Kestrel Control Astronomical Timer with Sunset Offset

Follows sunset through the year with an offset you set once, which is the only timer that stops you fiddling with it every month.

Control is the cheapest way to improve a garden lighting system that is already installed. A photocell and a timer together will halve the running hours without you noticing any difference. Zoning lets you light the terrace on a Tuesday and the whole garden on a Saturday. And dimming turns a scheme that looks like floodlighting into one that looks considered. Everything here works with any 12V garden system, ours or anybody else's, and none of it needs an account or a subscription.

Specification

• Dimensions: compact, DIN rail or surface mounted
• Materials: polycarbonate enclosure, stainless fixings
• Finish: graphite grey or black
• Light source: not applicable
• Light output: not applicable
• Colour temperature: not applicable
• Beam angle: not applicable
• Power: 230V or 12V depending on the item, stated on the box
• Ingress protection: IP65, jet proof, suitable for open garden use
• Cable: pre wired tails or terminal connections
• Warranty: 3 years
• Works with any 12V garden lighting system
• No account, no subscription and no cloud dependency
• Weight: approximately 0.35 kilograms

In the box

• 1 x astronomical timer with sunset offset
• Mounting bracket and fixings
• A wiring diagram for the common arrangements

Installation

This is a mains fitting and must be installed by a qualified electrician working to BS 7671, on an RCD protected circuit, using armoured cable or cable in conduit where it is buried. Part P notification applies to most outdoor work in England and Wales. If that sounds like more than you want to take on, the same fitting is available in the 12V range and you can lay that yourself.

When to buy

Garden lighting is bought in spring and installed in a hurry. It is much easier to dig a cable run in February when the borders are bare and the ground is soft than in May when everything is in leaf and you are trying not to stand on it. Order in winter, get the cable in, and the first warm evening of the year is ready for you rather than a job list.