Security lights problem

[eastender]

I've replaced bulbs in two of our external security lights - they both have light sensors - but they now stay on all the time. I've tried adjusting the sensor on one of them but no joy. What's gone wrong?

[Andy Cap]

Turn them off, wait a couple of minutes, then turn them on.

When working properly, if you turn them off and then on again immedaitely, they usally remain on indefinitely.

Andy C

[Bill]

Funnily enough, I was going to ask exactly this question, but about son's house which has a drive with 3 or 4 street lamps. They have incandescent bulbs and a non-integrated pir on each lamp post to control its own lamp, all controlled from a single switch in the garage.. We tried today and thought we had waited enough time between "ons", but the lamps all appeared to turn permanently on.

Are there any other sequences we could try?

[Owain]

Might be a triac failure, they sometimes fail continuously on.

And a blown bulb might have blown the triac.

Owain

[Jim K]

how long did you wait ? - ours have a warm up time (with lights on) whilst things settle down - maybe 90 secs or so?

Jim K

[Bill]

I don't know how long or what he had been doing with the lights before. He was delighted that he had at last found the right switch. Finding how to turn things off and on has been a great adventure as the previous owners don't seem to have invested in a labelling machine. The lights are now off. Tomorrow while he's at work, I'll roll up and switch them on to see what happens. Overnight ought to do it!

[Jim K]

I hope so! if elecs working (at least light level sensors) thenthings whould calm down (i.e. lights out PIRs and light sensors "waiting" for night/movement) within 5mins tops shurely??

Cheers Jim K

[Bill]

Thanks to all for the reassurance and help. Leaving the power off overnight and then switching on and waiting several minutes proved it was all working. The long 'on' time was, I think, what fooled us.

Sorry to have part hijacked the OP's thread. I hope he had similar success.

[eastender]

Not yet but not tried anything. But useful tips - thanks all.

One other mystery is that I have an internal on/off switch for two of the lights but a third is hard-wired in at the front of the house near the fuse box but I can find no wire, switch or fuse that controls it.

E.