Moved into a house that has lights that are supposed to come on at night when the sensor picks up movement – believe they were only put in a couple of months ago. All was fine to begin with, but now the little sods just stay on all the time (day or night).

Anyone know if it is likely to be the motion sensor jobby (in which case I presume I should just replace the whole unit?) or the control box in the house? Or can I test to find which one, in which case how?

Just asking so that I don't spend unnecessarily replacing things….any thoughts gratefully received.

Thanks

Presuming they're PIR type with their own light detector (to detect night and day) I'd say pop the covers off and check for spiders over the light sensor (not the PIR sensor, there's a seperate LDR to detect day/night), remove the spidders and seal the units up. That's the usual fault with the ones I've seen.

Thanks, coffeeking. Will give it a go next weekend.

(I thought I'd defeated the collective wisdom of STW on that one….!).

Some sensors have a function built in to override the sensor and leave the light on permanently (ie, by switching them on/off and back on again). Have you tried simply switch of at the wall for a few minutes then back on again (they may switch on immediately but will eventually reset to the default).

CK, is there anything you DON'T know about?

Molgrips – loads 🙂 I jsut tend to keep quiet on those threads – choose thy enemy and all that 🙂
They can get right in the way those spiders…

If that's the size of it, I'll send the missus to clear it!

Yes – I've had them turned off now for a couple of weeks as they're just permanently on as soon as I turn them on again (have tried leaving them on for a while too).

Thanks again.