Lampost Light Won't Shut Off
 

We changed the lamp post light bulb, now our light won't shut off. Has this happened to anyone before and how can we fix it?

check the photo cell on the side of the post, you may have covered it inadvertently or it may have failed.

they do that when the photo sensing cell is going bad (unless something is covering it).

Ace Hardware has replacement sensors.

Back into it with your car.

As others have said, either the electric eye is covered or it needs to be replaced. It is an easy fix involving taking off the lamp post and installing a new sensor. This involves 3 wires. You would want to turn off the post light breaker in your panelbox before you do this. It would most likely be a 15 amp single pole breaker marked post light.

Since the light is staying on, have someone watch the light while the other person turns off the breaker to insure the power is off. Once that is done it is a very easy do it yourself project. These typically go bad every 5 years or so.

There should be you tube videos on this....but if you are not comfortable working with electrical then you will need to find someone who is, or hire an electrician. Hope this helps!

Frank

I should also add that after replacing this sensor, if you cover up the sensor it can take as long as 5 minutes for the light to come on....often folks think it is instant, cover it up with their finger and then think they messed up when the light does not come on instantly....

Frank

Good points Frank, I will add one more, my neighbor had a ground wire (thin braded wire) that was left connected to the ground while he was replacing the sensor, the lamp shifted, and the wire ended up breaking at the connection on the lamp. Took a half an hour to disassemble the lamp, find a suitable crimp lug, replace the wire, and finish the connections. So my suggestion, remove all of the connections, label if you need to and set the lamp housing on the ground, remove and replace the sensor, then make the connection to the lamp.
Set the lamp in place temporarily, test the sensor, then install the screws.

After replacing my failed sensor a few years ago, I spent two very frustrating hours trouble shooting...because it still wasn't working. :mad:

After double and triple checking everything, I finally came to the conclusion that as unlikely as it seemed...the new one must be defective.

When I took it back to ACE at Southern Trace, the sales person said... "these are defective and I thought we got rid of all of them." :oops:

I don't recall the brand, but if you buy a replacement from ACE...they should have all good ones now.

Excellent post, as always!

ColdNoMore...wow....sorry you had that experience. a brand new defective sensor....what are the chances?? I always keep an extra one in my toolbox...just do not remember where I bought it a few years ago...probably Ace!

Frank