Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - Light Sensor

I have a motion light fixture outside my garage door and I noticed this morning when I was leaving the light would not turn off. I checked the settings and it was set to turn off after one minute of no motion, but after waiting few minutes with no motion it still would not turn off. I have a feeling that it was on all night. I dont know if the kids walking by it constantly last night did anything.

The fixture does not have a switch to turn off or on. It just has the settings on the sensor for Min - Max, Test, 1, 5, 10 minutes.

I have tried lowering it to Min and 1 min and it did not work. When I flip the switch off on the breaker, it turns off but it also turns off other things in my house as well. When I flip the breaker switch back on, the light turns back on.

Any ideas? I decided to take the bulbs out before I left the house so it's not on all day, but I know that's not the solution.

I would never have installed, or allowed installation of, a light with no switch, even if I wanted it to always be on and control it with a photo sensor. But what's done is done. Perhaps there is a switch somewhere that you don't know about, including possibly one that has been bypassed.

Sensors can and do go bad. Sometimes leaves and I have heard spiders get inside the sensor and block it.

Your have to decide whether or not to attempt to find and fix the problem or just to replace the fixture. If it's old you might want to replace it. If you don't like it you might want to just replace it. However if it;s in good shape otherwise and you like it you may be able to replace the sensor.

There's definitely no switch which sucks!

The entire fixture was just installed in September 2006. It was bought at Home Depot.

Do I just buy a new sensor? Does it have to be the same one or brand?

Try contacting the manufacturer of the light. You may be able to talk them into a replacement sensor.

While you don;t absolutely need the same sensor that came with the light, you do need something that fits and works for the actual light.

If you do have to buy a sensor, it may be cheaper and easier to install a new light.

You may want to consider running a switch when you do this work.

I just got home and I put the light bulbs back into the fixture and it seems that everything is working fine. It turned off and on about 5 times I walked by it. This is weird like someone played a joke on me this morning. Now I'm really confused!