Time switch - contactors

Hi all I'm having a dispute with my supplier as I believe my off peak is running during the day on my Meter.

Could you please advise what a time switch is and it's function and a contactor is and it's function too? 

Thank you in advance

Most set ups for economy 7 have a timer as part of the incoming supply 

to try to begin helping you it would be useful to see a photo or 2 of your main fuse etc

 hope this helps

 PS why do you think it’s running at the wrong time of day?

North_Stu said:

Hi all I'm having a dispute with my supplier as I believe my off peak is running during the day on my Meter.

Could you please advise what a time switch is and it's function and a contactor is and it's function too? 

Thank you in advance

Click to expand...

A contactor is basically an electrical switch that can turn very large loads, (higher power), on and off..

All switches have a maximum amount of power they can control before the internal components of the switch would be damaged by current flowing to the electrical loads they are controlling..

e.g.

The light switches in your house would have smaller components than those for your cooker or shower switches..

So a shower switch could control a light.. (but may cost around £10 or more)

But a light switch cannot control a shower.. (and only cost approx £1)

A timer switch is used to turn a contactor on & off at specific times of day..

so the contactor can operate very large powered loads that can be active during Off-Peak charges..

If the timer switch had to operate the full load directly it would need much larger internal components that would make it very expensive..

so 1x less expensive time-switch + 1x Reasonably priced contactor can operate very big loads at a more reasonable cost,

compared to 1x very expensive Time Switch     

 That's a ('Very') basic illustration of the functions of a time switch and a contactor..

Guinness