Hour & 7-Day Programmable Heavy Duty Electrical Timer Switch (15A/1800W, 3-Prong) - Perfect for Indoor Lighting, Appliances, and Holiday Decorations

Once I understood how this time really worked, my feeling afterwards was, "geesh, this really is a good timer". But it's important to know some key things because the timer's programming, doesn't really support how human's think. It just wants to be programmed and it lets you worry about all those requirements you may have that don't fit. I'm a former IT Systems Engineer, and I had some trouble with it, but my background help me understand how it works a lot easier than some others might. Hopefully by sharing some of the questions I ran into, will help others understand and use the Nearpow more easily and effectively.So my requirements centered around purchasing a timer to turn off and turn on an Internet Router, so that when I wake up the next day, the router's settings will have been refreshed. I also want to save electricity because I don't need my router on when I'm sleeping, and it also reduces the probability of hackers tapping into my network. I want the router to go off at 1am and go back on at 5am in the morning.So I get my Nearpow one afternoon and I try to set it up. The first thing you'll notice is that while it may be seemingly logical to set up (even with the lousy instructions), most people setting up a router like this will want to program their Nearpow, but continue using whatever it's programmed to turn off/on NOW. The instructions don't tell you how to do this. In my example, when I set up the on/off times, the timer was OFF, and there's no way to turn it manually ON (believe it or not). So even though it seemed easy enough to program, I had 2 very basic questions.QUESTION 1: HOW IN THE HECK DO YOU PROGRAM THIS THING, BUT BE ABLE TO USE THE DEVICE YOU'RE TRYING TO TURN ON/OFF, NOW?????QUESTION 2: HOW DO I TEST WHETHER I SET UP THE PROGRAM CORRECTLY?QUESTION 3: THE OUTLET WHERE I NEED TO PLUG THIS INTO IS TOUGH TO GET AT. ISN'T THERE AN EASY WAY TO SET IT UP, THEN PLUG IT IN WHERE I NEED TO?The answers to these questions are that you can plug this in the wall and program it wherever it's easier, then plug it into the wall socket where it needs to be working. In fact, because it has an internal battery to remember it's settings during a power failure, you can actually program the Nearpow without it even being plugged in. But I recommend that you program it with it plugged into some socket, because I believe that when it's unplugged, you will NOT be able to test your settings properly (Question 2).So with it plugged into the wall somewhere convenient, now you have the satisfaction of knowing that you can program the Nearpow somewhere where it's easier. So the majority of the customers who buy this timer, you're probably like me. You're trying to turn something on/off that you want to be able to continue to use NOW. Well, the Nearpow (believe it or not) has no manual way to turn your device on or off. Now each outlet has 9 programs where you set on and off times. When you're setting up your on and off times, the manual does NOT tell you two very important things: 1) Whichever of 9 programs you decide to set up for a given outlet, you must enter an on AND off time. 2) Secondly, for each on/off program pair, you can set up the on time to be BEFORE the off time.These two items are important because the way the programming works, you cycle through each of the 9 programs and the ON position is presented first. For some, it's logical to assume that if you wish for the outlet to go OFF first, then you might think you need to skip entering the ON time for program one, and instead just enter the OFF time. Then continuing this thinking, because you want the device to be turned ON next, you should enter your ON time next in program 2. Setting up the Nearpow this way, will NOT work. Each program must have an on and off pair.The other reason this pairing is important to understand is that if your requirements are to turn OFF the device first and then turn ON the device back on later, by setting the program pair with the ON time AFTER the OFF time, will tell the NEARPOW to turn that outlet on NOW! So now you should understand that if your requirements are like mine, you can program the Nearpow to execute at later times, but have that specific outlet turned to the ON position NOW so that you can use the device NOW. This answers Question 1.And understanding that you can program your Nearpow at a convenient outlet and turn one or both outlets ON now, aids you in being able to test whether you programmed the Nearpow properly. Simply plug in the Nearpow in any convenient outlet. Program your Nearpow with the lousy instructions but take into account the observation I've mentioned above, and you should be able to test whether each outlet works and can be programmed to go ON or OFF at a specific time. As an example, program your Nearpow to turn a device OFF ten minutes from now. After you set up the program, if set up properly, as I mentioned, that outlet's red light should be on already because your OFF time is set for a time BEFORE the ON time. Now simply wait for the OFF time to occur and the red light should go off.For those of you whose requirements are to turn something ON first, then your ON time would be BEFORE the OFF time. This case is much easier to test. You'd simply program you ON/OFF pair (say 10 minutes from now) and then wait for the red