slo’s WEDNESDAY 12/13 - TIMER for Christmas Tree 🎄

[fly girl]

Outside lights and garland up our staircase are on timer, but our tree is not. Had a timer on our old tree and unfortunately it created a short to the main box. Had to wait almost a year to get a new one (under warranty, Balsam Hill tree which we no longer have and I do NOT recommend ... but a story for a different day.) Ever since that I have been skittish to put timer on tree.

 

[Stratman50th]

No timers on anything. The tree is up but not decorated. We're waiting for my daughter to finish her last class and come over to help. Been tripping over boxes for a week.
We set up the train board and all the Department56 houses, no timer there either. I guess timers would be more efficient.

 

[_19disnA]

Never used a timer on the indoor tree. We never leave it on when going out just seems safer that way. We manually turn it on/off when around. Turn the tree lights off before going to bed. For outdoor lights, use a timer since it is way more convenient than having to bundle up if it is cold/snowing to turn those on/off.

 

[wenrob]

If you are using smart plugs the times are not set in stone. You can use your phone to turn them on/off remotely and/or you can tell Alexa/Siri/Google to turn them on/off. Or you can create routines, one for when you’re not home and one for when you are etc. Unless your lights are 20 years old I fail to see how timers, in particular Smart Plugs are any less safe than turning them on/off manually. If anything, they’re safer because they “remember” to turn the lights off when we as humans are prone to forget.

 

[easyas123]

1 tree for us, still not up yet! But when it does go up we do not put a timer on it. I prefer to only have the lights on when one of us is home and we don't have a exact schedule in terms of coming & going from the office and elsewhere.
I do have my outdoor lights on a time. Goes on a dusk and stays on for 5 hours.

 

[soccerdad72]

One tree is on a timer, the other is on a wall switch. The garland on our stairway is partially on a timer and partially on a remote (ran out of timers ). The outside lights are all on timers as well.

 

[tvguy]

No timer on the tree, we keep it on manually when we are home.
Outside lights are on a timer. They go on about 4:30 pm and off about 10:30 pm

 

[E&Cmom]

Yes, we use a time. Turns on in the morning and off at bedtime,

 

[NYCgrrl]

I have remote controller timers for Christmas lights and the electric candles.
Now if someone would tell me which is which I’m sure I’d use them…

 

[fla4fun]

To be honest, I have a timer for a faux fireplace in my bedroom, but I never thought of using it for my Christmas tree. I have the tree plugged into a surge protector and just flip the switch on it to turn the tree on.

 

[1420Elexismc]

I plug mine in when we set it up and unplug it when we take it down-it is just on continuously...not sure when that started happening, but I don't recall ever using a timer when I was younger either.

 

[MIGrandma]

No timer. We plug the tree lights in when the first one of us gets up in the morning, and I unplug them at night when I go to bed. I also unplug them if we go away during the day. I don’t like them on if we aren’t home.

 

[Micca]

One tree, no outdoor lights, no timer.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

I leave my pre-lit tree on all the time until we leave for Florida on the 22nd. Garland on my banister has a time so it goes on for 6 hours around dusk. I have a giant light up ornament on our table on the porch that has a timer so use that. The little "street light" is just plugged in 24/7. I guess I'm just lazy. As I buy lighted decor I look for things with timers as it makes life so much easier!

ETA- I also have a giant Christmas village and those stay on all the time as well. Set it up...turn them on. Turn them off...take it down.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Ours has a remote but we have it connected up with our lit garland along the stairs and both are connected to a single foot pedal so we just turn them on and off that way. The outdoor lights are connected up to each other using two exterior outlets and two timers are used for that.

 

[design_mom]

Growing up, our tree was on a timer, but our current tree is not.

My husband is weird about leaving the tree on when no one is home (i'm not really sure why, it's an artificial tree, but I suppose it's "wasteful" to leave it on if no one is home), so when we had it on a timer he was always overriding the timer to turn it off/on when he wanted. We got rid of the timer. Now the christmas tree lights are plugged into a multi-outlet strip that we turn off/on when we want to.

The outdoor lights are on a timer thought (on at dusk, run for 6 hours.)

 

[elgerber]

I voted yes and other. All our lighted Christmas decorations are on smart plugs, in a group, on our Alexa. We turn them on when we get up with a voice command. Echo-JIngle Bells, then they go off automatically at night. The outside lights are also on Alexa smart plugs, but they go on and off automatically, except the inflatable. I tell Echo to turn that on, as long as it's not too windy or and it's not buried in snow.

 

[jo-jo]

Family room tree, smart plug....Alexa turn on family room. Living room has a small fiber optic tree we keep up all the time, old fashioned plug in click click click timer , on about 6 , off about 11. Wall tree (garland and mini lights strung on command strips) have lights that will stay for from about 5 to 11. The timer is the battery box.

Out door lights are dusk to midnight but sometimes on a dark rainy day, the light click on about 3.

 

[TCRAIG]

Fake tree in the dining room is on a timer (6pm to 6am) and live tree in the great room is not. I also have the outside lights, wreaths and garlands on timers - 6:30pm to 4:30 am.

 

[tony67]

Yeah timers for the tree and everything else.
Use the Kasa system.

For the outdoor lights I also have a secondary timer that comes on at dusk and stays on for 8 hours, that way if the Kasa fails to shut the stuff off it will still turn off. We had a few times when the lights did not turn off and this addressed that.

The tree shuts off at night, but unfortunately the lights on the tree don't come on when the power comes on, very stupid design, so I have to manually turn on the tree.

I should probably just cut the wires and remove the switch so its always on.