December Controller Checks: Clock, Backup Battery, and Holiday Schedules

If the controller clock is wrong, every program is wrong. After storms and generator tests, walk the panel. Hunter units with backup batteries still need fresh cells every couple of years — a dead backup turns a brief outage into a blank schedule.

Holiday lighting on the same GFCI as an FX transformer can trip mid-party. Separate circuits when you can, and tell the homeowner which breaker is which.

Frozen climates should already be blown out. If someone is still watering in December outdoors in a freeze zone, stop them — that is a pipe claim waiting to happen.