light to go on at the ON time, then go out at the OFF time.One final note:Once you program your Nearpow, if your requirements are such that your OFF time is BEFORE your ON time for an outlet, when the outlet is plugged in the socket where you programmed it, the red light will be on. But once you unplug the Nearpow to move it to it's final outlet location, the red light will go out briefly until you plug it back in. But all of your programming will still be intact, and as I mentioned before, because the outlet is ON, you can plug your device(s) in the Nearpow and continue to use them.Hope this helps others to use this device. It's great for turning a router on and off at a specific time because the timer doesn't require a WIFI connection to run properly. It simply runs off of a program that is powered by the electrical socket or a backup battery.i have gone through at least 30 digital timers over the years on my aquariums. each one has their own way to program and none were easy. this is as simple as they come. i especially like the seconds part. i use it for dosing chemicals into my reef tanks and i can make minor adjustment for the flow times on my dosing pumps. i have a total of 13 dosing pumps. i bought 2 and if they continue to work as well as they are now i will definitely add more. all i can say is a great product if you are into corals. their next step should be a triple. calcium, kh and magnesium all in one time. the ultimateHad trouble with the internet at my vacation home. When the power would go out, the internet connection would be down until I could get up there and properly reset the modem and router. This little contraption I'd so easy to set up and has completely solved my issue. No more network outages for weeks on end! Totally worth the spend.This is a very strange device. At first sight it looks like it has a lot of features, but in reality it proves surprisingly limiting in use because user interface for these features was apparently designed by incompetent people.Here's some thing that are woefully wrong with this unit:1. The device requires you to specify time-intervals in complete ON-OFF pairs. The OFF time has to be greater than ON time, otherwise the programmed interval will not work properly. For one example, this means that one can't specify a start-finish interval that crosses midnight. If such an interval is needed, it has to be split into two intervals programmed independently: start-to-midnight and midnight-to-finish. This is cumbersome. Other timers I used normally support completely independent programming for ON and OFF commands. The latter is much easier and more flexible than what this device requires.2. This device supports manual override to AUTO mode, as all other timers do. So, regardless of the current program, you can always turn the outlets ON and OFF manually. However, once you do that, there seems to be no way to return back to AUTO mode! What gives? The only way to return to AUTO I was able to find is to enter and exit programming mode without changing the program (but see #4 below). This makes no sense! I have never seen a device that wouldn't allow you to switch to manual mode and then easily resume AUTO programming mode. Without such feature this device is almost useless.3. Pressing SELECT button in AUTO mode seems to cancel AUTO mode as well. How do I return back to AUTO mode if I pressed SELECT purely accidentally? Again, the only way to return to AUTO I was able to find is to enter and exit programming mode without changing the program (but see #4 below).4. If you program and activate two timers independently and then accidentally press SET button during normal operation, the device will enter programming mode for both timers together and immediately (!) copy TIMER1 settings over TIMER2 settings. In other words, an accidental bump into SET button makes you instantly lose your TIMER2 program! A potentially complicated program can be lost by an accidental press of a single button! Who designed this?Basically, if you want to use this timer for any kind of more-or-less non-trivial programming, a good idea would be to carefully program it, then switch to child-proof mode (lock the keyboard) and use it like that. Forget about manual ON-OFF, because any manipulations with the keyboard bear high risk of losing your settings in one wrong keypress. If you need to make adjustments, unlock the keyboard, adjust (carefully thinking through your every step) and lock back again.I understand when devices with one or two buttons struggle to implement fairly comprehensive user interface through these two buttons. This is expected to be cumbersome. But this device has 10 buttons. Ten! It has enough buttons to implement a very convenient, fast and safe user interface. Yet, somehow they managed to botch it. (Sigh...)Support email address published in the user manual does not respond to inquires.This is a very good timer that is easy to program and works exactly as advertised. I docked 1 star because it emits an annoying high-pitched noise. Other than that, it's an impressive gadget that does the job well.I use it to start my pool pump and salinator simultaneously twice a day for 4 hours per interval. Works great. Easy to program.Excellent unit works well as a timer for our HRV system. Would recommend this Outlet Timer but found it a little complicated to program at firstWorks like it is supposed to.Would recommend easy to use and I need Love that.Works great ,easy to use