I'm trying to make a set of small LED's turn on, based on a time set by an input device. I'm new to circuits so I have no idea how to wire the lights to the timer and what kind of display I could use to be the input device for the timer. I envision a small display with two buttons that could set the time for the lights to go off, but have no knowledge on how to accomplish this. Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

 

An adjustable timer with display goes right to a programmable chip like a PIC microcontroller. Quite a feat for a first project. Could you settle for something that just sets a time limit after you push a button?

 

You could just buy the timer and then focus on lighting the LEDs with it.