Do you turn lamps on or off for timers to work?

ProudDUB

Going away tomorrow, so I bought 2 timer switches for two lamps in the living room. I want the lamps to come on in the evenings and make the house look occupied.

I have the little pins on the timer pushed in for the times I want the lamps to come on at. The timers are plugged into the wall socket and the lamps are plugged into the timers. What I need to know is, do I leave the lamps switched on or off, for the timers to work?

They are bog standard floor lamps, with the old fashioned switch under the bulb, that you press in to turn the lamp on on & you press it again to turn it off. (This is for when you are operating them on their own, without a timer attached.)

I've tried to do a couple of practice runs to see if they will come on, but they aren't. There is a switch that says "On" and one that says "Timer". I presume I set it to Timer?

paulmclaughlin

Set the lamps to their 'on' position, and the timers to the 'timer' option.
Make sure the socket is switched on too.

ProudDUB

Cheers thanks...the next timer setting that I know for sure is an exact setting, is midnight. (They are in 2 hr increments.) I don't want to wait up that long. I want me leaba.