If the timer light is on (light is red) does that mean the timer is ON or OFF?

what color wires are on the new timer?

Single pole application, red wire is capped off.
http://waterheatertimer.org/ST01C-program.html#ST01C

That being said, you still have to connect Blue and Black wires correctly.
Switch has two wires, if you do not know which wire is which, follow instructions below.
Connect Blue and Black to either wire.
Turn on power.
Push ON-OFF button.
If lights work, then timer is wired correctly.
If lights don't work, then reverse Blue and Black.

Be sure outdoor bulb is working.
I have a long story about that, and tested every wire and breaker ... and bulb was burned out.

Manual for GE 15265
http://waterheatertimer.org/pdf/GE-15265-manual.pdf
15A timer works fine on two bulbs, up to 1440 total watts.

If old switch has 2 screws plus green ground screw, then timer is right.
If old switch has 3 screws plus green ground screw, 15265 doesn't replace 3-way switch.

Timer-green wire connects to bare ground wire

Old switch has 2 screws with wires on each.
One wire is Hot-from breaker and this connects to timer-black wire.
One wire Goes-to-lights and this connects to timer-red wire.
If you get these two wires reversed, timer will not work, so reverse them.
It will not blow circuit if the timer-red and timer-black wires are reversed.

Timer-White wire is the confusing wire for everybody:
Timer-white wire runs clock motor located inside timer.
In back of electric box are neutral white wires that are twisted together and covered with wire nut.
Connect timer-white to these neutral wires.
If box does not have neutral white wires, connect timer-white to bare ground wire.

You posted under ST01C timer which has 3 wires: black blue and red (no white wire)
Your description seems to say your timer has 3 wires: black white and red

These are two different timers
I'm going to give you two different instructions that are dead-accurate for both types of timers above:

1) Instructions for ST01C and EJ500 Intermatic timers with black blue and red
Lets do the black and white with electricity:
The black Hot wire connects to Timer-black-wire
The white Neutral wire connects to white wire going to Load (to lights)

Now the black and white to the Load (lights)
The black to Load (to light) connects to Timer-blue-wire
The white wires are connected together with wire nut

The red wire is capped off, and used only if you have 3-way switching.
Green connects to bare ground

2) Instructions for all in-wall timers with black, red and white wires (except Aube series timers)
Lets do the black and white from electricity
The black Hot wire connects to Timer-black-wire
The white Neutral connects to Timer-white-wire and to white wire going to Load

Now the black and white to the Load
The black wire to Load connects to Timer-red-wire
all three white wires are connected and covered with wire nut
Green connects to bare ground

DO NOT CONNECT RED TO WHITE with any model in-wall timer and then turn on power or it can blow out the timer >>> I just did that while experimenting with the Utilitec 0192773.
Red wire goes to Load on all timers, except with Intermatic ST01C and EJ500

GE 15086 is a 7-day programmable timer. It has more wires than spring-wound timer because clock motor runs on 120V circuit, just like ordinary electric clock. The clock on spring wound timer operated by a spring.



If I understand correctly, the old timer has 2 wires. One of these wires is the Hot wire ... and that wire will connect to GE timer black wire.
The other wire from old timer goes to Load ... and that wire will go to GE timer red wire.

Instructions on a lot of these timers say, it timer doesn't work, then reverse the two wires described above ... this is because timer only works when Timer black connects to Hot.

You can also turn on power and test each wire that came off old switch to bare ground wire. When tester lights up, that is Hot wire.

GE timer Green wire connects to bare ground wire.

Moving on to GE timer white wire. This wire is necessary for the clock to run. This wire connects to Neutral wire which is usually white. You can test for Neutral by testing Hot wire to each white wire in box ... when tester comes on, that is Neutral.

If you do not have a white Neutral wire, then connect GE timer white wire to bare ground wire. This is not code, but it will work fine until you hire electrician to run Neutral into box.

1) Use this procedure to automatically program, letting switch timer "record" ON/OFF activities over 24-hour period.
-Move control lever to OFF-CLEAR for about
20 seconds. Red indicator light goes off and previous
time settings are cleared.
-Move control lever to ON position. Red indicator
light starts flashing.
-At 6:30pm, manually press dial 'on' >>> then at 1:00am manually press dial 'off'
-At the end of 24-hour period, switch timer is programmed and Red indicator light will stay ON, indicating
switch timer is in AUTOMATIC mode.
2) Or you can manually program times using instructions from page 1 of manual:
http://www.intermatic.com/~/media/files/intermatic/products/instructions/timers/ej351c%20-%20english.ashx

The red indicator light usually comes on when something needs attention. Most often it has to do with the lamp timer or the filter timer. The projector keeps track of how long it's been since you've changed the bulb or cleaned the filter(s). You can reset these timers in the menu. Be sure to clean the filter before you reset the timer. :)

Here are the instructions: http://www.intermatic.com/~/media/files/intermatic/products/instructions/timers/ej351c%20-%20english.ashx
You will have to pick the times you want the lights to go on and off.

The blinking red timer means that the date isn't set on your camera. Go to the set up screen and set the date. I'm not sure why you wouldn't be able to take pictures, though...