Outdoor motion sensor light stays on
easy 15–45 min
Tools: stepladder, small screwdriver, cloth · Materials: replacement sensor head or a new fixture if the sensor has failed
Steps
- Reset it: switch the fixture off at the wall switch for 30 seconds and on again — a brief off-on flick puts many sensor lights into manual-on mode until they are reset.
- Find the dials under the sensor head: turn the timer to its shortest setting and the sensitivity down by half, then test by walking through the zone.
- Aim the sensor away from the road, the neighbour's driveway, the dryer vent and the heat-pump unit; warm air moving across the sensor looks like a person.
- Clean the sensor lens and check that the light itself does not shine onto the sensor — a fixture that lights its own sensor keeps itself on.
- Check the dusk-to-dawn setting: a photocell covered by a bush or facing a bright window may never see 'day'.
- If none of that changes its behaviour, the sensor module has failed; on most fixtures the head unscrews and a replacement wires in with three connectors.
Stop and call a pro if
- the fixture is on a circuit you cannot switch off at the breaker to work safely
- the wiring in the box is damaged, corroded or has no ground
- the fixture is high up on a wall or eave where a ladder cannot stand safely
What a pro does that you can't
An electrician replaces a failed sensor or the whole fixture with the power off, rewires a box that has weathered, and can fit a smart fixture with an app-adjustable zone.
DIY cost: $0 for adjustment; $15–40 for a sensor head