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My water cooler is loud. REALLY loud. Like, annoyingly, high-pitched loud. Worse yet was my wife's complaining about it (which was annoyingly high-pitched and loud in its own way).I hatched a scheme, a plan to rid myself of this agony. I would force the water cooler to cycle itself on and off, depending on when we were likely to be around to hear it. But how to accomplish this -- an incantation? Magic spell? Perhaps prayer? None of these seemed particularly promising to a cynic such as myself.Then it hit me -- a timer! Yes! A Timer! But where could I find such a magical device that could be adjusted to my every whim, tailored to my family's random, chaotic lifestyle? Such a contraption would need to provide individual settings for each and every day -- not to mention holidays, daylight savings time, and the occasional vacation.I searched the Amazon for the perfect item to meet my various requirements, but nothing fit my bill. Each time an item came close to the promised land, I found its Achilles heel: this one was too expensive, that one didn't include a grounded plug, this other one had poorly-phrased reviews. While the electronic models provided the most flexibility, I was concerned about the intellectual acumen required to put these devices into action. At this point, I made a fateful decision: I settled. That's right - I chose the timer that didn't meet all of my needs, but had a plurality of the functions I required - a grounded plug, 7-day individual settings, compact design, simple "programming" ... yes! This was the one! I was quickly falling in love, and not just because of the low price. One Click and two short days later, and it was mine.I could barely contain myself as I hacked open the package, pricking myself on the plastic clamshell shards. Trembling, I attempted to press down the tiny, roach-piano-like keys that would force my hell-breathing H2O dispenser to quiet itself, in somewhat-convenient two-hour increments. Press. Nothing. Press harder. NOTHING! Pull up. Oh. Duh. Should have read the miniscule instruction sheet provided in a convenient folded-up bundle in the bottom of the package.My fingers flew around the dial, becoming more nimble as they went. Off, off, on, on, off, on, on. Off, off, on, on, off, on, on. It was like a symphony. And then, before I knew it, the programming process was over, seemingly before it started. The moment had arrived. Trembling (I think it was caffeine this time), I plugged the timer in, then attached the offending device to the side-mounted receptacle. I would have preferred the receptacle to be on the other side or perhaps the bottom, but this was no time to quibble.I stepped back and waited expectantly. This being an "off" time, the water cooler was now blissfully quiet. I was no longer forced to suffer the whine that had been the bane of my existence since our old, sweet, quiet water cooler had died and been replaced by this abomination. But I digress. Let's just say the water cooler, now being off, was quiet. I sat down, savoring the feeling of accomplishment. But something was gnawing at me, chewing at the corners of my self-satisfaction. What was that new noise? That faint, grinding, mice-in-the-walls-playing-dice noise? I searched frantically, hoping to find the offender was a fly trapped in the screen, or perhaps a slowly leaking bag of sugar. I didn't want to do it, but I had to: I put my ear down by the timer. And found a new hell.It's an old fashioned type of timer. And it's a 7 day timer. These are getting rare. All the others are semiconductor types with microprocessors. And if lightning strikes in the Western hemisphere they will die.This one should ride right through any EMI.I use this on my modem to force a power down reboot once per week in the early morning hours when no one is using it. The modem gets glitchy after a few days and usually it crashes requiring power down reboot after a few weeks. I think the firmware has a memory leak. This timer clears that issue once per week.My one complaint is the writing on the timer is a golden brown. I would have preferred black. It has small letters so we need the contrast for ease of reading.My internet speed kept dropping. Then I read that you should reset/restart your router about once a week. I tried a smart plug just to see if it would work. It didn't, since Wi-Fi is required. (If your smart plug has it's own RTC, logic, and memory, yours might. Maybe this company could add such to their product line.) I was going to make one out of an Arduino, but wasn't that confident about not creating a fire/electrical hazard with 120V AC.This product was the perfect solution for me.Pros:- Switch on top makes it easy to disable/enable if you must vary from your schedule- Tab-based system for setting schedule is actually really