All the little levers between the times you want darkness must be pushed down. Not just the ones at the lights on and lights of times. If the switch is in the 'manual' setting, the lights will never turn off. At least for the first timer pictured, these are the only controls. If switch is set to 'timer' and the levers are down, you should be able to spin the dial and watch the lights go on and off. Otherwise, since there are no other controls, I have no clue. Never used one like the 2nd one pictured.
