As mentioned in the March Issue, Powerline Control Systems (PCS) release date for its new Title 24 timer is May 1st 2016. The T24 timer is designed to be a low-cost relay based timer that meets all Title 24 requirements in a package installed in the same manner as other timers that control power to one or more circuits.
What is Title 24 and how does this timer meet those requirements? There are multiple requirements that work together.
The Title 24 Timer is the ONLY wall box timer that has all the requirements of these two Title 24 categories:
•Multi-Level Astronomical Time-Switch Control
•Outdoor Astronomical Time-Switch Controls
The Title 24 Timer also meets the requirements of these categories:
•Automatic Time- Switch Controls
•Astronomical Time-Switch Controls
When the facility is closed all the facility lights must be off. This is basic time based scheduling and the T24 timer implements up to 4 schedules with each schedule containing 250 possible entries. The scheduling system under Title 24 must account for the open/closed schedule of the facility not only days of the week- open Monday- Friday, and closed Saturday and Sunday – but also holidays that the facility is closed as well as facility specific closures. The T24 timer has a built-in 20 year scheduling calendar that can be configured using the PCS Timer software.
During the hours when the facility’s fixtures are scheduled to be off then there must be some mechanism to turn them on. This mechanism must limit the “ON” time and after some time period the fixtures must be restored to their scheduled state. The T24 timer has built-in facilities for managing occupancy sensor and switch based inputs to meet this requirement.
All fixtures in the installation must be capable achieving multiple light levels. Title 24 requires that each fixture be capable of being set to multiple levels. In the Title 24 documentation there is a table that shows the level requirements, but in summary there are 5 levels including on and off. The T24 timer with the additional receiving modules installed in the controlled fixtures meets this requirement.
In addition to these major requirements, there are some other smaller requirements that the T24 timer meets.
• Sunrise and sunset prediction accuracy within plus-or-minus 15 minutes and timekeeping accuracy within 5 minutes per year.
• Be capable of displaying date, current time, sunrise time, sunset time, and switching times for each step during programming.
• Have an automatic daylight savings time adjustment.
• Have the ability to independently offset the on and off time from sunrise or sunset for each channel by at least 99 minutes.
• Backup capabilities that prevent the loss of the device’s schedule for at least 7 days, and the device’s date and time for at least 72 hours if power is interrupted.
The PCS T24 Timer is a full feature timer that meets all the Title 24 requirements and does so in a cost effective manner. Planned additions to this timer product line will incorporate the ability to control PCS SimpleWorx (SWX) modules and will allow for time based control of individual loads and not complete circuits.
The PCS Title 24 Timer is certified to the Title 20 Appliance Efficiency Regulations as required.
Please visit: www.pcslighting.com for more information.