simple and easy to modify- Doesn't make enough ambient noise/buzzing to be noticed in a living room- Has a third grounding prong on both the plug and socketCons:- Directions a little unclear...pull the tabs *out* to set the timer *on* for that time period- Setting the current time to a precision better than about 30 minutes is tough, so your timer may not turn on/off exactly at the time you hope- On/off blocks limited to 2 hour tab sizeGot it to put the cable box on a schedule and cut back on electricity use. Quite happy with it so far.I purchased this timer to control the battery charger on my RV such that it only turned on for a few hours each week to avoid over charging the battery (and also save electricity since the charger is no longer on all the time). The three prong outlet combined with the relatively small size made it perfect for this purpose. I really have no need for the manual override switch, but it seems to work fine. Also, one thing to point out is that if you want to very accurately turn something on/off at specific times throughout the week it will be somewhat difficult with this timer due to the fact that the rotary dial does not have very fine resolution. If this matters to you, it might be better to go buy a more expensive digital timer.It works, i'm running two dual bank battery charges with this for my boat while in storage.I use this on the power strips for my networking electronics to regularly cut power to them for a few hours during the early morning. this keep time pretty well. It does make a faint ticking sound, but you have to be within a few feet to hear this. I have installed behind my TV in my living room and have never heard it except when I am leaning around the TV to lug something in. Also works well to delay starting a crock pot when cooking all while gone to work. Along with many other uses I will not list.I wanted a timer to plug my halogen spotlight into in order to keep it fully charged and to prevent damage to battery by leaving it charging too long. I tried two digital 7-day timers. The first one would not come on at programmed time, and the second one would not charge initially to store programming. So, I ordered the Woods 50002. The directions are not very clear, but once I figured out how it worked, it has performed flawlessly. Yeah old-school mechanical timer.works good, but the time only goes BY EVEN NUMBERS and must be set up for the EXACT time that you plug it in or it will not turn off at the proper time. So, if you want to set it for a ODD number it isn't going to happen. Found myself constantly checking for the first day of use the see that it was functioning properly....also expected there to be 2 plugs but can easily plug a power bar or extension cord with more than one plug in itupdate: AFTER 2 WEEKS THIS TIMER IS NOT CONSISTENT...IT DOESN'T SEEM TO KEEP THE PROPER TIME, TODAY IT DIDN'T COME ON AFTER BEING TURNED OFF FOR 6 HOURS i had to manually turn the timer!!! DISAPPOINTING....just buy a digital timer, much easier and accurate.I was expecting this to be quiet, but it isn't. I'm not sure if this developed over time, but it's been a little over a month and it now sounds like a scratchy buzzing sound. Even though it's not *that* loud, when you're a light sleeper or just quietly at home, it isn't something you want to constantly hear. I now use this for when I'm not at home for more than 24 hours or when I'm out of town, otherwise, when I get home in the evening, I take it out of the outlet and plug in my plant light directly into the socket. Kind of a hassle to remember to plug back in and ensure the time is correct each time. I would much rather just leave it on and not give it another thought... which was my intent on purchasing it in the first place.No es nada exacto en el ajuste de horarios, pues teniendo todos los días de la semana en un solo disco, es imposible ajustarlo con exactitud. Los intervalos de tiempo son demasiado amplios para una lámpara. Terminé devolviéndolo y me hicieron el reembolso, excelente servicio de Amazon México. Definitivamente no lo recomiendo. Compré otros 2 temporizadores aquí en Amazon, uno manual pero para 1 sólo día y otro digital que funcionan a la perfección.I should have paid more attention to this. It's great if you want that timer to turn on during different times for different days. The con is that every slot represents 2 hours in a day so it's not that flexible say if you're looking for every half hour. It overall works well but I use it to manage the lighting system outside my house instead of the lights on the inside.i found it difficult to figure out how to set it up but once I did it works. The timing is a bit off then what the packaging says so I would use a low setting and practice with it first so you know the timing.Mine is off. each tic is 1 1/2 hours long, not 2 hours.