Twilight Sentinel on PA Ultra

Newbie here - great forum!

My Twilight sentinel is extremely sensitive - even though I have the lever pushed all the way to the left (off) the headlights come on even when I drive through an underpass or a bunch of trees.

Any way to turn it off completely or to make it less sensitive?

Thanks in advance

Docfreed

when you push the slider to the far left, it should click in to the off position.

Feels like there's a spring or something in there. I can push it all the way to the left, but then it springs back to the right about 1/8 of an inch. Is that normal?

No.

The switch only controls the length of time the lights stay on after the engine is shut off. The lamp control module measures the voltage across the photocell to determine day or night.

Jed rule is correct, I'd like to add, that on the far left on the slider, it should completely shut off twighlight sentinel. Perhaps there is a fuse to remove that turns it off for you, without disabling the headlights.

Feels like there's a spring or something in there. I can push it all the way to the left, but then it springs back to the right about 1/8 of an inch. Is that normal?

That is normal.

Jed Rule is right and this is how to bypass the system. I will not tell you how to bypass it but Jed has given the hints, use it at your own risk. I do not condone disabling a safety system and will not offer on how to do it.

Wait, what year PA are we talking about?

91-96 can be shut off complelely, with the method I posted earlier, but I just realized it may be a 97 or newer, which behaves as flatrater describes.

On my 93 ultra I push it to the left and it's OFF and stays there.. no springing back. Never heard of that one before.

like i said, 97 and newer springs back

He owns a 2004 PA.

See, therein lies the problem, people refuse to teh year of their car, and I can't be bothered to look in thier profile, when it takes 4 keystrokes to type a year.

Pls note that in the original post it says 2004 PA Ultra

Newbie here - great forum!

My Twilight sentinel is extremely sensitive - even though I have the lever pushed all the way to the left (off) the headlights come on even when I drive through an underpass or a bunch of trees.

Any way to turn it off completely or to make it less sensitive?

Thanks in advance

Docfreed


I don't see 2004 anywhere.

I never thought of it as a safety item. I always thought of it as a "let's help the idiots turn their lights on when its dark outside because they forgot when to do it themselves" type of item.

in any event, since a photocell conducts light current when exposed to light, to fool the system into thinking theres light outside, you would just need to jumper it. but why do that? Once jumpered, you can't easily disable the jumper (unless you installed an accessable switch). why wouldn't you want the lights coming on when a sudden rainstorm develops or when you go into a long tunnel. I like my twilight sentinel and even though mine is capable of being turned off completely (i have a 95), i leave it on auto.

I just like leaving mine on "auto" on the sentinel. I get spoiled sometimes and have to "remember" to turn on the lights on my wifes 93 Lumina. Besides, I have a light pair of leather gloves I carry under the armrest. If it's foggy outside, or I just want my lights on and don't want to physically turn them on, I just plop the tan leather glove up on the dash in the vicinity of the photocell.. it thinks it night and the light come on automatically, and go off when I leave the vehicle as well. *S*

I installed a double throw relay in the twilight sensor circuit with a 20M ohm grounded resistor to by pass the sensor when the relay is activated. I used the ground from the wiper switch to control the relay so when the wipers are on - the headlights come on. (just like the newer models). If you want to check your photocell it should read 15M ohm in daylight and 20M ohms in the dark.

There is an electronic time delay built in to the twlight sentinel that is supposed to keep the lights from coming on for several seconds after light conditions change from bright to dark. This is intended to eliminate just the annoying condition you describe. It sounds like a controller defect to me. This may be a warranty issue on a 2004.

Thanks STM:

This is the first post to really address the stated problem - I'll tell the dealer at my next oil change