The lights may also be turning off frequently at night because the sensors are detecting the light from other sources or from the lights themselves. Motion Sensors Lights for Outdoor. Gonna try to keep this short. I was not very happy with the electriction as I also had dusk 2 dawn light installed around my house and had trouble with them staying on all night or going on and off at night intermittantly. Sounds to me (this is a guess from limitted information) that the electrictian has fitted safety lights and not dusk-dawn lights. Dusk to Dawn light turns off and on during the day but stays on at night I recently just replaced the fixture on our post light and installed a new dusk to dawn sensor and bulb. Fitted a new outside light for customer and dusk to dawn lamp, the lamp keeps flashing off and on every 20 seconds. They are available at many home improvement stores. Repeats this cycle. They did come out and fix them but it was like pulling teath. We have a dawn to dusk light that goes on and off all day but as soon as it's dark it stays on. Recently install new dusk to dawn light. Is it possible that the light is reading the white overhand and shutting off. Unlike many dusk to dawn lights, they don’t activate for long periods of your time . I installed it about 1 ft. from the overhang of the house. Worked for 4 nights then it started coming on and off very rapidly, like a disco light. It'll turn on automatically when it gets dark and turn off again at the dawn. we have changed the - Answered by a verified Electrician. Found the fault to be the reflection from the clear plastic housing is lighting up the photocell and causing the lamp to switch off, then in darkness the lamp switches on again. ... Every day I want it to come on 1/2 hour before sunset and go off 1/2 hour after sunrise. THere is no actual switch, just the dusk dawn sensor. You can purchase what is known as a Dusk To Dawn Light. I had some electrical work done about a year ago for my new second floor air conditioner. Replaced the fixture with a different led light. If the lights turn on when the breaker is off and off when the breaker is on then they are emergency lights. For 3 years in this home this never happened. THere are 3 lights, and all remain synched. Manually overriding your dusk-to-dawn light turns it off, while overriding your motion sensing light causes it to remain on. Our 3 dusk dawn exterior lights were flickering on & off a few nights ago and now they won't turn off at daytime. I turned the power back on and the light came on and went off after about 10 seconds, but then 10 seconds later it came back on and then went off again. I suspect that when you turned the breaker off the lights saw this as a powercut and turned on. Motion sensors keep lights turned off unless something moves nearby. The main reason Dusk to Dawn lights don't turn on or stay on is that the sensor is frozen in the on or off position. Maybe the dusk to dawn timer is set to come on at the same o'clock on a serendipitously-synchronized clock as the furnace thermostat clock. Because photocell-activated dusk to dawn lights sense natural light, they automatically adjust for extended and shorter nights. Sometimes stays on longer. The old dusk to dawn lights I replaced never worked in the first place. Next day it was coming on and off every other minute, all day long. Motion sensor security lighting uses a motion sensor and a photocell to operate your exterior light for a predetermined amount of time once motion is detected. It turns on great but shuts off after about 5 minutes and then turns right back on after setting for about 1 minute. When we moved in 3 years ago they were always on no matter which position the switch they were on was in (on/off). Trying to switch outside lights that's are dusk to dawn (on garage) to just on/off lights at the switch in the garage. Have a 120 volt led dusk to dawn light that was recently installed on the outside of a shed. Worked great the first night.