Scheduled visit
Garden and façade lights staying on in daylight
Boundary, garden or façade lights that should switch off at dawn are still on mid-morning, or burn all day. Sometimes they switch off late and on early. Nobody notices for a while because the lights are on in bright sun.
Electrical
Burning smells, arcing and warm faceplates are treated as emergencies and take priority over everything else.
Call nowRequest lighting check on WhatsApp01LIKELY CAUSES
What usually sits behind this symptom, and what tells one cause from another.
Photocell dirty, shaded or facing the wrong way
Sensor covered in dust, behind planting or facing a light source.
Photocell failed
Lights stay on when the sensor is covered and uncovered.
Timer reset after a power cut or wrongly set
Timer shows the wrong time or programme.
02BEFORE ANYONE VISITS
What you can safely check.
- Find the photocell — often a small dome on a wall or near the board.
- Check whether planting or a new fitting now shades it.
- Check timers at the board for the correct time after any power cut.
- Note whether all outdoor lights or only some stay on.
03WHAT WE MEASURE
We identify how the outdoor lighting is controlled — photocell, timer, smart controller or a combination — test the sensor in light and dark, and check timer settings and contactors at the board. That shows which part is keeping the circuit on.
04IN A VILLA
Villas typically have several outdoor lighting circuits — boundary walls, garden spikes, façade uplights and pool surrounds — controlled by a mix of photocells and timers added over the years. Photocells end up behind growing planting or facing new lights, and timers lose their setting after every power interruption.
05THE FIX
Which repair, and when.
Lights burning all day add to the electricity bill and shorten lamp and driver life outdoors.
Clean or reposition the photocell
It is dirty, shaded or poorly placed.
Replace the photocell
It has failed.
Reset or replace the timer
The timer is wrong or faulty.
06Typical villa electrical callout
AED 180 – 1,200 depending on scope
Socket, fitting and single-circuit faults sit low in the band. Fault tracing across multiple outdoor circuits and board work sit higher. Work requiring utility notification is scoped separately and discussed before it starts.
07QUESTIONS
- Why did it start after a power cut?
- Many timers lose their settings when power is interrupted.
- Can I use a smart controller instead?
- Often, with the existing circuits, and it avoids resetting after outages.
- Why do only some lights stay on?
- Different circuits may use different controls.